Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Empress of India (1844 -1925) is a royal figure often disregarded in historical literature. Although studies surrounding Alexandra’s husband, King Edward VII, are plentiful, there is comparatively little written about Alexandra other than a handful of biographies and academic literature surrounding her clothes.[1] Perhaps this is due to Edward’s scandalous, playboy lifestyle and position as monarch. It is interesting that both Alexandra and Edward requested for all their correspondences to be destroyed upon their deaths. As a result, there is a lack of primary sources for historians, yet Edward has received far more scholarly attention than Alexandra. Because of the lack of written sources by Alexandra, analysing her through her appearance is logical as the majority of existing sources are photographs and paintings. It is through her appearance that I will analyse her again, but rather than addressing the clothes she wore, I will analyse her limp due to its visibility and her aim for it to be disguised.
Alexandra’s biographies provide us with a chronology of her life from being born into the modest Danish royal family in 1844, to her death as Queen Mother in 1925. Although this is useful information, there is a distinct lack of analysis following her tenures as Princess of Wales, Queen Consort, and Queen Mother. Considering her relations to the royal families of Denmark, Russia, Greece, and Britain, in addition to her being a senior royal with two disabilities, it is surprising that the only academic literature about Alexandra focuses on the clothes she wore.
Alexandra was a beauty icon during her life. As the most photographed woman of the nineteenth century, Alexandra set beauty and fashion standards at court and throughout the nation.[2] Alexandra’s beauty and fashion choices are interesting ways to gain an insight into her public persona, but her appearance can tell us more about late nineteenth and early twentieth century society and attitudes. Although briefly mentioned in her biographies, Alexandra’s disabilities have been neglected in literature about her life. Alexandra was partially deaf since birth, which progressively worsened throughout her life and old age, and she was left with a permanent limp after her numerous pregnancies. The British Sign Language Zone created a short documentary on Alexandra’s deafness, and the British Deaf History Society wrote an article highlighting her charitable support for the deaf community.[3] However, little attention has been paid to Alexandra’s physical disability.
After Alexandra married Edward in 1863, Alexandra quickly became pregnant which secured the lineage for the British throne. Alexandra gave birth in 1864, 1865, 1867, 1868, 1869, and 1871. The continual years of pregnancy took its toll on the young princess and resulted in a bout of rheumatic fever in 1867. This left her with a permanent limp, which she struggled with in her following pregnancies and throughout her life.[4] Alexandra’s baby from her final pregnancy in 1871 died soon after they were born prematurely. After this, Alexandra and Edward’s doctor advised that it would be unsafe to have any more children.[5]
Ladies at court briefly began to imitate Alexandra’s limp out of admiration, given her established identity as a fashion icon. This was astutely termed “the Alexandra limp.”[6] The existence of “the Alexandra limp” highlights the profound status and admiration of Alexandra, as she unintentionally turned a disability into a fashion trend during a time of intense prejudice towards disabled people. Alexandra developed a way of walking to disguise her limp and even had her clothes altered in a specific way to hide it as she moved.[7]
People with disabilities were regularly “othered” from nineteenth and early twentieth century society, whether they were disabled since birth or in later life. Their experiences are also marginalised in historical research.[8] Prince John, Alexandra’s grandson, was separated from his family in 1917 after he was diagnosed with epilepsy and was sent to live in a house near Sandringham with his nurse.[9] Prince John died there soon after at the age of thirteen from a severe seizure.[10] Therefore, Alexandra’s experience of disability can be regarded as an anomaly when compared to other experiences of disability in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain. Rather than Alexandra needing to seclude herself due to her disability, it became a celebrated phenomenon amongst elite members of society.
Multiple factors contributed towards Alexandra’s unique experience of disability, such as her position as a senior royal, her disability gained from producing heirs, and her overwhelming popularity at court and the wider nation. Perhaps it was also these reasons which led to the concealment of her limp. Did she want to maintain her image as a beauty and fashion icon by reinforcing the same standards she conformed to? Was she concerned that she would be treated differently by the public? Were there concerns that the health of the royal family would be questioned because of her limp?
Alexandra’s disguise of her limp by changing the way she walked and having her clothes altered in a specific way reveals her own attitude towards her body. Despite her limp becoming a social phenomenon at court in the beginning, Alexandra wanted her disability concealed. Alexandra was the most prominent and interesting character in the nineteenth and early twentieth century British royal family. In my PhD thesis, I aim to analyse her disability by expanding on the reasons for its concealment in the wider context of nineteenth century attitudes towards disabilities.
Top image credit: Queen Alexandra, Queen Alexandra’s Christmas Giftbook: Photographs from My Camera (Daily Telegraph: London, 1908), Author’s own collection.
Lucy Haigh is a PhD student at University of Sheffield studying representations of Alexandra, Princess of Wales, Queen Consort and Queen Mother, in the political press from 1863 to 1925. Lucy’s research analyses how perceptions of femininity and monarchy changed throughout the period, placing it in the wider context of a rapidly changing society. Lucy has previously written about Alexandra’s international connections and has spoken about republicanism in late nineteenth century England. Follow Lucy on social media: X/Twitter (@lucy_haigh6) and BlueSky (@lucyhaigh.bsky.social).
[1] Some biographies include: Battiscombe, Georgina, Queen Alexandra (London: Constable & Company LTD, 1969); Diamond, Francis, Queen Alexandra: Loyalty and Love (History and Heritage Publishing: United Kingdom, 2022); Hough, Richard, Edward and Alexandra: Their Private and Public Lives (Hodder and Stoughton: Kent, 1992). Kate Strasdin has written about Alexandra’s clothes and wardrobe extensively, focusing on the management of her wardrobe, her dressers, and some symbolism behind her most famous gowns. Strasdin, Kate, Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen Alexandra (Bloomsbury Publishing: London, 2019).
[2] Polland, Imke, ‘How to Fashion the Popularity of the British Monarchy: Alexandra, Princess of Wales and the Attractions of Attire’, in Muller, Frank Lorenz and Mehrkens, Heidi, Royal Heirs and the Uses of Soft Power in 19thc Europe (Palgrave Macmillan: London, 2016) p.214 quoting John Plunkett
[3] British Deaf History Society, ‘The Royal Chairs’. Available online: https://www.bdhs.org.uk/timeline/the-royal-chairs/ Accessed on 20/05/2024; BSL Zone, ‘Deaf History: Queen Alexandra’. Available online: https://www.bslzone.co.uk/watch/deaf-history/deaf-history-queen-alexandra Accessed on 20/05/2024
[4] Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra, pp. 92, 94
[5] Diamond, Queen Alexandra, p.133
[6] Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra, p.92; Strasdin, Inside The Royal Wardrobe, p.46
[7] Strasdin, Inside The Royal Wardrobe, p.46
[8] Cleall, Esme, ‘Jane Groom and the Deaf Colonists: Empire, Emigration and the Agency of Disabled People in the late Nineteenth-Century British Empire’, History Workshop Journal 81 (2016) p. 39
[9] Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra, pp. 258, 279, 280
[10] Battiscombe, Queen Alexandra, p.280