The Alexandra convex mirror is composed of a gilded metal frame thickly layered with rings of bronze, gold and crystal transparent Venetian glass rods.
The Alexandra convex mirror is about 16 inches in diameter. It is currently in my studio pending being shipped to one of my showrooms.
Jewelry for walls!
Below you will find three iconic “Alexandras”.
Princess Alexandra of Denmark, later Queen Alexandra of Great Britain, enjoyed a true rage-to-riches life. Her father, King Christian IX, did not succeed to the throne of Denmark till he was much older. He and his wife brought up their six children on 800 pounds a year from his army salary. Their life was very modest. With her marriage her life was catapulted into a world of great riches and privilege. In 1863, she married Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and she reigned as Princess of Wales from 1863-1901, the longest time anyone held that title. When Queen Victoria died in 1901, Albert Edward became King Edward VII, and Alexandra his queen-empress from 1901 to 1910. From the time of King Edward VII’s death in 1910 until she died in 1925, Queen Alexandra was the dowager queen and the queen mother of the reigning King, George V.
Alexandra and Edward went on to have six children together, but pregnancy and childbirth were not easy for the Princess and her health was damaged more and more with each pregnancy. It is believed that all of the children were born prematurely, with Albert Victor arriving a full two months earlier than planned. The birth of Princess Louise triggered a bout of rheumatic fever which left Alexandra with a limp for the rest of her life (many society ladies decided to copy the limping walk, and it sparked a rather odd new trend). These health problems plus a pre-existing condition which caused her hearing to decline meant that Alexandra was often isolated from court life and found herself at her happiest when she was at home with her children.
As a mother, Alix was extremely possessive, demanded complete devotion from her children, and insisted that they call her “Motherdear.” Her three daughters were much plainer than their beautiful mother and very shy. They were referred to by other family members as “the whispering Walses.” Princess Victoria was never allowed to marry as her parents considered all her suitors unsuitable. She was destined to spend her life attending her mother who would ring a bell at all hours of the day and night to summon Victoria to her side. Victoria’s cousin, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, described her as little more than “a glorified maid.”
She set fashion trends all over the world( the dog collar choker necklace was a bit of jewelry she made famous) and in England she tried to influence her husband’s family and British ministers to favor Greek and Danish interests. On a more personal level she withstood her husband’s infidelities, a domineering mother-in-law, the loss of two of her sons, and managed to develop her talents for woodworking and photography despite her extensive charity work and fulfilling the duties and obligations of being both the Queen and the Queen Mother.
She was truly loved by her family and her adapted country.
The portrait above was painted by François Flameng in 1908.
Queen Alexandra in her coronation robes.
Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna born Princess Charlotte of Prussia (13 July 1798 – 1 November 1860), was Empress consort of Russia. She was the wife ofCzar Nicholas I, and mother of Czar Alexander II.
In 1814, her marriage was arranged for political reason with Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovich of Russia, the future Czar Nicholas I. They married on 1 July 1817. Upon her marriage, Charlotte converted to Russian Orthodoxy, and took the Russian name Alexandra Feodorovna. Ideally matched with her husband, she had a happy marriage that produced a large family; seven children survived childhood.
At the death of her brother in law, Czar Alexander I, in December 1825, Alexandra’s husband became the new Russian emperor. Alexandra enjoyed her husband’s confidence in affairs of state, but she had no interest in politics other than her personal attachment to Prussia, her native country. She was the obedient and admiring supporter of her husband’s views. Her personality was completely overshadowed by Nicholas I’s strong character. As empress consort, Alexandra Feodorovna had no interest in charity work. Her chief interests were in family affairs, dancing, balls and jewels. After 1841 her health deteriorated. She spent long sojourns abroad in search for a respite to her frail constitution. As she became largely an invalid, Nicholas I took mistresses, but Alexandra retained her husband’s love. She survived Nicholas I by five years and died in 1860.
The portrait above was painted by Christina Robertson in the 1840’s.
Probably the most famous Alexandra, Alexandra Feodorovna (6 June 1872 – 17 July 1918) was Empress of Russia as the spouse of Nicholas II—the last ruler of the Russian Empire—from their marriage on 26 November 1894 until his forced abdication on 15 March 1917. Originally Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine at birth, she was given the Christian name and patronymic Alexandra Feodorovna upon being received into the Russian Orthodox Church and—having been murdered along with her husband and five children while in Bolshevik captivity in 1918—was canonized in 2000 as Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer.
The granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Alexandra was, like her grandmother, one of the most famous royal carriers of the haemophilia disease. Her son, Alexei, inherited the disease and, given the medications available at the time, almost bled to death many times. Her reputation for influencing her husband’s resistance to the surrender of autocratic authority over the country and her known faith in the Russian mystic, Grigori Rasputin( a scumbag who supposedly helped Alexei recover from his attacks of bleeding) , severely damaged her popularity and that of the Romanov monarchy in its final years.
Alexandra’s character was based on her shyness and lack of confidence. She bolstered herself with being stubborn and fanatically religious. However, her husband was a love match and she was a good mother. But, in the end she was dour, humorless and a major party pooper.
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