Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the Sweet-Tempered and Fair-Headed

Princess Alexandra of Hohenlohe-Langenburg with her children. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Alexandra Louise Olga Victoria was born at the Schloss Rosenau in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany on September 1, 1878, the third daughter and fourth child of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. She was the granddaughter of Alexander II of Russia and Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Affectionately called “Sandra” by family and friends, Princess Alexandra was described by her sister Marie as “fat”, “harmless”, “sweet-tempered and fair headed”. She was not as brilliant as her other sisters, and was considered to be more restrained and less beautiful than they were.

Princess Alexandra, together with her sisters Marie (future Queen of Romania), Victoria Melita (later Grand Duchess of Hesse and, afterwards, Grand Duchess of Russia), and Beatrice (future Infanta of Spain and Duchess of Galliera) had a peripatetic life when she growing up, transferring from one place to other—Germany, United Kingdom, Malta, and Cyprus—due to her father’s career in the Navy.

Their mother, believing her daughters must marry young, orchestrated Princess Alexandra’s engagement to Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg despite objections from her own husband, who had doubts about the status of his future-son-in-law, and Queen Victoria, who thought her granddaughter was still too young. The Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha prevailed and Princess Alexandra married Ernst in Coburg, Germany on April 20, 1896. The union produced five children.

Following the marriage, now Princess Alexandra of Hohenlohe-Langenburg spent the rest of her life in Germany. Although she loved the country, she was not too keen on how often it rained there that she would “bemoan the weather… it becomes a personal offence”. At the height of World War I, she worked as a Red Cross Nurse.

Upstaged by her three other sisters. As Royal Digest writer John Wimbles once put it in his 2005 article of the princess, Alexandra was a “shadowy figure eclipsed by her brilliant sisters”.

Nevertheless, together with her husband and several of her children, she was one of the earliest supporters of the Nazi Party, which she joined on May 1, 1937. She passed away on April 16, 1942 in Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She was 63 yearsold. Her remains were buried in the family cemetery at Schloss Langenburg.