What an extraordinary Christmas gift the birth of a child is. This is what Duke George of Kent and his wife, Princess Marina of Greece, experienced 88 years ago.
Already parents of Prince Edward, then aged 14 months, they had the pleasure of welcoming into their home on December 25, 1936 a granddaughter, Princess Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel. A second son, Prince Michael, would join the family five and a half years later.
The last Windsor whose birth took place in the presence of the Home Secretary
Granddaughter of King George V and Queen Mary, the little princess was not born in a palace. Her mother gave birth at 3 Belgrave Square, her London home. But the baby’s status nevertheless imposes a constraint.
That of presence du Home Secretary, when the young mother gives birth to her child. This will also be the last time that this ancestral tradition, originally established so that the government can ensure the legitimacy of the heirs, takes place for a member of the British royal family.
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Always « active member » of the British royal family
Queen Elizabeth II’s only paternal cousin, Princess Alexandra, who was one of her bridesmaids at her wedding on November 20, 1947 to Prince Philip – to whom she was also related on her mother’s side – always occupied a large place alongside the former sovereign.
Princess Alexandra of Kent with her first cousin Queen Elizabeth II at Royal Ascot, June 20, 2018
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Alexandra Ogilvy – named after her husband who died in 2004 – is still today one of the active members of the Crown. Now 88 years old, she has several commitments for King Charles III in the areas of health – she herself had trained as a nurse in 1957 -, education, the arts and heritage, as godmother or president of various organizations or associations.
Princess Alexandra of Kent (2nd from right) took part in the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 8, 2023, as a working member of the British royal family
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