Queen Alexandrine

ysbel · #1 10-30-2005, 07:05 PM

Here's another one:

Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (Queen Margrethe's grandmother-listed erroneously as Queen Alexandra) with her sister Cecilla, Crown Princess of Germany. Alexandrine was Frederik VIII's daughter-in-law.

http://www.royalsportal.de/images/po...ark-000019.jpg

Prince Aage again - same picture but with his wife

http://www.royalty-postcards.com/Ima...ender_1143.jpg

This one I find very charming - Queen Alexandrine with her daughters-in-law - Queen Ingrid (Margrethe's mother) and Princess Caroline Mathilda, Prince Knud's wife. It seems she had a close relationship to her daughters-in-law which I think is sweet.

http://www.royalty-postcards.com/Ima...ghters-in-.jpg

Jil · #2 10-30-2005, 07:37 PM

Ysbel,

Do you own these postcards or are they from some website?
I think the postcard with Prince Aage's wife looks strange! It looks like they took the photo of his wife and placed it beside his photo from the previous postcard. It is very surprising to see his wife with such a big smile on her face! Most photos back then showed people not smiling or smiling slightly. Her smile looks like she is up to something!

ysbel · #3 10-30-2005, 07:40 PM

Hi Jil,

No, I don't own them. I just saw them on a postcard website. You're lucky to own these postcards.

I think you're right about Prince Aage's wife. Wonder if she was up to something? :)

GrandDuchessOlga · #4 05-31-2007, 05:37 PM

I love Ingrid in the last photo. She looks so sweet and natural.

Wow! Count Ingolf and Princess Elisabeth look like their mother so much.

HRH Kerry · #5 05-31-2007, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jil

...Her smile looks like she is up to something!

Either that or she knew something!

Thanks for posting the pics, they look to be in good condition.

**Marengo** · #6 06-01-2007, 10:35 AM

Thanks for posting these postcards Ysabel. Alexandrine must have had a rather difficult life, with such a husband., But she seems to have been a good influence on him, she was able to calm him most of the time.

I beleive I read a remark about her in the biography of Queen WIlhelmina by Prof. Fasseur, stating that Wilhelmina wasn't too fond of the King (to say the least) but that she was on good terms with his wife.

norwegianne · #7 06-01-2007, 01:55 PM

In Billed Bladet these past two editions, there have been questions about Princess Helena of Denmark, née Glücksburg, and her German sympathies during the war, which led to her being sent out of Denmark when the peace came - and they also commented on Queen Alexandrine being of German descent, but she had done the complete opposite of her sister-in-law. Alexandrine seemed intent on being Danish during the war.

She never invited Germans in uniform to her home, even if they were relatives. Relatives could come, if they didn't wear their uniforms. If they were in uniform, they were frozen out. Whilst Helena held soirees for the Germans in uniform.

**Marengo** · #8 06-01-2007, 02:52 PM

Was Helena ever allowed to return to Denmark, after her initial 'banishment'?

Perhaps it also played a role that Helena was a rather dominant character herself, over powering her husband Harald somewhat. While in the marriage of Christian and Alexandrine the roles were reverse.

norwegianne · #9 06-01-2007, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

Was Helena ever allowed to return to Denmark, after her initial 'banishment'?

Perhaps it also played a role that Helena was a rather dominant character herself, over powering her husband Harald somewhat. While in the marriage of Christian and Alexandrine the roles were reverse.

She was banished by Christian X in 1945. She was allowed to return when her spouse, Prince Harald, fell ill. (He died in March, 1949, so I presume Helena was allowed to return either this year or the year before.). After her return, she was allowed to live in Denmark again.

The thing is that as the King is the one with judicial power over the royal family - everything around this banishment was something directly ordered by him.

Probably made for a bit of family-awkwardness as not only was he banishing his brother's wife, but Helena and Harald's daughter, Caroline-Mathilde, had married Christian and Alexandrine's son, Knud.

ysbel · #10 06-01-2007, 05:07 PM

I think the difficulties for Alexandrine started with the First World War, after all, her sister was Crown Princess of Prussia which probably didn't go over well in some circles.

Queen Alexandrine's grandfather being a Grand Duke of Russia and her father being a German prince, her own family must have been devasted from the two World Wars.

