Alexandra of the United Kingdom and of the Netherlands
Alexandra (English: Alexandra Katharine Charles Nicole Lauren Elizabeth Thomas; German: Alexandra Kathrin Carl Nikole Laurens Elisabeth Thomas; Dutch: Alexandra Catharina Carel Nicole Laurens Elisabeth Thomas; French: Alexandra Catherine Charles Nicole Lauren Élisabeth Thomas; born 11 May 1996) is Queen of the British, Queen of the Dutch, and Grand Duchess of the Luxembourgers. On 13 October 2017, she simultaneously ascended to the British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish thrones following the voluntary abdication of her father King Thomas, becoming the second British and Dutch queen regnant in history and the first duchess regnant in Luxembourgish history. As Queen of the British, she is the official head of state of approximately eight independent nations, a role she also exercises as the constitutional monarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In addition, she is also the head of the Commonwealth of Nations as well as the president of the Hanoverian Union, a politico-economic union consisting of the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Born in New York, United States as the eldest child of King Thomas and the American supermodel Christy Turlington, Alexandra initially lived out the first three years of her life with her mother in the United States before later permanently moving to the United Kingdom at the age of three. Generally considered to be one of the most talented female footballers in the world, in her youth, Alexandra enjoyed a somewhat successful career as a striker for Arsenal, with whom she won the Women's Super League a total of seven times, the Women's FA Cup thrice, the FA Women's League Cup six times, and the UEFA Women's Champions League twice during which she became both the club's and the Women's Super League's leading goalscorer with 107 goals in 98 total appearances, the second-most goalscorer in the UEFA Women's Champions League behind Ada Hegerberg with 53 goals, as well as holding the joint record for the most goals scored in a UEFA Women's Champions League season (15) and the sole record for the most goals scored in a Women's Super League season (25). Moreover, during a brief two-year period, Alexandra also enjoyed a relatively successful career with the National Women's Soccer League side Seattle Reign FC, with whom she won the NWSL Championship in 2014. Meanwhile, on the international level, Alexandra was a member of the England women's national team, with whom she won the 2015 and 2019 Women's World Cups and the UEFA Women's Euro 2017, their first few major titles, while also having won the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and finishing as runners-up in the 2013 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship with the under-20 squad. With 84 goals scored in 71 appearances, she is the leading all-time female goalscorer for England and is one of only two female players to have scored a hat-trick in a Women's World Cup final alongside compatriot Georgia Stanway. In addition, she is also the leading all-time goalscorer in the UEFA Women's Championship with 12 goals and the second-highest all-time goalscorer in the World Cup (men or women) with 21 goals. A three-time Ballon d'Or Féminin winner, Alexandra was an instrumental figure in the foundation of the award and later won its inaugural edition in 2015 before following it up with two further wins in 2017 and 2019, becoming both its youngest winner at nineteen and the one with the most awards won to date (3). Meanwhile, the Alexandra Trophy, awarded to the best-performing female player under the age of 21, is named after her.
Over the first two years of her reign, the period was marked by a temporary regency led by her mother. However, beginning from the end of her regency in August 2019, Alexandra's reign has since come to be marked by several notable events including the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matters protests, political crises, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moreover, her reign has also been a period of considerable success for England in football with both the men's and women's national teams being mutually successful on the international stage.
At 27 years old, Alexandra is both the youngest reigning monarch and the youngest serving state leader in the world as well as being just one of only three queen regnants in the world alongside Romania's Queen Margareta and Japan's Empress Akiko. Since October 2019, she has served as honorary president of Premier League club Arsenal and is the sister of professional footballers William Smith and Prince Richard. With an estimated net worth of $7.2 billion, she is also one of the richest monarchs in the world.
Early Life
Born on 11 May 1996 at the Margaretha House, a country estate belonging to the British royal family in Skaneateles, New York, Alexandra was the eldest child of Prince Thomas and the American supermodel Christy Turlington. Conceived in the midst of her mother's university studies in the United States, she was her parents' firstborn child but otherwise her father's third overall child with her two half-siblings from the latter's previous relationship with actress Jaclyn Smith preceding her. Nonetheless, in the first few minutes that followed, news of the princess's birth quickly circulated and soon became a source of great celebrations worldwide particularly in the United Kingdom where she would set to become its first queen regnant in over two hundred years. Similarly, in both the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the reception towards the princess's birth was also mostly positive given that, in the case of the Dutch, Alexandra would become their first queen regnant in over three hundred years after the 18th-century Queen Mary III, and in the case of Luxembourg, their first-ever grand duchess regnant in the country's centuries-old history.
Although born with little to no difficulties herself, Alexandra's birth proved to be an otherwise difficult ordeal for her mother, who shortly after giving birth to her firstborn child, suffered a temporary postpartum hemorrhage that, had it not been for the timely intervention of doctors, would have likely cost the young princess her very own mother, a revelation that Alexandra herself claimed nearly brought her to tears upon learning of it, knowing that she could have alternatively grew up an orphan, but which also made her more emotionally closer than ever to her mother, with whom she possesses an extremely strong filial relationship, to which her father King Thomas once remarked, "Christy absolutely loves all her children equally as a mother but without a doubt, Alexandra is her favourite and the most special one of them all". However, in one interview, Alexandra asserted that she was never exactly prioritised a lot over her siblings by her mother, whom she described as "very caring" and "extremely fair to all her children", but conceded that it was only natural for some parents, especially those with multiple children, to have a designated favourite child with her own father said to particularly favour Alexandra's half-sister who is affectionately known to her family members as "Little Jackie".
Upon baptism, she was named Alexandra Katharine Charles Nicole Lauren Elizabeth Thomas, in which her first name, meaning "defender of men", was deliberately chosen to signify her future role as her country's queen regnant, while her following middle names, in no particular order, were intended as tributes to the royal's maternal grandmother Maria Elizabeth, the American actress Katharine Hepburn, a close and lifelong friend of her paternal grandparents, her paternal grandparents King Charles III and Queen Lauren, followed by her own parents, the future King and Queen. Meanwhile, her godparents included US Senator Ted Kennedy, Prime Minister of Israel Shimon Peres, along with singers Frank and Nancy Sinatra, George Michael, and Elton John. In addition to this, the star-studded list also included Hollywood celebrities Sean Connery, Hugh Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, and Elizabeth Taylor, along with the rest of the "big five" supermodels including Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, and Cindy Crawford. Aside from this, Alexandra also boasts a fairly rich ethnic background as she is of English, German, and Romanian descent through her paternal ancestors and is also of Salvadoran descent through her maternal ancestors. In this, she was also born into a religiously diverse household with her father and paternal grandfather being of the Protestant faith, her mother and maternal grandmother of the Roman Catholic faith, and her paternal grandmother of the Jewish faith, which Alexandra later credited in massively establishing her as a very tolerant person, stating, "By circumstance, when you essentially grow up among people that come from very different backgrounds, you're essentially bound to learn and to respect the differences in your life because at the end of the day they are what makes the world so unique and interesting all around which is something that is just rather bizarre to even dislike or hate in the first place".
