Which Christmas child was the ‘authentic royal pin-up’?

She devoted her life to serving the monarchy and by no means put a foot fallacious – regardless of private turmoil which will have induced a lesser lady to throw within the towel. 

During her many years of service, Princess Alexandra proved herself to be the epitome of sophistication, cementing herself as a favorite amongst royals.

Even confronted with the hardest of occasions she saved calm and carried on. She grew up in relative poverty along with her brothers Edward, the Duke of Kent, and Prince Michael of Kent, following the demise of their father in a 1942 aircraft crash.

Then there was her once-chequered relationship along with her daughter who publicly criticised her mother and father and at one level was receiving advantages.

But after changing into the primary ever royal child to be born on Christmas Day, Alexandra was all the time going to be remembered. She was additionally the final royal child whose start was witnessed – as had been conventional – by the Home Secretary of the day.

Alexandra’s arrival in  1936 got here two weeks after the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII, so the world had much more of a motive to maintain her identify in thoughts.  

Back then, she was sixth in line to the throne and, though she died a lowly 56th, Princess Alexandra maintained a steadfast dedication to obligation throughout many years of loyal service as a working royal.

This was typified by the truth that – regardless of being very frail – she discovered the energy to attend the coronation of King Charles in May,

Her function now as an efficient patron of greater than 100 totally different organisations was a far cry from when she was, within the phrases of 1 professional, the ‘authentic royal pin-up’ – earlier than Meghan Markle had even been born or Princess Diana was a family identify. 

Her glamorous wedding ceremony to businessman Sir Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in 1963 was watched by an estimated 200 million folks. 

The Princess, who was a primary cousin of each the late Queen and Prince Philip, was the second youngster of Prince George the Duke of Kent, the youthful brother of Edward VIII and George VI.

Her father was stated to be ‘burdened with a libido the scale of an elephant’, bedding girls and the occasional chap earlier than and after his marriage to Princess Marina.

And simply days after Princess Alexandra was born her father was found ‘in the company’ of Paula Gellibrand, a famous society magnificence married to a former MP, forcing the Prince and the person he cuckolded to challenge sizzling denials. 

But Alexandra’s start was a welcome constructive piece of royal information after weeks of dangerous headlines throughout the abdication disaster, which noticed Edward VIII hand over the crown to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

Alexandra’s arrival, on the household’s Belgravia residence, was additionally the final to have the custom of getting the Home Secretary – then Sir John Simon – current to confirm the start of potential heirs to the throne. 

Tragedy struck six years later when Alexandra’s father was tragically killed in a mysterious aircraft crash in Scotland in 1942, simply weeks after the start of his youngest son, Prince Michael of Kent. 

The RAF airman died together with 13 different crew members shortly after take-off in a Sunderland flying boat that had been certain for Iceland.

His demise meant that Alexandra and her siblings grew up with out a father at their Buckinghamshire residence, Coppins. 

Treasured possessions and the household’s London townhouse in Belgrave Square needed to be bought by Princess Marina to make ends meet, earlier than she was helped by her brother-in-law King George VI with an annual allowance.

The lack of household cash meant that Alexandra turned the primary royal princess to be despatched away to highschool moderately than being educated at residence by a governess.

The Princess spent 5 years at Heathfield in Sussex, though for a part of that point she stayed along with her grandmother Queen Mary at Badminton House in Gloucestershire.

Queen Mary had been ordered by her son King George to remain on the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort during the Second World War. 

When Alexandra left Heathfield in 1952, her ultimate report famous that, ‘…all of the loveable qualities of fast sympathy, affection and generosity, laughter and complete honesty are nonetheless there in abundance.’

But the next 12 months, any laughter would have been in brief provide when she needed to face the crushing lack of her grandmother, who handed away in March, lower than three months earlier than the Queen’s Coronation in Westminster Abbey.

Whilst Alexandra had been too younger for her father’s demise to deeply have an effect on her long-term, she had been extraordinarily near Queen Mary, seeing her as a second mom. 

The matriarch had taken her to the cinema and the theatre, in addition to Madame Tussaud’s.

When the Coronation went forward as deliberate on June 2, Alexandra didn’t have an energetic function, in distinction to her standing as a bridesmaid on the Queen’s wedding ceremony in 1947. 

She did nonetheless get to put on a costume designed by Norman Hartnell, who was in command of the Queen’s personal robe. 

After the Royal Family returned to Buckingham Palace following proceedings on the Abbey, the Princess donned a headband and raincoat and slipped away onto The Mall to mingle, unrecognised, among the many crowds. 

Her biographer Paul James instructed how the key journey marked her want to be the place ‘she belonged, among the many folks’.  

