The Royal Family have endless excitement in store today – but there’s someone else who has even more to celebrate as they mark their birthday too. Princess Alexandra is a treasured member of King Charles’s inner circle and has spent decades devoted to royal service and charity work.
The Princess was born in London on Christmas Day in 1936 as the second child of the Duke and Duchess of Kent. She is now the eldest female member of the Royal Family, and the second eldest overall behind her brother, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent.
Princess Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel of Kent was the only daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. Just like her aunt, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, Alexandra was given the middle name Christabel as a nod to her birthday falling on Christmas Day.
Her father died in a plane crash in Scotland on August 25, 1942, while serving in the RAF. At the time of his death, his youngest son, Prince Michael, was just over a month old. After Prince George’s sad death, his widow, Princess Marina, raised her three children and was offered huge support from the Royal Family.
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Princess Alexandra was in the rare position to know iconic royal figures such as her grandmother, Queen Mary, and her uncle, King George VI. She was also the first princess to attend boarding school, unlike her cousins, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, who were largely educated by governesses at home. Alexandra was a student at Heathfield School in Windsor before travelling to study in Paris, and even trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
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The couple welcomed their two children, James Ogilvy (b. February 29, 1964) and Marina Ogilvy (b. July 31, 1966). Through her two children, Princess Alexandra has four grandchildren. James married Julia Rawlinson in 1988 and had a daughter, Flora Vesterberg, in 1994 and a son, Alexander Ogilvy, in 1996. Marina married Paul Mowatt in 1990, and the couple share two children, Zenouska (b. 1990) and Christian (b. 1993). Marina and Paul divorced in 1997.
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