In the months following Alexandra's birth, a contentious debate briefly ensued between Alexandra's family members on whether the young princess would be raised in her ancestral country albeit at the cost of being temporarily separated from her mother for the time being or whether she would instead be raised abroad in the United States by none other than her own mother who at the time of her firstborn daughter's birth was pre-occupied with her studies at New York University, a circumstance which concerned the princess's grandparents, who were worried that the infant Alexandra could not be taken care of well by her rather busy mother. In the end, it was agreed upon by both sides that the young princess would largely remain with her mother in New York, so as to not separate the two both physically and mentally, especially at such an early age for the newborn princess. Meanwhile, on his part, after being forced to return to the United Kingdom as a result of his father's abdication on January 1997, Thomas continued to maintain regular contact with both his wife and daughter by usually residing with them for the first six months of the next two years in which case his brother Prince Nelson would temporarily assume the former's royal duties as regent while the remaining six months of both years would otherwise be spent by Thomas alone back in the United Kingdom, thereby guaranteeing a somewhat perfect balance between his marital and regnal duties. Later on, despite this peculiar arrangement, Alexandra herself came to describe her first few years in a mostly positive manner with her fondest memories including "rolling around on the grass at Central Park" and "having small family picnics by the Connecticut coast".
Despite later going on to recount her early years in New York in a mostly positive manner, Alexandra has also candidly admitted to facing some difficulties growing up that largely centered around the occasional overwhelming media attention that surrounded the royal and her mother who were often the subject of paparazzi. Owing to their high-profile status, with Alexandra herself being the heir to the throne, the pair were therefore often photographed by paparazzi whenever they were in public, a circumstance that the royal later described as "incredibly overwhelming" and "very scary", stating, "The worst thing was that a little version of myself at the time couldn't really understand why there's always so many people and cameras around us. Perhaps at the time it wasn't so clear to me but looking back the whole experience definitely felt terrifying or even worse traumatic with these so-called journalists always trying to talk with us like we're the only two people left in the world". Consequently, King Thomas, greatly concerned and worried over his wife and daughter's privacy and safety, then reportedly met New York Governor George Pataki in person where he supposedly urged and demanded Pataki to curb the "excessive" paparazzi activities, a request that was seemingly granted when the state legislature, under the governor's insistence, later passed a law effectively prohibiting the photographing of minors under any circumstances, making New York the first US state to do so.
Until she was around seven years old, Alexandra also lived closely together with the late American actress Katharine Hepburn who by the royal family's own invitation had prior chosen to take up residence in Buckingham Palace, as opposed to further alternating between her own family home in the United States and the royal residences in the United Kingdom. However, despite the two now mostly living together in Buckingham Palace, the much younger Alexandra was said to have otherwise interacted rather little with the elderly Hepburn whose chronic illness, coupled with the signs of dementia shown by the actress, prevented the latter from effectively communicating with most of her loved ones. Despite this, Alexandra later described the actress in subsequent interviews as a "sweet and kind old grandmother" and also praised the late Hepburn's character as "wise and far advanced beyond her time". Incidentally, one of Alexandra's own middle names Katharine was derived from none other than Hepburn herself who for decades leading up to her eventual passing in June 2003 maintained an extremely strong friendship with Alexandra's grandparents, even going so far as to be considered an "honorary member" of the royal family herself, and as a result, was affectionately called "Aunt Katharine" by members of the royal family. Meanwhile, as per a will that was written up by Hepburn prior to her death, the Hepburn family home in Fenwick, Connecticut was subsequently bequeathed to the British royal family, namely the family of her lifelong friend Charles III, and which has remained under the family's possession ever since, serving mostly as an exclusive private getaway spot thanks to its relative remoteness and its proximity to the Long Island Sound where the royals occasionally enjoyed a leisurely boat ride along the coast or a recreational exploration of the seabed below which hosts a variety of flora and fauna.
While still in her adolescence, a young Alexandra would come to almost regularly follow her mother on the latter's humanitarian trips abroad, a routine that was said to have begun when she was around ten years old where the royal, if not occupied with her schoolwork, would usually be tagging along with her mother to various places abroad with the very first place that she visited being the Central American country of El Salvador where her maternal grandmother had originally come from. However, such a move was not without some controversy, owing to the country's notoriously high crime rate, although this itself proved fruitless in preventing the young princess from following her mother there, with Alexandra herself later stating, "Reasonably speaking, there was some fair amount of concern over my personal safety as a mere ten-year-old going into some rather unsafe country but at the same time it opened my eyes as well as exposed myself to an entirely different environment and community, one that does not necessarily share the same comfort and luxury as perhaps an average European citizen would". Aside from this, Alexandra also followed her mother along to African countries such as Ethiopia where she personally met then-First Lady Azeb Mesfin who later recalled the princess as a "very intuitive and bright young girl" and who was "very concerned and thoughtful about things happening around her". In addition, she also once visited the tiny landlocked nation of Eswatini where she later candidly recounted being "very surprised" by the number of wives held by the reigning King Mswati III who currently has fifteen wives in total. Even more, the young princess and her mother also visited the relatively new nation of East Timor as one of the first few foreign dignitaries since the country gained its independence from Indonesia in which they were welcomed by President Xanana Gusmão whose country's independence from Indonesia was restored largely due to the efforts of King Thomas, Alexandra's own father, in successfully pressuring the Indonesian government to hold a referendum that saw the majority of East Timor voting to secede from the country.
Having been raised in a somewhat athletic and sports-centric household, from as young as seven years old, Alexandra was quick to be exposed to a variety of sports, namely basketball, tennis, archery, and golf, with perhaps the most notable one being none other than football which she came to immediately embrace and possess much passion for. In this, she was enrolled at the youth academy for Premier League club Arsenal whose women's side she later enjoyed a widely successful career with. In the meantime, Alexandra is also known to have enjoyed recreational swimming, having once dove to photograph the seabed of the Long Island Sound, an activity that is said to be a daily habit whenever she is visiting the US state of Connecticut where her family occasionally retreats to for private vacations. Among others, Alexandra is also a proficient horseback rider with her favourite horse being a white thoroughbred whom she named "Bolt". Evidently, her deeply rooted love for sports meant that physical education was indisputably one of her favourite subjects in school although she is still described by most of her former teachers to be an "all-rounder" student who is excellent in both academics and sports. Ironically, Alexandra has otherwise refuted claims or assertions of her being a "tomboy", stating, "Undoubtedly, I did do a lot of sports and was, to some extent, very physical growing up but deep down I'm personally no different than the average girly young girl. Honestly speaking, if not sports, some of the things I like to do are dancing to my favourite songs and playing dress-up with my mother who just knows how to make her little princesses look and feel pretty each time".
In the ensuing years leading up to her ascension to the throne, Alexandra notably broke the long tradition of future British monarchs receiving a military education and afterward serving for some time in the country's armed forces with her father being the most recent to do so as a former officer in the Royal Navy. In this, a mix of anti-war sentiment, a desire to break from tradition, and the royal's own deep interest in football saw her spared from any sort of military training as her predecessors had done. In addition, the rather late lifting of restrictions on women serving in combat roles in the British Armed Forces, which came about in 2016, meant that Alexandra would not even have officially seen combat prior to the decision by which point she was already deeply committed to her burgeoning football career. Nonetheless, as head of state, she is still the commander-in-chief of her country's armed forces with the role itself being a mostly ceremonial position. Moreover, despite her lack of military experience, Alexandra herself is nonetheless well-trained in physical combat as a brown belt holder in taekwondo and a budding practitioner in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Change In Succession Laws
Owing to the passage of the Succession to the Crown Act 1995 by the British parliament and the passage of corresponding laws by the Dutch and Luxembourgish parliaments respectively which, among others, established a new absolute primogeniture succession system in the place of the old male-preference primogeniture succession system that previously dictated the succession laws in all three countries, Alexandra, as a result, was simultaneously made the first Duchess of Cornwall, first Princess of Orange, and the first Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg in her own right, thereby fully confirming her status as her father's undisputed heir apparent. Prior to this, no female British, Dutch, or Luxembourgish royal has ever held the aforementioned titles in their own right, as the previous male-preference primogeniture system made it that any male siblings, regardless of birth order, would always be ahead of their female siblings in the line of succession to the throne for all three countries. Meanwhile, on her very first birthday, having automatically been both the Princess of Orange and the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg from birth, Alexandra was then officially made Princess of the Welsh, although her investiture ceremony for the said title would not take place until she turned around twenty years old. Regardless, the decision was met with a unanimously positive reception by the public with then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had taken office just a few days earlier, heralding the proclamation as a "great milestone for gender equality in Britain". A similarly positive response also came from Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok and Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, both of whom echoed Blair's heralding of "gender equality" in society. In particular, Juncker, whose country would see the accession of its first-ever female ruler, said, "The history of Luxembourg is undoubtedly marked by kings and grand dukes but never before a queen or a grand duchess. Now, after almost a thousand years, Luxembourg will bear witness to its first female ruler in history who will surely leave her own mark on the country's history as she reigns".