**Marengo** · #11 06-04-2007, 07:00 AM

And after the wars she would have all this impoverished relations coming over to ask for money. Esp. the Mecklenburg-Schwerin family had a hard time, Queen Wilhlmina provided some money for some of them, so I gather that Alexandrine did too (I don't believe that Christiaan could have been more frugal then his Dutch collegue).

ysbel · #12 06-04-2007, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

And after the wars she would have all this impoverished relations coming over to ask for money. Esp. the Mecklenburg-Schwerin family had a hard time, Queen Wilhlmina provided some money for certain of them, so I gather that Alexandrine did too (I don't believe that Christiaan could have been more frugal then his Dutch collegue).

Well Christian X was a bit miserly with his own aunt the Dowager Empress of Russia when she came in exile so I don't think he was more generous with his in-laws. But the DRF didn't have that much money to begin with so I don't think it was meanness so much as the fact that he didn't have the money.

After WWII Mecklenburg-Schwerin fell under Communist rule and I always wondered what Alexandrine thought about that. She died in 1952 shortly after the end of the war.

**Marengo** · #13 06-04-2007, 09:56 AM

I am wondering about that too actually. How was the contact between the Danish RF and Christian-Ludwig and Barbara of Mecklenburg? Did they attend the wedding of CP Margrethe for example?

-
I remember the story about Christiaan warning his aunt Minny not to use to much lights and as a result she ordered all the lights in her part of the palace to be lit. I assume it was a relief on both sides when she left for Hvidore.

**Stefan** · #14 06-05-2007, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

I am wondering about that too actually. How was the contact between the Danish RF and Christian-Ludwig and Barbara of Mecklenburg? Did they attend the wedding of CP Margrethe for example?

Yes Christian Ludwigh and Barbara attended the wedding of Margrethe and Henrik as did Louis Ferdinand and Kira of Prussia.
Friedrich Franz of Mecklenburg came to an Visit to his aunt during the war in uniform he was never invited again.

**Marengo** · #15 06-06-2007, 02:28 PM

Was Friedrich Franz a stauinch Nazi supporter or 'just' a soldier'? Was this episode solely responsible for the lack of invitations or had his marriage to a commoner something to do with it too?

**Stefan** · #16 06-06-2007, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

Was Friedrich Franz a stauinch Nazi supporter or 'just' a soldier'? Was this episode solely responsible for the lack of invitations or had his marriage to a commoner something to do with it too?

Don't know if he was a Nazi-Supporter. As far as i know this epsidoe was why he wasn't invited again.-

auntie · #17 06-11-2007, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

Thanks for posting these postcards Ysabel. Alexandrine must have had a rather difficult life, with such a husband., But she seems to have been a good influence on him, she was able to calm him most of the time.

I beleive I read a remark about her in the biography of Queen WIlhelmina by Prof. Fasseur, stating that Wilhelmina wasn't too fond of the King (to say the least) but that she was on good terms with his wife.

Why? was the king a difficult person? I was under the impression that he was warm and friendly, and a father figure to the Danish nation during WWII?!

**Marengo** · #18 06-13-2007, 09:31 AM

I actually usually read that he was a sort of a bully towards the people who were closely around him, a bit in the style of George V.

JessRulz · #19 12-13-2010, 07:14 PM

Here is the 1951 royal Christmas card, introduced by Queen Alexandrine. It features the Queen surrounded by her six grandchildren: (L-R) Margrethe, Ingolf, Anne-Marie, Elisabeth, Christian and Benedikte.

Viv · #20 01-22-2011, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by auntie

Why? was the king a difficult person? I was under the impression that he was warm and friendly, and a father figure to the Danish nation during WWII?!

A belated reply:

King Christian X was a rigid, gruff and über-correct person, a caricature of an old fashioned army officer. As Marengo said he was known as a bully within the family, which Queen Margrethe has testified to in several interviews over the years. The only person who could soften him was CP Ingrid, his savvy daugther-in-law. She convinced him to continue his daily horseback ride through the streets of Copenhagen during the German occupation; she thought that it was a way of 'flying the flag' on behalf of the Danish population, and rightly so. The comparison with King George V of GB et al is probably not completely off the mark; they were first cousins, they were about the same age and the grew up with more or less idential ideals and world views.

Viv