Princess Alexandra of Kent
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Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy (Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel Ogilvy, née Windsor), styled HRH Princess Alexandra, is a member of the British Royal Family, a granddaughter of King George V. She was married to the late Sir Angus Ogilvy.
Princess Alexandra carries out royal duties on behalf of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth II. She is 32nd in the line of succession to the British throne.
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Early life
Template:British Royal Family Princess Alexandra was born on 25 December 1936 at 3 Belgrave Square, London. Her father was The Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. Her mother was HRH The Duchess of Kent (nee Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark), a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna of Russia. As a granddaughter of the British monarch, she was styled as a British princess with the prefix, Her Royal Highness. At the time of her birth she was sixth in the line of succession to the British throne.
Princess Alexandra spent most her childhood at her family's country house, Coppins, in Buckinghamshire. She lived with her grandmother, Queen Mary, the widow of George V, during World War II at Badminton. Her father was killed in an aeroplane crash near Caithness, Scotland on 25 August 1942 whilst serving in the Royal Air Force.
She served as bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousins, the then-Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh, on 20 November 1947. Princess Alexandra has the distinction of being the first British princess to have attended an ordinary school, Heathfield School near Ascot.
Marriage
On 24 April 1963, she married The Honourable Angus James Bruce Ogilvy (1928-2004), the second son of the 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Coke, at Westminster Abbey. The wedding ceremony was attended by all the members of the Royal Family and was broadcast worldwide on television, watched by an estimated 200 million people.
Since Ogilvy declined the Queen's offer of an earldom upon marriage (although he remained in line to the earldom of Airlie until his death), he remained a commoner. Consequently, the children of the marriage do not have titles. Ogilvy received a knighthood in 1988 and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1997. Princess Alexandra and Sir Angus Ogilvy had two children and four grandchildren, none of whom carries out royal duties:
- James Ogilvy, born 29 February 1964, married 30 July 1988 Julia Rawlinson, and has issue: Flora Ogilvy (born 1994) and Alexander Ogilvy (born 1996).
- Marina Victoria Alexandra Ogilvy, born 31 July 1966, married 2 February 1990 Paul Mowatt (marriage dissolved 1997), and has issue: Zenouska Mowatt (born 1990) and Christian Mowatt (born 1993).
Royal duties
Since the late 1950s, Princess Alexandra has carried out an extensive program of royal engagements in support of the Queen. She represented the Queen when Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom on October 1, 1960. Princess Alexandra was Chancellor of Lancaster University since its foundation in 1964, a post she relinquished in 2005. She is also an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the Royal College of Physicians.
Princess Alexandra receives £225,000 per year from the Civil List to cover the cost of official expenses; although like the other members of the Royal Family (except the Duke of Edinburgh) the Queen repays this amount to the Treasury. Her personal standard flies over homes in Gloucestershire and her London apartments in St. James's Palace.
Family troubles
Although usually a low profile member of the British Royal Family, Princess Alexandra's family have also came under media scrutiny at various points in her life. Her husband Angus Ogilvy was a director at a mining company, Lonrho when it was involved in a scandal over the breaking of trade sanctions against British-held Rhodesia. The Prime Minister at the time, Edward Heath criticised the company, and Ogilvy resigned his directorships.
In 1989, Princess Alexandra and her husband became embroiled in a public row with their daughter, Marina, after she fell pregnant by her boyfriend, a freelance photographer, Paul Mowatt. Persuaded by her lover, Marina subsequently appeared in the Today newspaper, publicly criticising her family and posing for photographs with a crown. Marina married Paul Mowatt in 1990, with Sir Angus giving the bride away. Apart from Princess Alexandra, no other member of the Royal Family attended. Since then, Marina has divorced Paul Mowatt and is now reconciled with her parents.
Titles and honours
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Titles from birth
- Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent (25 December 1936-25 December 1960)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent, GCVO (25 December 1960-24 April 1963)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Mrs Angus Ogilvy, GCVO (24 April 1963-1989)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, GCVO (1989-2003)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, LG, GCVO (2003- )
Her full title is Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.
Honours
Honorary military appointments
- Colonel-in-Chief of The King's Own Royal Border Regiment,
- Colonel-in-Chief of The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
- Colonel-in-Chief of The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's)
- Colonel-in-Chief of The Light Infantry
- Royal Honorary Colonel of The Royal Yeomanry
- Deputy Colonel-in-Chief of The Queen's Royal Lancers.
| Preceded by: The Lady Gabriella Windsor | Line of Succession to the British throne | Succeeded by: James Ogilvy |