However, despite the overall positivity surrounding the proclamation, one notable incident would later prove to be a source of tragedy when on 3 June 1995, just mere minutes after legislators in the Hanoverian Parliament had voted to unanimously recognise the princess's succession rights to the Hanoverian throne, the building itself was momentarily occupied by Theodor Gerster, a radical German separatist who had personally opposed the lawmakers' decision to abolish the kingdom's centuries-long Semi-Salic Law which, had it not been for its fateful termination, would have ultimately resulted in a second break of the personal union between the United Kingdom and Hanover, and therefore, a potential chance to incorporate Hanover into neighbouring Germany. Ultimately, Gerster was later killed in a firefight against a joint SAS-SRU taskforce, resulting in him being one of the few casualties from the incident along with two of the building's security guards who were on duty at the time of the attack and were fatally shot by Gerster immediately upon his arrival. In the aftermath, both of Alexandra's parents and grandparents then held a spontaneous visit to the Hanoverian Parliament building where they met with rescued legislators, thanked the operatives involved, and also paid personal tributes to the fallen security guards, with Alexandra's father proclaiming, "Today, we will forever honour the memories of our brave soldiers and policemen, dead or alive, for they, in the face of adversity, have selflessly risked their lives to ensure that such a dangerous man would never succeed in tearing this nation apart by force and that democracy will always prevail". Moreover, then-Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl also condemned the attack, stating, "If Hanover was to ever join us (Germany) one day, it must strictly be done in the most democratic way possible, and not by force or violence". Similarly, then-Minister-President of Hanover Mark Bahr remarked, "In the past decades, Hanover has stood firm against both Nazi and Soviet aggression, and today, she will do the same once more against this despicable act of terror that unfolded before our very eyes and threatened to uproot the country's very foundation".
A subsequent joint investigation between the British MI5 and the German Federal Intelligence Service agencies later uncovered a "small but growing terror cell aiming to overthrow the government", leading local authorities to afterward arrest the group's leader and the seven remaining members of the aforementioned terror cell at a small house in Uelzen, a northeastern town in Hanover, in a successful counter-terrorism operation with all eight suspects including the leader arrested without a single shot being fired. Following that, an almost month-long trial ensued amidst much heavy media coverage and international attention which ultimately found all eight men guilty of treason thereby resulting in each of them being sentenced to death by hanging in the last few examples of capital punishment carried out in the United Kingdom before it was later abolished for all crimes including treason by the passing of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Later, in an interview held during the 20th anniversary of the incident, Alexandra remarked, "Looking back, it was truly an undeniable tragedy especially with the good and noble lives lost that day. On a personal level, it was just saddening for me to realise that even before I was born several people needlessly died simply because I, as a woman, existed which apparently led some despicable people to think that violence was acceptable in their opposition".
Education
Having initially spent her formative years at home with her family, the princess, upon reaching the age of seven, was then enrolled at the Southbank International School in London located just two miles away from her nearby family residence of Buckingham Palace. However, for the first few weeks or so, the princess was faced with some notable setbacks as photographers would often wait outside of the school perimeter to photograph the princess's arrival and departure from the school, much to the annoyance of the British royal family themselves, so much so that on one occasion, a photographer for The Sun busy photographing the princess while the latter was departing from her school was once run over by the royal's mother Queen Christy who was then attempting to force through her vehicle past the swarm of photographers outside of the school, an incident that resulted in a brief but heavily publicised trial where her mother was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing. Instead, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord Woolf ruled that the photographer, thirty-seven-year-old Zachary Bell, had "unnecessarily intruded on the privacy of another individual who in response was consequently forced to adopt a measure of last resort in order to clear their way out of the situation". Nonetheless, a few days later, Queen Christy was reported to have donated a sum of £100 to the photographer, which Buckingham Palace then described as a "gesture of goodwill" and said that "the royal family has absolutely no intentions of harbouring a grudge against any human being, only reconciliation and friendship". Nonetheless, the incident itself soon prompted nationwide debate over the ethics of paparazzi in which the photographer's "rude" and "invasive" behaviour when in the proximity of a member of the royal family was severely criticised, causing then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, with near-unanimous support in the House of Commons, to then pass the Princess Alexandra Act 2004 into law, effectively prohibiting the paparazzi from photographing underage subjects under any possible circumstances, therefore giving the princess herself some much-needed privacy and breathing space in undergoing her daily life. Similarly, the same was also done in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, with the former even going so far as to declare that while photographs of the royals while they are on duty are permitted, photographs of them while they are off duty are otherwise only permitted through government arrangement on the condition that they are left alone by the press afterward.
Perhaps as a direct consequence of her having never attended kindergarten beforehand, coupled with her extreme personal closeness to her mother, in her early years at least, Alexandra came to develop a reputation for being somewhat shy around her peers and who is otherwise strongly connected to her parents, especially her mother, who was consequently forced to accompany her daughter to school for the first few weeks or so just to calm the young princess down and alleviate the latter's immediate concerns over being temporarily separated from her mother for a few hours each day. Nonetheless, despite her initial reclusiveness and strong emotional attachment to her parents, Alexandra otherwise proved to be an academically gifted young student, excelling in the subjects of English, Mathematics, and History. Moreover, her somewhat extensive and high-level vocabulary, which became evident when she was to write or speak at length, has also been a particular subject of praise by her teachers, with one even praising the royal's "Shakespearean level of command" of the English language, noting her occasional use of exquisite and uncommon English words especially when writing essays.
Upon graduating from secondary school, Alexandra decided to further her studies abroad in the United States where she attended the Seattle University, a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington that was chosen for convenience following her signing by Seattle Reign FC. However, her time at the university would not last long as it would be abruptly cut short following the death of her grandmother on 12 August 2014, which effectively put an end to her academic pursuits in the United States as the princess fell victim to a months-long depressive episode. Then, upon a successful recovery from her depression, she later resumed her studies at the London School of Economics, from where she went on to graduate with a master's degree in economics, and most recently, a Doctor of Philosophy degree from King's College London, which she earned through a thesis that she wrote titled The British & American media compared: A case for a truly fair and nonpartisan media that primarily concerns the issue of media polarisation and how it affects a country's population. Later, upon her ascension to the throne, Alexandra was awarded an honorary doctorate by her alma mater whose president Stephen Sundborg said, "Even if it was just for a while, the Queen's presence at the university was definitely a part of history that will be proudly cherished while Seattle University itself will proudly remember the Queen as one of its own forever".
