Editing Alexandra of Denmark (section)

==Princess of Wales==

Albert Edward and Alexandra visited [[Ireland]] in April 1868. After her illness the previous year, she had only just begun to walk again without the aid of two walking sticks, and was already pregnant with her fourth child.{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|p=94}} The royal couple undertook a six-month tour taking in [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], [[Khedivate of Egypt|Egypt]] and [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]] over 1868 and 1869, which included visits to her brother [[George I of Greece]], to the [[Crimean]] battlefields and, for her only, to the harem of the [[Khedive Ismail]]. In [[Ottoman Empire|Turkey]] she became the first woman to sit down to dinner with the Sultan ([[Abdulaziz]]).{{sfn|Duff|1980|pp=93–100}}

The couple made [[Sandringham House]] their preferred residence, with [[Marlborough House]] their London base. Biographers agree that their marriage was in many ways a happy one; however, some have asserted that Albert Edward did not give his wife as much attention as she would have liked and that they gradually became estranged, until his attack of [[typhoid fever]] (the disease which was believed to have killed his father) in late 1871 brought about a reconciliation.{{sfn|Duff|1980|p=111}}<ref>[[Sir Philip Magnus-Allcroft, 2nd Baronet|Philip Magnus]], quoted in Battiscombe, pp. 109–110.</ref> This is disputed by others, who point out Alexandra's frequent pregnancies throughout this period and use family letters to deny the existence of any serious rift.{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|p=110}} Nevertheless, the prince was severely criticised from many quarters of society for his apparent lack of interest in her very serious illness with [[rheumatic fever]].{{sfn|Hough|1993|pp=132–134}} Throughout their marriage Albert Edward continued to keep company with other women, including the actress [[Lillie Langtry]], [[Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick]], humanitarian [[Agnes Keyser]], and society matron [[Alice Keppel]]. Alexandra knew about most of these relationships and later permitted Alice Keppel to visit her husband as he lay dying.<ref>{{harvnb|Battiscombe|1969|p=271}}; {{harvnb|Priestley|1970|pp=18, 180}}</ref> Alexandra herself remained faithful throughout her marriage.{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|pp=100–101}}
[[File:ALexandra of Denmark Princess of Wales.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Portrait of Alexandra of Denmark]]'' by [[Franz Xaver Winterhalter]], 1864]]
An increasing degree of deafness, caused by hereditary [[otosclerosis]], led to Alexandra's social isolation; she spent more time at home with her children and pets.<ref>{{harvnb|Battiscombe|1969|p=88}}; {{harvnb|Duff|1980|p=82}}</ref> Her sixth and final pregnancy ended with the birth of a son in April 1871, but the infant died the next day. Despite Alexandra's pleas for privacy, Queen Victoria insisted on announcing a period of court mourning, which led unsympathetic elements of the press to describe the birth as "a wretched abortion" and the funeral arrangements as "sickening mummery", even though the infant was not buried in state with other members of the royal family at Windsor, but in strict privacy in the churchyard at Sandringham, where he had lived out his brief life.{{sfn|Duff|1980|p=85}}

For eight months over 1875–76, Albert Edward was absent from Britain on a tour of India, but to her dismay Alexandra was left behind. The prince had planned an all-male group and intended to spend much of the time hunting and shooting. During his tour, one of Albert Edward's friends who was travelling with him, [[Lord Aylesford]], was told by his wife that she was going to leave him for another man, [[George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough|Lord Blandford]], who was himself married. Aylesford was appalled and decided to seek a [[divorce]].{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|pp=132–135}}

Meanwhile, Lord Blandford's brother, [[Lord Randolph Churchill]], persuaded the lovers against an elopement. Now concerned by the threat of divorce, Lady Aylesford sought to dissuade her husband from proceeding, but Lord Aylesford was adamant and refused to reconsider. In an attempt to pressure Lord Aylesford to drop his divorce suit, Lady Aylesford and Lord Randolph Churchill called on Alexandra and told her that if the divorce was to proceed they would subpoena her husband as a witness and implicate him in the scandal. Distressed at their threats, and following the advice of [[William Knollys (British Army officer)|Sir William Knollys]] and [[Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge|the Duchess of Teck]], Alexandra informed the Queen, who then wrote to the Prince of Wales. The prince was incensed. Eventually, the Blandfords and the Aylesfords both separated privately. Although Lord Randolph Churchill later apologised, for years afterwards the Prince of Wales refused to speak to or see him.{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|pp=132–135}}

