Thank you to our community member and Princess Alexandra superfan, Jane Maple, for this post.
Jane’s Thesis
Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy, is a spectacularly elegant and engaging woman who has served her cousin the queen loyally for most of her 80+ years until arthritis forced her to curtail many of her engagements. She is also the only royal I have ever been cheeky to, which is a whole ‘nother story… but one of the many reasons I adore her.
Alexandra’s evening wear has gone through three basic phases over the course of her long working life. As a young woman she was often a very stylish mini-me behind her amazing mother, Princess Marina.
Oddly (or traditionally) enough, she actually had access to more tiaras/bling before she was married. Her mother left the significant pieces to her sons, but I did find one photo of Alix wearing the Kent Festoon tiara now worn by Princess Michael and one of her wearing her mother’s pearl and diamond bandeau which, apparently, was sold to pay death duties.
Runners-Up
After her marriage, there are some wonderfully romantic portraits of Alexandra dressed and bejewelled as the perfect Beta Princess (definitely a princess, but not the star of the show). The stuff fairy tales are made of. I’m sure she wore perfectly good and stylish gowns too, but these are the ones I remember from my ‘Charles and I are both single…’ youth.
And even though this isn’t an ‘evening’ photo, the ultimate romantic Alexandra is this 1972 photo.
In recent years, her working evening wear seems to be a version of her day wear – just minus the big hat. And she may be giving Anne a run for her recycling money; the first photo is from 1999, and the second is from 2019.
Winner
I’m a fan, and I hate to pick just one look from this Perfect Beta Princess, but if I have to, then this one, from 2016, because a velvet evening coat is going to get me every time. (Handbag note: we added another photo of the dress from a different outing, so you could see it in all it’s glory!)