During the course of her school years, among other things, Alexandra was heavily involved in the art of debating, even going so far as to become the debate club president for both her primary and secondary schools. In doing so, during a 2018 interview, Alexandra attributed it to her family's generally outspoken and headstrong liberal attitude on a number of issues, which reportedly influenced the young princess's "intuitive" attitude and her "thirst for questions and answers", both of which played a great deal in shaping her to becoming a fairly proficient debater in her own right, with her proficient command of the English language as well as her often calm and collected demeanour during debate sessions being of much praise by her teachers and friends. To that end, Alexandra's parents soon decided to enrol the princess in a number of debate competitions at both the local and national level, thereby further burnishing her skills as a proficient debater, so much so that in 2012, a sixteen-year-old Alexandra famously participated in a mock debate between herself and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, with the topics being discussed ranging from LGBT rights to healthcare and international issues. According to C-SPAN, the debate was viewed by up to 12 million Americans, while in the United Kingdom, around 13 million Britons tuned in to the debate. In the end, although both candidates received much praise for their civility and their fluency in communicating their respective points, the princess was ultimately declared the "winner" of the debate with 57% of viewers polled after the debate ended believing that she had won the debate as opposed to the other 29% of viewers who otherwise believed that Romney had won the debate instead while the remaining 14% did not favour either candidate. Nonetheless, despite the loss, Romney himself later remarked, "Even if I had lost, at least I know that it was to a very intelligent and remarkable sixteen-year-old girl".
In that same year, Alexandra also conducted a memorable interview featuring then-President Barack Obama whom Alexandra quizzed on his future policy proposals in light of his re-election victory over his Republican opponent. Much like her debate with Mitt Romney in that same year, the princess's interview with President Obama was also widely watched, with up to 8.4 million Americans tuning in to the interview, coupled with around 7.93 million Britons doing the same from the United Kingdom. Moreover, in an interview with The Washington Post, Obama himself praised the royal's "remarkable qualities" and "great talent", even going so far as to once jokingly suggest that given the princess's apparent interviewing capabilities, he would be supposedly seeking to hire the latter as his "presidential interviewer", stating, "Admittedly, there are a lot of good journalists and interviewers out there and all, but the princess is definitely a one-of-a-kind interviewer and someone who can clearly do her job better than the rest of them all". Similarly, in a recap of the interview, CNN's Kate Bolduan described her as "the young and British version of Barbara Walters", adding, "Even as a young teenager and perhaps someone with a mostly similar liberal worldview, by all accounts, the princess never let President Obama off the hook at any point during the interview and came much prepared with hard-hitting questions that the President certainly enjoyed in answering". In following up on this, Alexandra also went on to interview First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden as well, questioning both political figures on various relevant issues.
In March 2022, Alexandra was awarded her Doctor of Philosophy degree from University College London for a thesis that she wrote titled British & American Media Compared: A case for a truly fair and nonpartisan media, a thesis paper that she wrote that largely centers around the issue of media polarisation. As the first-ever monarch in the world to have received a non-honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree, the Queen's academic milestone was soon met with praises from various individuals, with Prime Minister David Cameron describing it as "a proud milestone to achieve for an undeniably brilliant and very talented young monarch". Similarly, her own mother Queen Christy also expressed much positive sentiment regarding her daughter's academic achievements, stating in an interview with Women's Health, "From the beginning, I always encouraged my children to not necessarily follow in my footsteps as a model but rather do or work for something that they personally like be it sports, science, or anything else while at the same time, they should also learn and study just as hard as they play for at the end of the day my children aren't solely academics or athletes only but rather those who can be both when necessary".
Since becoming Queen, Alexandra has served as the chancellor of her alma mater, the federal University of London, by virtue of which she is also the chancellor of its member institutions including both the London School of Economics and King's College London. In addition, she is also the recipient of honorary doctorates from various educational institutions including Yale University, Columbia University, Seattle University, University of Toronto, University of Tokyo, University of Bucharest, Tel Aviv University, University of Amsterdam, University of Luxembourg, New York University, Free University of Berlin, Paris-Saclay University, and the University of Helsinki. In addition, since ascending to the throne, owing to her strong academic background, Alexandra has begun awarding scholarships to a select list of one hundred academically promising students each year with the ceremony usually held at Buckingham Palace along with the Birthday Honours.
Football Career
Manchester United Women (2005 - 2007)
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexandra Katharine Charles Nicole Lauren Elizabeth Thomas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 11 May 1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Margaretha House, New York, United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Forward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 - 2007 | Manchester United | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 - 2010 | Arsenal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 - 2012 | Arsenal | 28 | (26) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013 - 2014 | OL Reign | 40 | (38) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 - 2019 | Arsenal | 70 | (81) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 138 | (145) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011 - 2014 | England U19 | 11 | (8) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | England U20 | 6 | (13) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 - 2019 | England | 71 | (84) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Honours
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
At the age of nine, hoping to pursue a professional football career in her later years, Alexandra initially joined the women's youth academy of Manchester United, the club that she had initially grown up supporting as a child via her father, a longtime fan of the English football club. Almost immediately, her inherent natural talent, coupled with her humble personality and being a relatively quick learner in her own right, soon made her a somewhat promising and standout academy talent, even catching the attention of Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton who, in an interview shortly after the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup concluded, described the royal as "one of Manchester United's finest academy products". However, despite consistent and promising progress that saw her being perceived as the club's "next big talent" as well as the "natural successor" to her half-brother, one of Manchester United's most decorated and talented players of all time, the disbandment of the women's senior team in 2005 by the club's new owner Malcolm Glazer soon threw Alexandra's footballing prospects into doubt, particularly with concerns over whether she would ever earn her first professional contract after coming of age. Eventually, in 2007, after taking into account the overall performance of England's top women's football clubs, Alexandra subsequently transferred to Arsenal which is generally considered to be one of the strongest and most successful English women's football clubs with the expectation that she would eventually make her way into the senior team via her commendable talent at a relatively young age. Later, during a 2018 interview with Sky Sports, Alexandra revealed that her father once attempted to convince the Manchester United ownership to reinstate the women's team so as to especially not lose the club's young academy talents to other clubs with an existing women's team as was the case with Alexandra herself but to no avail as the Glazers insisted on having the women's senior team disbanded due to financial reasons.
In a 2022 interview with Sky Sports, when asked over whether she regretted having never played for her favourite club of Manchester United, Alexandra replied by asserting that despite some "personal regret" over not playing for her much-beloved football club, she nonetheless found her decade-long time at Arsenal to be a "very great and rewarding experience", stating, "Even if I wasn't playing outright for the club that I initially wanted, Arsenal itself, especially its women's side, is nonetheless a very good and professional team and without a doubt I would never forsake the many great friends I made at the club for anything, even for an alternate reality where I was playing at a different club altogether". On the other hand, in a pointed criticism directed towards the Glazer ownership, Alexandra argued that it was the latter who should bear much of the regret, stating, "For fifteen years, they essentially chose to discard any promising talents coming from the academy while otherwise letting them fend for themselves out in the open trying their luck with any interested clubs all while being much uncertain about the future of their careers. If anything, we players made a choice and moved on when we had to while the owners were basically sitting in their comfy offices with much little care for every talent that leaves due to their own actions".
In the meantime, Alexandra herself has vocally criticised the family's ownership of Manchester United, which she described in one instance as "a bad tragedy", as well as the club's controversial but ultimately aborted decision to reintegrate controversial academy graduate Mason Greenwood after charges of rape and sexual assault against the latter was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in which the Queen, as the most vocal critic of the decision, derided it as "morally bankrupt", adding, "If such an egregious decision goes through, it effectively shows that regardless of what troubles or controversies one could get themselves into, he or she is essentially guaranteed a spot in one of the most prestigious football clubs in the world under the guise of being a supposedly talented player all while suffering little to no consequence for their behaviour". Later on, it was announced that Greenwood had been loaned out to the La Liga side Getafe, a decision that she treated with some antipathy, stating, "Even if some football club somehow still sees some value in the man despite his misgivings, it is perhaps better that he does his stuff elsewhere and preferably outside of England where he is clearly no longer welcome".
