ALEXANDRA

born Dec. 1, 1844, Copenhagen, Den. died Nov. 20, 1925, Sandringham, Norfolk, Eng. in full Alexandra Caroline Mary Charlotte Louisa Julia, also called (184463) Princess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glcksburg, or (18631901) Princess of Wales queen consort of King Edward VII of Great Britain. The eldest daughter of Christian IX of Denmark, Alexandra was married to Edward (then Albert Edward, prince of Wales) in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, on March 10, 1863. The exceptional beauty and graceful manner of the princess made her an immediate and lasting favourite with the British public. She had six children: Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence; George, Duke of York, afterward King George V; Louise, afterward Duchess of Fife; Victoria; Maud, afterward queen of Norway; and John, who died in infancy. A serious illness in 1867 left Alexandra lame and accentuated a hereditary deafness. As queen she devoted much of her income and time to the poor and suffering; she founded the Imperial Military Nursing Service in 1902 and started Alexandra Rose Day to raise funds for British hospitals. born June 6, 1872, Darmstadt, Ger. died July 16/17, 1918, Yekaterinburg, Russia Russian in full Aleksandra Fyodorovna, original name Alix, Princess (prinzessin) von Hesse-Darmstadt consort of the Russian emperor Nicholas II. Her misrule while the emperor was commanding the Russian forces during World War I precipitated the collapse of the imperial government in March 1917. A granddaughter of Queen Victoria and daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, Alexandra (German name Alix) married Nicholas in 1894 and came to dominate him. She proved to be unpopular at court and turned to mysticism for solace. Through her near-fanatical acceptance of Orthodoxy and her belief in autocratic rule, she felt it her sacred duty to help reassert Nicholas' absolute power, which had been limited by reforms in 1905. In 1904 the tsarevich Alexis was born; she had previously given birth to four daughters. The tsarevich suffered from hemophilia, and Alexandra's overwhelming concern for his life led her to seek the aid of a debauched holy man who possessed hypnotic powers, Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin (q.v.). She came to venerate Rasputin as a saint sent by God to save the throne and as a voice of the common people, who, she believed, remained loyal to the emperor. Rasputin's influence was a public scandal, but Alexandra silenced all criticism. After Nicholas left for the front in August 1915, she arbitrarily dismissed capable ministers and replaced them with nonentities or dishonest careerists favoured by Rasputin. As a result, the administration became paralyzed and the regime discredited, and Alexandra came to be widely but erroneously believed to be a German agent. Yet she disregarded all warnings of coming changes, even the murder of Rasputin. After the October Revolution (1917), she, Nicholas, and their children were imprisoned by the Bolsheviks and were later shot to death. town, Otago local government region, south-central South Island, New Zealand. It lies at the junction of the Clutha and Manuherikia rivers and is surrounded by three mountain ranges. Originally known as Lower Dunstan and Manuherikia, the settlement was named Alexandra South in 1863 to commemorate the marriage of the Danish princess Alexandra to Edward, prince of Wales, later King Edward VII. The name was subsequently shortened to Alexandra, and the town was constituted a borough in 1867. Alluvial gold deposits in the Alexandra area, found in 1862, were mined until 1963. The surrounding countryside supports sheep pastures and fruit orchards; fruit packing is an important seasonal activity. Alexandra lies on rail and road lines to Dunedin (about 120 miles southeast) and is also a holiday resort. Pop. (1989 est.) 4,940.