Growing up in the countryside in comparitive poverty, Alexandra         
          shared a bedroom with her sister, Dagmar, and learned to make and mend     
          her own clothes. They were to remain devoted all their lives. Changes      
          came when first her father, a minor prince, was selected as heir for       
          the Danish throne.                                                         
             Later, when her beauty became known, she was mentioned as a             
          possible bride for the Prince of Wales (Edward VII). After a               
          pre-arranged meeting in Germany, she happily consented to become           
          Princess of Wales.                                                         
             As this marriage had been especially the wish of her deceased           
          husband, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria received her happily, as did        
          the English nation. She was beautiful but superficial, self-centred        
          and deaf. Six children were born between 1864 and 1871; and even           
          though she was only about 27 years old, marital relations probably         
          ceased.                                                                    
             Lady Antrim explained Edward VII's infidelities: "The Prince might      
          have been a more faithful husband if the Princess had been a more          
          loving wife". The Prince, no intellectual, preferred the company of        
          clever and witty women. Alexandra was simple and her deafness made         
          communications difficult, so that she withdrew into her own world.         
             She dominated the affections of her children and was known as           
          "Mother Dear". She resented the marriages of two daughters and             
          prevented her other daughter Victoria from marrying, keeping her as        
          companion for the rest of her life. Consequently Victoria became an        
          embittered old maid. Alexandra doted on her sons and was a difficult       
          mother-in-law to Princess Mary of Teck, who was first engaged to the       
          elder ("Eddy", Duke of Clarence) but later married the younger son,        
          the future King George V.                                                  
             She resented most of her husband's lady-friends but she liked and       
          socialized with Lillie Langtry, even to the point of visiting her at       
          home alone when Lillie Langtry was ill. However, she disliked Alice        
          Keppel, though she preferred her to the Countess of Warwick as Alice       
          Keppel was at least discreet and kept the aging Edward VII in good         
          temper. When Edward VII was dying, it was his written request for          
          Alice's attendance which made Alexandra allow her to be present. When      
          Edward VII became unconscious, Alexandra promptly ordered the              
          removal of "that woman". And so the now hysterical Mrs. Alice Keppel       
          was led away by Princess Victoria.                                         
              As a widow she owned a house in Denmark together with her widowed      
          sister Dagmar, the Dowager-Empress of Russia, where they spent their       
          holidays together. Towards the end of her life she became almost           
          totally deaf and suffered from mild senile dementia. 
 

Source: Leo van de Pas