Around early 2023, amidst rumours of interests of acquiring Premier League club Manchester United by the likes of INEOS founder and British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari royal Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad of the ruling royal family of the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosts, Alexandra, in response to rumours of her potentially acquiring the club herself via her own personal wealth, said that she "absolutely has no interest" in doing so, adding that she prefers supporting the club from the sidelines rather than directly as a major shareholder. Even more, the Queen also admitted the "weirdness" of her directly owning one of England's most prestigious football clubs, stating, "Honestly speaking, when you already have a couple of football clubs, the names of which are obvious enough, being owned by foreign royals who essentially represent the governments of their respective countries, I just think that it's not very appropriate for someone even like myself, a Brit who has lived in the country for much of my entire life, to do the same thing because even with some differences here and there, there is absolutely going to be lots of questions about the ownership, its implications, and a host of all-too-familiar controversy that I would rather not get myself into". However, despite her personal aversion, Alexandra does own shares in Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League, albeit as a minority shareholder only and in conjunction with famous celebrities including Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Garner, as well as sportspeople including Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Billie Jean King, Cobi Jones, and Candace Parker, along with several others.
Arsenal Women (2007 - 2019)
In the midst of this, the timing of Alexandra's entry into the club happened to coincide with Arsenal opting to take a temporary hiatus shortly after their victory in the 2009-10 season of the FA Women's National League thereby delaying her debut by roughly a year. Nonetheless, the space in time granted as a result of the club's temporary hiatus that year quickly proved to be a blessing in disguise for the young princess who, after initially being met with some skepticism over her actual talent and the fact that she is the first British royal to actively dabble in professional football, subsequently used the period available to gradually improve her skills and technique while also endearing herself among the club's senior ranks that included Ellen White, Katie Chapman, and Alex Scott as well as fellow newcomers including Steph Houghton and Jordan Nobbs. Later, in recounting her early years at Arsenal, Alexandra said, "Honestly speaking, from the moment of my arrival, I was an immediate outsider among the other girls there who were obviously quite surprised to see an actual princess joining them at a football club. To put it simply, making friends wasn't the easiest process early on but in the face of it I just accepted the reality that I wouldn't immediately be the most popular person there and just mostly concentrated on improving myself as a player by attending training and whatnot. Eventually, some of the girls began warming up to me and by the time I left in 2019, I could confidently say that I'm friends with almost every player at the club that I've ever met and played with".
In the ensuing inaugural season of the newly-established Women's Super League, for the club's first match, that being against Chelsea, then-manager Laura Harvey chose not to initially include the princess in the starting lineup, most likely over initial concerns surrounding her true potential and capabilities. However, after finally coming onto the field in the 70th minute as a substitute for Ellen White, Alexandra immediately left a positive impression on her squad when just nine minutes later she successfully netted her first ever goal for Arsenal through a powerful 20-yard shot that she followed up on with two more goals in the final minutes of the game to record a memorable hat-trick at the 91st minute. Then, despite later finding herself unable to register any further goals in the next few matches or so, an early 10th-minute goal by the princess proved vital in helping Arsenal achieve a narrow 3-2 victory over Bristol City. Similarly, in an August 11th match against Birmingham City, a 60th-minute brace from Alexandra helped her team break a 1-1 deadlock while also ensuring a dominant 3-1 victory over their opponents. Just a week later, a second hat trick from Alexandra at the 76th minute saw Arsenal record their biggest win of the season, namely a 6-0 win over Doncaster Rovers Belles. By the end of it, with nine goals to her name, she consequently emerged as the league's second top goalscorer behind Birmingham City's Rachel Williams with fourteen goals. In the meantime, aside from success in the domestic league, Alexandra also saw much success with her club in domestic tournaments, winning both the Women's FA Cup and the FA Women's League Cup during which she scored a brace in the former to mark a 5-2 victory over Sunderland in the sixth round proper. Meanwhile, in the UEFA Women's Champions League, a goal in the first leg and a hat-trick in the second leg of the semi-finals from the princess against Olympique Lyonnais saw Arsenal reach the finals in the tournament's inaugural season since its rebranding where they proceeded to defeat Turbine Potsdam 5-2 to achieve their second continental treble, having previously done so in the 2006-07 season. At the same time, with twelve goals to her name in the tournament, Alexandra herself finished as the tournament's top scorer that season.
In the following season, an overwhelmingly dominant performance in the league saw Arsenal emerge as winners with no matches lost in the process, a feat that promptly drew comparisons to the 2003-04 season of the Arsenal men's side who were popularly nicknamed "The Invincibles". During this, Alexandra herself scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win against Liverpool, a separate tiebreaking hat-trick against Everton, and lastly, two tiebreaking goals against Bristol City. Separately, a hat-trick from Alexandra in the Women's FA Cup semi-finals against Chelsea proved decisive in overturning their opponent's 2-0 lead, although a 1-3 loss to Birmingham City in the finals prevented them from ultimately retaining the title. Nonetheless, they were otherwise successful in retaining their FA Women's League Cup title through a 3-0 victory in the finals against Birmingham City, with Alexandra herself scoring a brace in what was later said to be an "act of vengeance" for the club's previous 1-3 Women's FA Cup loss. However, an elimination in the semi-finals at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt instead saw them unable to defend their Champions League title which subsequently went to Olympique Lyonnais who later defeated the former 2-0 to win their first European title. In the meantime, despite much initial success with her club, under the auspices of pursuing her education abroad, Alexandra temporarily left Arsenal at the end of the 2012 FA WSL season before later rejoining it two seasons later following her return from the United States and a subsequent recovery from a personal tragedy.
In her first season since returning to the club, Alexandra re-established herself almost immediately by scoring two tiebreaking goals in the opening match against Notts County before promptly following it up with a tiebreaking goal against Chelsea and another against Bristol City on later dates. In addition, Alexandra also proved vital in securing a draw against Manchester City, which proved more than enough to win her club the domestic league that season. Moreover, by helping to decisively overturn a 1-2 Chelsea lead in the quarter-finals, Alexandra also helped her club to win the Women's FA Cup through a final 5-1 victory in the finals over Notts County who they also defeated 5-0 to win the FA Women's League Cup as well. Following this, in the ensuing seasons leading up to her retirement, Alexandra went on to see much further success with the club, winning the Women's Super League three further seasons in a row, the FA Women's League Cup twice, and the UEFA Women's Champions League once more, with her final season seeing her win both the Women's Super League and the FA Women's League Cup where in the latter tournament, Arsenal ultimately prevailed over rivals Manchester City in a dramatic penalty shootout which they won 5-4. On the other hand, a 2-3 loss to Chelsea and a 1-2 loss to VfL Wolfsburg respectively saw her fail to win both the Women's FA Cup and the UEFA Women's Champions League in her final season with the club prior to her ensuing retirement which she announced shortly after the conclusion of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final whereby she made clear her full retirement from professional football at both club and international level in order to fully assume her regnal duties as queen.