Alexandra spent the spring of 1877 in Greece recuperating from a period of ill health and visiting her brother King George of Greece.{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|p=136}} During the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|Russo-Turkish War]], Alexandra was clearly partial against Turkey and towards Russia, where her sister was married to the Tsarevitch, and she lobbied for a revision of the border between Greece and Turkey in favour of the Greeks.{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|pp=150–152}} Alexandra spent the next three years largely parted from her two sons as the boys were sent on a worldwide cruise as part of their naval and general education. The farewell was very tearful and, as shown by her regular letters, she missed them terribly.{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|pp=155–156}} In 1881, Alexandra and Albert Edward travelled to [[Saint Petersburg]] after the [[assassination]] of [[Alexander II of Russia]], both to represent Britain and so that Alexandra could provide comfort to her sister, who had become [[tsarina]].<ref>{{harvnb|Battiscombe|1969|pp=157–160}}; {{harvnb|Duff|1980|p=131}}</ref>
[[File:Queen Alexandra, the Princess of Wales.jpg|alt=|thumb|Alexandra, photographed by [[Alexander Bassano]], 1881]]
[[File:Alexandra of Denmark02.jpg|thumb|Alexandra in 1889]]
Alexandra undertook many public duties; in the words of Queen Victoria, "to spare me the strain and fatigue of functions. She opens bazaars, attends concerts, visits hospitals in my place&nbsp;... she not only never complains, but endeavours to prove that she has enjoyed what to another would be a tiresome duty."<ref>Queen Victoria, quoted in Duff, p. 146.</ref> She took a particular interest in the [[London Hospital]], visiting it regularly. [[Joseph Merrick]], the so-called "Elephant Man", was one of the patients whom she met.<ref>{{harvnb|Battiscombe|1969|pp=257–258}}; {{harvnb|Duff|1980|pp=148–151}}</ref> Crowds usually cheered Alexandra rapturously,{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|p=166}} but during a visit to Ireland in 1885, she suffered a rare moment of public hostility when visiting the [[City of Cork]], a hotbed of [[Irish nationalism]]. She and her husband were booed by a crowd of two to three thousand people brandishing sticks and black flags. She smiled her way through the ordeal, which the British press still portrayed in a positive light, describing the crowds as "enthusiastic".<ref>''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', quoted in Battiscombe, p. 168.</ref> As part of the same visit, she received a Doctorate in Music from [[Trinity College Dublin]].{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|p=167}}

Alexandra was deeply saddened by the death of her eldest son, Prince Albert Victor, in 1892. His room and possessions were kept exactly as he had left them, much as those of his grandfather Prince Albert were left after his death in 1861.<ref>{{harvnb|Battiscombe|1969|pp=189–193, 197}}; {{harvnb|Duff|1980|p=184}}</ref> Alexandra said, "I have buried my angel and with him my happiness."<ref>Alexandra, quoted in Duff, p. 186.</ref> Surviving letters between Alexandra and her children indicate that they were mutually devoted.{{sfn|Battiscombe|1969|pp=141–142}} In 1894, her brother-in-law [[Alexander III of Russia]] died and her nephew [[Nicholas II]] became [[Tsar]]. Alexandra's widowed sister, Dowager Empress Maria of Russia, leant heavily on her for support; Alexandra, who had gone to Russia accompanied by her husband, slept, prayed, and stayed beside Maria for the next two weeks until Alexander's burial.<ref>{{harvnb|Battiscombe|1969|p=205}}; {{harvnb|Duff|1980|pp=196–197}}</ref> Alexandra and Albert Edward stayed on for the wedding of Nicholas to their niece [[Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine]], who had taken the Russian name Alexandra Feodorovna and became the new tsarina.