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Alexandra of Denmark

Queen consort of the United Kingdom from 1901 to 1910

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ152260 ↗
Source-derived summary

Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of King Edward VII.

Alexandra's family had been relatively obscure until 1852, when her father, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was chosen (with the consent of the major European powers) to succeed his second cousin Frederick VII as King of Denmark. At the age of 16, she was chosen as the future wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the son and heir apparent of Queen Victoria. The couple married 18 months later in 1863, the year in which her father became king of Denmark as Christian IX and her brother William was appointed king of Greece as George I.

Alexandra was Princess of Wales from 1863 to 1901, the longest anyone has ever held that title, and became generally popular; fashion-conscious women copied her style of dress and bearing. Largely excluded from wielding any political power, she unsuccessfully attempted to sway the opinion of British ministers and her husband's family to favour Greek and Danish interests. Her public duties were restricted to uncontroversial involvement in charitable work.

On the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Albert Edward became king-emperor as Edward VII, with Alexandra as queen-empress consort. She became queen mother on Edward VII's death in 1910, at which point their son George V acceded to the throne. Alexandra died aged 80 in 1925.

Early life

Alexandra, known as "Alix" to her immediate family, was born on 1 December 1844 at the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, immediately adjacent to the Amalienborg Palace complex in Copenhagen. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Alexandra of Denmark” as queen consort of the United Kingdom from 1901 to 1910. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alexandra, Denmark and Queen.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1844, 1925, 1901, 1910—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1844-12-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Alexandra, Denmark and Queen providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Alexandra of Denmark”, the useful work is to connect “queen consort of the United Kingdom from 1901 to 1910” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q152260. VIAF identifies the subject as 268757034. The Library of Congress control number is n50033332. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1844, 1925, 1901 and 1910.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alexandra of Denmark”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alexandra of Denmark primary sources, Alexandra of Denmark archive and Alexandra research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alexandra of Denmark”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Alexandra of Denmark” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.