Former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry on Alexandra's footballing skills
With 107 goals in 98 appearances, Alexandra is the all-time goalscorer for both Arsenal Women and the Women's Super League. In addition, she also holds five Women's Super League Golden Boot awards, the most of any player, aside from which, Alexandra also holds the record for most assists in the Women's Super League with 50 assists, followed by Arsenal's Beth Mead with 38 assists. In 2019, she was inducted into the Women's Super League Hall of Fame as one of the league's most talented players. In that same year, she was also appointed as the club's honorary president and is since considered by many to be Arsenal's royal patron. Meanwhile, together with Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema, Alexandra is one-third of the Women's Super League's fabled "One Hundred Trio" as the only players so far to have accumulated a total of one hundred goals plus assists.
Seattle Reign FC (2013 - 2014)
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In the lead-up to the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League, having moved to the United States for educational purposes, a sixteen-year-old Alexandra was soon chosen by Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey who had previously managed the royal at Arsenal and therefore saw an immediate benefit in acquiring the latter's services for her new team. However, given that she was far below the determined age limit of eighteen for eligible players, Alexandra's acquisition soon sparked considerable controversy with the league effectively prohibiting her from officially signing a professional contract with the club due to the aforementioned age limit. In response, Alexandra, who previously faced little issue in playing for Arsenal at just fifteen, promptly filed a lawsuit against the National Women's Soccer League at the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington on the basis of the age limit being in apparent violation of antitrust laws established by the Sherman Antitrust Act given that the age limit violated the principle of free competition. Eventually, amidst a response from the league claiming that the age limit was to "protect minors at an important stage of development", Alexandra, pointing to her state of relative well-being during her previous years with Arsenal, ultimately compelled District Judge Ronald B. Leighton to issue a landmark ruling ordering the former to remove their age limit which was deemed to be against the spirit of competition.
To that end, having officially signed her contract with the club, Alexandra soon made her maiden appearance for Seattle Reign FC on 14 April 2013 where she scored her first-ever goal to deliver a 2-1 win over Chicago Red Stars. However, just a week later, her team suffered a narrow 1-2 loss to Portland Thorns FC but not before Alexandra avenged the loss with a brace in a 2-2 draw against FC Kansas City. Then, on May 4th, she scored yet another brace to instead deliver a 2-1 win over their opponents but not before a series of consecutive losses soon haunted the team throughout much of the month of May and later only came to a halt on June 9th when Seattle Reign FC drew 1-1 against FC Kansas City courtesy of an equalising goal from Alexandra herself. Meanwhile, amidst a parallel goal drought on her part, Alexandra later scored another brace in a 3-1 win over Boston Breakers on July 3rd and afterward her first hat-trick for Seattle Reign FC on August 10th in a 3-1 win over Washington Spirit as her team concluded the season with a 1-2 loss to Portland Thorns FC on the final day which proved not enough to push Seattle Reign FC into the playoffs as they finished in fifth place. Nonetheless, with eleven goals scored, Alexandra came second in the season's top goalscorers list with just one goal behind the top goalscorer Lauren Holiday who scored twelve for FC Kansas City.
In her second and final season, where she was joined by former Arsenal teammate Kim Little, Alexandra started the season off promisingly, scoring a hat-trick in the opening match against Boston Breakers which they won 6-0. Soon afterward, following a goal in a 4-1 win over Washington Spirit, Alexandra then scored a brace in a 4-0 win over Houston Dash which she took some time to follow up on in the form of a goal in a 4-2 win over FC Kansas City on May 14th. Then, on June 1st, she provided a brace in a 5-1 win over Sky Blue FC before promptly following it up with two separate hat-tricks to mark a dominant 6-1 win over Chicago Red Stars and a similarly huge 5-0 victory over Boston Breakers. Meanwhile, she also scored the tiebreaking goal in a 1-0 win over Sky Blue FC on June 28th and on July 12th provided an equalising goal to avoid defeat at the hands of Chicago Red Stars. Then, on August 2nd, she scored a brace to break the 1-1 deadlock against FC Kansas City, a hat-trick in a 7-1 win over Houston Dash on August 2nd and perhaps most crucially a brace on the final day against Portland Thorns FC where her two goals both overrode Alex Morgan's lone goal and ensured that Seattle Reign FC concluded the season unbeaten, thereby earning them the nickname of "Invincible Seattle", while also posting a record high of 61 points. Consequently, Alexandra herself then participated in her first and only NWSL Playoffs where after assisting a Megan Rapinoe goal in a 2-1 win over Washington Spirit in the semi-finals she proceeded to score a memorable hat-trick to seal a dramatic 4-2 win over FC Kansas City in the finals, thereby securing her first and only NWSL Championship in addition to the NWSL Shield that Seattle Reign FC won courtesy of having the season's best regular record. Moreover, with a total of twenty-seven goals, Alexandra personally finished as the season's top goalscorer with teammate Kim Little following suit with sixteen goals. In this, despite positive sentiment, Alexandra announced her departure from Seattle Reign FC to later rejoin Arsenal the following year, a sudden decision sparked by the passing of her paternal grandmother who died just several days prior to the final match against Portland Thorns. Interestingly, fellow teammate Kim Little, who arrived at the club in that same season from Arsenal, would reunite once again with Alexandra when she herself also later rejoined Arsenal in time for the FA WSL Spring Series.
Considered to be one of the club's most talented players, with 38 goals in 40 appearances, Alexandra is Seattle Reign FC's fourth-highest all-time goalscorer ahead of Kim Little and is seen as one of the club's most recognisable faces alongside Megan Rapinoe. Even more, Alexandra holds a number of distinctions including being the league's youngest goalscorer while also holding the record for the most hat-tricks scored in a single season (5) and the most goals scored in a single season (27). Moreover, in a testament to her incredible playmaking abilities, Alexandra also currently holds the record for the league's all-time assists with 43 assists.
England Women (2010 - 2019)
In 2011, shortly after having led Arsenal to a continental treble that year, a fifteen-year-old Alexandra was subsequently included in the England U19 squad by head coach Mo Marley where her apparent talent could immediately be put to good use. However, having failed to qualify for the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship that year in Italy, Alexandra only made her debut the following year when England successfully qualified for the 2012 edition in Turkey. To that end, on 2 July 2012, Alexandra made her maiden appearance in a group stage match against Sweden where she scored her first two goals for England to mark a 2-1 win over their opponents. Then, on July 5th, Alexandra scored her first-ever hat-trick although this proved not enough to avoid a narrow 3-4 loss to Spain which Alexandra promptly avenged by scoring twice in the final match against Serbia to mark a 2-0 win as the only England player to have scored in the group stage. In the end, by virtue of goal difference, England were prevented from advancing to the knockout stages by second-placed Sweden whose slightly superior goal difference allowed them to qualify together with Spain. Regardless, with a total of seven goals, Alexandra did finish the tournament as its top goalscorer and was largely met with praises for her solo effort as England's only goalscorer in the tournament.
Despite the setback, Alexandra would feature once again in the successive 2013 edition in Wales. In this, despite failing to score in two of the three group stage matches, Alexandra did otherwise score a lone goal in the final match against Denmark which England won 4-0 to mark a perfect record and therefore advance to the knockout stages. However, despite providing an assist in a 4-0 win over Finland in the semi-finals, Alexandra failed to make a difference in England's 0-2 loss to France in the finals. Meanwhile, in the following 2014 edition, her last with England as a youth player, Alexandra only scored once in the tournament, namely in a 3-2 win over Spain where in spite of her hat-trick England ultimately failed to advance beyond the group stages. In general, her overall performance, coupled with her status, soon made her a subject of interest among football pundits and supporters with talks of Alexandra, much like her famous half-brother, being a potential key to delivering England Women's first major title. Meanwhile, it was also during this period that she first met her future love interest Beth Mead as well as fellow World Cup winners Nikita Parris and Leah Williamson, with whom Alexandra is known to be very close and has enjoyed a strong friendship ever since.
