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30-6-2004 Print article (IE & NS 4+)
The enormously popular Princess Alexandra, who turns 40 years old today, hasn't put a foot wrong in nine years of public life in Denmark
Daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten profiled Alexandra on her recent trip to Sarajevo as honorary president of UNICEF, a trip in which the Hong Kong-born princess displayed her uncanny knack for listening intently, and making people from all walks of life feel valued and respected. Jyllands-Posten's reporter trailed Alexandra as she listened to the story of a 15-year-old blind boy from Sarajev, Robert Kajusic, taking the boy's left hand reassuringly as he related the story of how he lost his right arm and his sight when he and some friends happened upon an unexploded grenade. Princess Alexandra's visit to children in Sarajevo was part of the tireless campaign she has waged over the past several years to draw attention to suffering children and make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate.
In honour of the princess's 40th birthday today, media outlets across the country are paying tribute to Alexandra's ability to break down barriers and nurture contacts between people: her friendly and easy smile, genuine interest, broad knowledge, and empathy for those who suffer, from children to single mothers, pets, torture victims, or the blind. Alexandra's list of protectorates runs the gamut of Danish society, and as she approached her 40th birthday, the princess expressed an interest in taking on even more responsibility. In an exclusive interview with Ritzau news bureau last week, Alexandra said she hoped to become "more than just a ribbon cutter"--hoping to get involved in the day-to-day running of organizations near and dear to her heart. The Danish Red Cross has benefited enormously from Alexandra's personal involvement, and General Secretary Jørgen Poulsen has publicly praised her abilities.
Alexandra is a household name in Denmark--and a glimmer of her eventual role in the nation's public role was even apparent nearly ten days ago, when Alexandra Christina Manley took the Danish people by storm at a press conference just before her November 1995 wedding to Prince Joachim. Alexandra interrupted the official programme of the event, and took over the microphone, thanking the public in Danish for an official wedding gift of funds to restore Schackenborg Castle, her future home.
Until 1995, Alexandra lived and worked in the city of her birth, Hong Kong, where she was born the daughter of Richard Nigel Manley, a businessman of English-Chinese heritage, and the Austrian-born Christa Maria Manley. After completing her education in business economics, with study sabbaticals in Tokyo, London, and Vienna, Alexandra worked from 1990 to 1995 for G.T. Management (Asia) Ltd., where she attained the rank of deputy director.
The beginnings of her life in Denmark began auspiciously in 1994, when Prince Joachim was working for A.P. Møller's office in Hong Kong. Crown Prince Frederik paid a visit to his brother, and at a dinner held in his honor, Joachim and Alexandra were seated next to each other. The charmed meeting led to several dates between the two, romance blossomed, and during a vacation in the Philippines, Prince Joachim popped the question.
The entire relationship developed in secrecy. Not a single Danish journalist caught wind of the affair. But suspicions were raised on 31 May 1995, when Ritzau news bureau issued a noonday telegram announcing that Prince Joachim was to be married--and identified his fiancée as one of the daughters of the Spanish King.
It was with the added satisfaction of pulling a fast one on the national media that Joachim presented his future bride at a hastily assembled press conference at Fredensborg Palace.
The Danish people were immediately fascinated with the exotic, petite woman in the towering heels and Chanel suit with silk gardenia on the lapel (the look quickly became a fashion trend). She was hailed as a woman of the world, bringing a little international colour into the staid royal house. And her quick linguistic acumen didn't hurt matters, either--Danes were duly impressed with her ability to carry on a conversation after just six months and 200 hours of classroom instruction.
Today, Alexandra celebrates her 40th birthday, and her decade in Denmark has made an impression. And by all accounts, the evolution from high-powered executive to modern woman, wife, and mother suits her very well. Though she is perhaps most at home in the company of her two sons, Nikolai and Felix, Alexandra is also adept at the art and artifice of royal style, and can carry off a tiara with the best.
Alexandra had few indications of how her future life would unfold when she consented to marry Prince Joachim, and the pair had few days alone in Copenhagen before the engagement was announced. But in an interview with celebrity journalist Ninka, appearing in daily newspaper Politiken in 1996, Alexandra spoke candidly about making a relationship work: "One knows a little beforehand, for instance that marriage demands that both people respect each other…and even though a marriage is a party of not one, but two, both people need the space to be themselves."
Eventually, two became four, and Alexandra has since embraced the challenges of being a working mum.
"I'd like to travel out in the world, and I feel that my children are old enough now that I can travel. They're very well cared for, and Prince Joachim and I always make sure that one of us is home at all times," Alexandra told Ritzau last week, though her trip to Sarajevo last autumn was an exception, marking the first time that Nikolai and Felix were left in the care of nannies.
"But it's going well," Alexandra told Jyllands-Posten at the time. "I call home every night and talk to Nikolai. Felix doesn't say much yet, but I am very deliberate about making sure that Nikolai is the first to say good-bye before we hang up."
Alexandra veritably bursts with pride when she speaks publicly of her sons--she told members of the press once that Nikolai and Felix's first word was neither "Mama" nor "Papa," but "tractor," the true mark of a farmer's son.
"And I am proud of that," she said.
Article on Princess Alexandra for her BD. From the Copeghagen Post.
I think that article on Alexandra is a very good one.