Alexandra then launched into life as a working royal, in addition to coaching to be a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital, the place she helped to deal with infants.

By then, she had met the person who would turn out to be her husband.  

Businessman Sir Angus Ogilvy, who was eight years older than Alexandra, was not initially seen as a possible suitor, largely due to the age hole between the pair. 

His household did nonetheless have appropriate connections to the royals, along with his father, the twelfth Earl of Airlie, having served each King George V as a lord-in-waiting and the Queen Mother as Lord Chamberlain. 

Their courtship blossomed all through the Fifties and the couple lastly tied the knot at Westminster Abbey in April 1963.

By then, Alexandra’s duties had seen her full an in depth tour of Australia, a go to to Hong Kong and illustration of the Queen in Nigeria in 1960, after the nation gained its independence from Britain.  

Her wedding ceremony boasted a 2,000-strong visitor checklist that included King Olav of Norway and the Queens of Greece, Denmark and Sweden. 

In an indication of the love through which Alexandra was held by the Queen, Her Majesty held a ball at Windsor Castle in her honour two days earlier than her wedding ceremony. 

The new couple spent the primary a part of their honeymoon at Birkhall on the Balmoral property earlier than flying overseas for a motoring tour of Spain. 

Soon after, unfounded rumours emerged that Prince Philip and Alexandra had engaged in an affair.

In his biography Philip And Elizabeth, author Gyles Brandreth confirmed that Sir Angus was so dismayed by the tittle-tattle that he raised the matter with the Queen’s non-public secretary Martin Charteris, searching for recommendation as to what to do.

Anyone who’s near Alexandra is adamant she would by no means had finished such a factor.

Meanwhile, Alexandra and Sir Angus settled into royal life at their new residence, Thatched House Lodge in Richmond Park. 

It was there that they raised their two youngsters, James, who was born in 1964 and Marina, born in 1966. 

Neither of the pair have an official title, because of the truth that Angus turned down his personal earldom when he tied the knot along with his spouse. 

Unlike his sister, James – a panorama designer and profitable writer – has saved largely out of the highlight.

In the late Nineteen Eighties, Marina had a public rift along with her mother and father, accusing them of threatening her with a shotgun wedding ceremony and abortion after she fell pregnant with boyfriend Paul Mowatt.

In 2003, it emerged she was dwelling on state advantages after divorcing Mowatt, whom she had two youngsters with, Zenouska and Christian. 

However, Marina’s relationship along with her mom was in ok form for her to be by her aspect on the Queen’s funeral final September. 

Sir Angus’s demise aged 76 on Boxing Day in 2004 was a heavy blow for Princess Alexandra, however she nonetheless continued her official duties.

And her closeness to the Queen was demonstrated in 2016, when the Queen held a celebration to rejoice her charity work and to mark her eightieth birthday. They intentionally matched their diamonds, pearls and even the color and materials of their outfits; the hidden message being ‘tonight we’re equals’.

She oversaw charities starting from the British Skin Foundation and the Light Infantry Club to the British Goat Society.

Her workload, though lowered in her later years on account of well being points she struggled with, nonetheless included visiting hospices, assembly Alzheimer’s victims and dealing with the blind.

Her Royal Highness had additionally been Patron and Air Chief Commandant of Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service since November 1966.

In 2020 she was hailed for her efforts to assist the nation throughout the first months of the coronavirus pandemic. 

She was amongst royals who spoke on the telephone to aged veterans and in addition praised healthcare employees in a video message. 

Those efforts got here regardless of latest well being struggles. In 2019 she broke her arm and in 2013 needed to cancel a collection of engagements after growing polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR).

Royal historian Hugo Vickers has described the Princess as a ‘little bit of a nationwide treasure’, including: ‘She’s the real article: essentially the most royal of all of them – the daughter of a British prince and a princess with Greek and Russian royal blood.’ 

Author Christopher Wilson added that in addition to having been the ‘authentic royal pin-up’, she had ‘impeccable manners’ and has all the time been in a position to ‘maintain her dignity’.

Last March, Princess Alexandra demonstrated her dedication to obligation by supporting the Queen at Prince Philip’s memorial service, even though her proper foot was in a medical boot and she or he wanted a crutch for assist.

And at Her Late Majesty’s funeral, she once more had a crutch in her hand as she arrived for the service. 

On the day of the King’s coronation, Alexandra beamed as she was supported by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh for the official household {photograph}. 

Despite her mobility issues, she carried out 48 engagements in 2022.

She was, as one other biographer famous, ‘essentially the most environment friendly working princess on the planet.’