Around a month after her appearance at the 2014 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, Alexandra further competed at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Canada. In this, she proved a consequential figure in the group stages, scoring a hat-trick against Korea and a brace against Nigeria respectively. Then, in the ensuing knockout stages, Alexandra continued her goalscoring feats with another hat-trick in a 6-1 win over France in the quarter-finals, followed by a brace in a 3-0 win over Germany in the semi-finals, and a final hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Nigeria in the finals to claim England's first-ever title, a milestone that was achieved just weeks after Alexandra's own grandmother, the late Queen Lauren, had passed away on August 12th of that year with her funeral taking place on the day right before the final. Later on, in a candid recollection of the tournament, Alexandra revealed that she "cried for quite some time" right before the August 13th fixture against Nigeria to which head coach Mo Marley initially considered starting another player in the place of Alexandra who instead insisted on starting the match herself and even later went on to score the winning goal against Nigeria. Meanwhile, with a total of thirteen goals, Alexandra herself finished as the tournament's top scorer while also surpassing the previous record of eleven goals set by Canada's Christine Sinclair in 2002. Moreover, she also became just one of two players to have scored a hat-trick in the tournament's finals alongside Korea's Kim Song-hui who scored in her country's 5-2 win over China in the 2006 edition held in Russia.
Shortly after her return to football, then-England Women manager Mark Sampson, aware of the royal's recent growing talent and past performance, was said to have proposed for the nineteen-year-old Alexandra to finally join the senior team, an offer that was initially met with some hesitation given that such a decision would have added further burden onto the princess in light of her recent recovery. However, aware of the upcoming 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup that year in Canada and hoping to emulate her brother's recent World Cup glories just a decade prior, Alexandra opted to accept Sampson's offer. Then, following her father's abdication in 2017, it was later agreed by the then newly-appointed manager and former footballer Phil Neville that she would remain with the team until the end of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, and that she would afterward retire regardless of the tournament's ultimate outcome to fully assume her awaiting regnal duties which she had temporarily put on hold in light of her growing football career. Regarding this, she later said, "Initially, it was quite sad and disappointing to learn that I've only got a few years left with the national team but at the same time, it also drove me to do my absolute best with the remaining time that I have so that in the end, I'll only be enjoying what I've done in the past and not otherwise regretting it and thinking that I could've done more".
On 13 February 2015, Alexandra made her international debut for England in a friendly match against the United States where she scored her first goal for the national team in the 49th minute to equalise with the Americans whose initial 1-0 lead had come from a 25th-minute goal by striker Alex Morgan. Then, around a month later, Alexandra was featured as a regular starter for the national team at the 2015 Cyprus Women's Cup where a brace from her at the 86th minute in the group stage match against the Netherlands proved vital in breaking the initial 1-1 deadlock, thereby allowing England to progress to the finals where they proceeded to defeat Canada 3-0 with another of Alexandra's brace adding to a late 67th-minute goal by striker Lianne Sanderson to complete the 3-0 rout. Meanwhile, in the two subsequent friendly matches against China and Canada respectively, Alexandra scored a brace in both fixtures to guarantee a victory on both occasions, with her brace in the match against Canada proving vital for a successful England comeback against their opponents who initially led 1-0 thanks to an initial 23rd-minute goal by midfielder Sophie Schmidt. Not long afterward, Alexandra subsequently participated in her first major tournament in the form of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, an experience she later described as both "thrilling" and "nerve-wracking". Soon enough, in the group stages, after missing an initial opportunity to score during a 0-1 defeat to France, Alexandra went on to score her first and only hat-trick in the tournament to give her side a dominant 5-1 win over Mexico which was followed by a 2-1 win over Colombia that saw them successfully qualify for the knockout stages which England began by recording a 3-1 victory over Norway in the round of 16, followed by a 4-1 win over hosts Canada in the quarter-finals, and a dramatic 3-2 win over defending champions Japan in the semi-finals where after a 92nd-minute own goal by defender Laura Bassett momentarily saw Japan take the lead, a 93rd-minute tiebreaking goal from Alexandra allowed England to reach the finals for the first time ever, a realisation that she later admitted having brought her to tears upon learning of it. In the ensuing final match at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada, a brace by Fara Williams and a goal from Katie Chapman with assistance from Alexandra herself saw England dramatically defeat the United States, the two-time champions, 3-2 to win their first-ever title. Later on, Alexandra was later named the tournament's Best Young Player, particularly for her "inspiring performance" during England's semi-finals triumph against Japan who later lost 0-2 to Germany in the third place play-off match to ultimately settle for fourth place.
Following their historic success at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, England also qualified for the UEFA Women's Euro 2017. In this, Alexandra herself started off promisingly, scoring a brace in an 8-0 demolition of Scotland and a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Portugal in the group stages. Then, having easily qualified for the knockout stages, Alexandra scored another brace in a 2-0 win over France in the quarter-finals and a memorable hat-trick in a 3-3 draw against the Netherlands in the semi-finals where a 93rd-minute own goal from defender Millie Bright resulted in a penalty shootout that England ultimately won 4-2 to advance to the finals for the first time ever in which goals from Alexandra, Fran Kirby, Millie Bright, and Lucy Bronze saw England mark a dominant 4-0 win over Denmark to claim their first European title just two years after their maiden World Cup glory. In that same year, England also came marginally close to winning the 2017 SheBelieves Cup but ultimately fell short in doing so after France narrowly prevailed to win the tournament outright by just one point ahead. However, in the following 2018 edition, a superior goal difference to that of the United States crucially allowed England to win the tournament for the first time ever especially after their previous immediate attempt had fallen short. Meanwhile, despite the back-to-back success, the England women's national team briefly became the center of controversy when then-manager Mark Sampson, amidst allegations and reports of verbal abuse by the former against England international Eniola Aluko, was dismissed from his position by The Football Association who then appointed former England international and men's World Cup winner Phil Neville as the Lionesses' new head coach.
In 2019, her final year with England, Alexandra would come to see one last major success with the women's national team, namely at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. From the start, a dominant performance in the group stages against Scotland, Argentina, and Japan saw England easily progress to the round of 16 where Alexandra's contribution of two goals for her side in the match helped seal a huge 5-0 victory over Cameroon, thereby allowing them to then meet Norway in the quarter-finals where they also defeated their opponents by a similarly large 6-0 margin with Alexandra herself scoring a hat-trick in the 68th minute. Then, in the ensuing semi-finals, in an exact repeat of their previous encounter, a brace from Alexandra at the 83rd minute saw England seal a dramatic 3-2 victory over the United States to progress to the finals for the second consecutive time. In the ensuing final match at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, a hat-trick from Alexandra in the 53rd minute, coupled with goals from Beth Mead and Abbie McManus respectively in the second half saw England achieve a dominant 5-1 win over the Netherlands to clinch their second World Cup title in a row while the Dutch managed to only reply once via a 75th-minute consolation goal from Daniëlle van de Donk. Meanwhile, the United States, who came second in the previous edition, later finished third via a narrow 4-3 win over Sweden in which both Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe scored twice to edge the Swedes in the final minutes. Consequently, the Lionesses' back-to-back victory saw them become the second nation after Germany to have won two consecutive FIFA Women's World Cups while head coach Phil Neville became the first individual to win both a men's and women's World Cup owing to him being a member of the England squad that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Ironically enough, then-Netherlands Women head coach Sarina Wiegman, having been dealt a heavy 5-1 defeat at the hands of England, later went on to manage the Lionesses herself and lead them to a resounding 5-2 win over Spain in the following 2023 edition.
In the end, despite her sustained success with England and with rumours claiming that she might potentially forgo her rights of succession to the throne in order to remain with the England women's national team for the near future, Alexandra, as was intended beforehand, announced her retirement from professional football at the end of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, which was then followed by a "semi-modest" farewell event at the St George's Park National Football Centre involving both her England and Arsenal teammates. Meanwhile, despite her abrupt retirement and short-lived career, Alexandra holds a record of 84 goals in 71 appearances for the England women's national team, making her their leading all-time goalscorer, a status that her half-brother William Smith also enjoys as the all-time leading goalscorer for the England men's national team with 160 goals in 124 appearances. Moreover, despite her limited number of appearances, she is also the all-time goalscorer in the UEFA Women's Championship with 12 goals and the second-highest all-time goalscorer in the World Cup (men or women) with 21 goals behind half-brother William Smith. In both respects, she is followed jointly by Germany's Birgit Prinz and Inka Grings in the former and by Brazil's Marta in the latter.
In a 2022 interview with Sky Sports held shortly after England's back-to-back victory at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, when asked whether she "personally regrets" forgoing the rest of her growing football career in order to better concentrate on her duties as queen, Alexandra responded with an affirmative "no", stating, "I certainly don't regret the time I spent at England at all, even if it's just four years long, which some might see as a rather short period of time because in the end, I made a lot of good friends during that time, and not to mention, in just four years, we were able to win two World Cups in a row, along with at least one Women's Euro tournament along the way. Essentially, what matters is not the amount of time you spent on something, but rather what you achieved or done, irrespective of the amount of time spent". She later added, "Looking back, if I were to not have won even a single competition back then when I had that four-year chance, then I would have absolutely regretted retiring so abruptly because it obviously meant that whatever potential I had, I never fully reached it and it was otherwise completely wasted despite the chances that I had". In addition, besides the overwhelming support from her family, Alexandra also cited football as one of the main driving forces behind her successful recovery from her near-fatal depressive episode, stating, "The fact that within just a year after my grandmother's death, I was then just joyfully and proudly holding a World Cup trophy in my arms in front of millions of people definitely changed the way I looked at life from that moment onwards and gave the years after she was no longer alive a whole new meaning and perspective for me to keep moving on and live my life to the fullest. For me, my grandmother's passing was not the end of my journey and there's actually more of it waiting for me down the road".
In October 2019, shortly after her retirement came into effect, Alexandra was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame, with The Football Association chairman Greg Clarke heralding the royal as "one of England's brightest talents in women's football" and "a lifelong icon for young girls across England looking to get into football". During much of her playing years, given her pre-existing wealth as a royal, Alexandra personally opted to receive no salary at all from her club thereby relieving them of considerable financial burden which, in turn, later allowed them to sign promising and talented strikers such as Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema to form an effective and lethal attacking trio that included Alexandra herself. Regarding this, she said, "Frankly, with what I had, it was the least that I could do for a club that I feel truly happy and thankful. In the end, players like Vivianne and Beth came along and by all accounts, everyone is happy with it".
Foundation of Ballon d'Or Féminin
Beginning in 1956, in an annual event hosted by France Football, the Ballon d'Or award has routinely been given to male footballers deemed to have best performed in a given year and which has since been won by a host of players with former United States and England international William Smith currently holding the record for most awards won with eleven in total while Englishman Stanley Matthews is the inaugural recipient of the award, having first won it in 1956.
In contrast, due to longstanding restrictions imposed on and social norms regarding women's football across Europe, women's football never really became established in the decades following the Second World War and a corresponding award for female footballers therefore did not exist. However, in 2015, shortly after helping the England women's national team to their maiden FIFA Women's World Cup title, Alexandra, given the gravity of such a feat, publicly questioned the lack of a women's equivalent to the prestigious Ballon d'Or award especially given that the tournament itself had at least officially begun in 1991. In a subsequent interview with BBC Sport that year, Alexandra said, "Given the timing, some might call it a self-absorbed or an eccentric personal effort of mine just so I could win an award that my brother has won quite a lot but frankly speaking, that's really not the case because at the end of the day, as women's football finally begins to take off, it is only right that a women's equivalent of the Ballon d'Or be created and there's clearly nothing wrong with doing something like this slightly earlier in spite of the fact that such an action is way overdue anyway". Eventually, an initially fringe idea that soon secured support from the likes of men's football icons William Smith, David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane as well as several established female footballers including Christine Sinclair, Mia Hamm, and Michelle Akers, and even French President François Hollande compelled France Football to introduce the Ballon d'Or Féminin with its inaugural edition set to be awarded jointly with the men's Ballon d'Or that same year. To that end, on 6 January 2016, having won a domestic treble that year with Arsenal as well as having crucially helped England to their first FIFA Women's World Cup title, Alexandra soon won a huge majority of the votes to become the award's inaugural recipient (as well as the youngest at just nineteen), defeating compatriot Eniola Aluko and German Célia Šašić, while her half-brother William Smith simultaneously picked up his ninth Ballon d'Or award in one of the few instances where both awards are simultaneously won by a pair of siblings. In addition, she is currently just one of three English players to have won the award alongside Beth Mead who won it in 2022 and Lucy Bronze who won the following edition.
In the years since, during which Alexandra herself later won it twice more in 2017 and 2019, the award has been won by five different recipients with the most recent winner being England's Lucy Bronze while Norway's Ada Hegerberg, who last won it in 2018, is just one of two players alongside Alexandra to have won it more than once during which an interesting pattern emerged whereby both players won the award right after the other. During a 2022 interview with The Guardian shortly after her partner Beth Mead won her first Ballon d'Or Féminin award, Alexandra described her decision to pressure France Football into introducing the award as "one of the proudest things I have ever done in my life", stating, "Ultimately, it is not solely about me but about women's football and its emerging players as a whole who now have the chance to be recognised with the same prestige that their male counterparts had for decades". Meanwhile, in 2018, in line with the creation of the Kopa Trophy meant for the best performing male player under the age of twenty-one, the corresponding Alexandra Trophy was also created with French player Selma Bacha of Division 1 Féminine club Lyon chosen as the inaugural winner. In 2023, shortly after England Women achieved a historic third consecutive Women's World Cup title, an equally successful lobbying campaign resulted in the creation of the Angerer Trophy, the women's equivalent to the Yashin Trophy and which was named after German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer who famously kept a clean sheet throughout the entire course of her country's victorious campaign at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Almost immediately, for her role in England's historic milestone, Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps was chosen as the inaugural winner, having also won the Golden Glove and The Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper awards as well.
Retirement (2019 - Present)
For her subsequent August 2019 coronation, Alexandra personally invited her former Arsenal teammates as well as members of the England women's national team, all of whom were later featured with the Queen in a group photograph in front of the St George's Park National Football Centre, the base for all of England's national sports team, including both the men's and the women's football teams. Meanwhile, on 2 December 2019, Alexandra herself received her third Ballon d'Or Féminin award, the most so far, for her success at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. In addition to that, she was also honoured with a second BBC Women's Footballer of the Year award which followed that of a previous one awarded to her in 2015, making her the joint-highest winner of the award alongside compatriot Lucy Bronze who along with the former and fellow compatriots Beth Mead and Mary Earps make up the award's four recipients so far to have hailed from England.
Despite the somewhat limited time spent and early retirement from women's football at the young age of twenty-three, Alexandra has since come to be well-regarded by her former teammates, with Arsenal defender and England captain Leah Williamson, who debuted for her club around the same time as the former's return, describing the royal as a "very wholesome and fun teammate to play with" while also revealing that her very first encounter with the royal on their first match for Arsenal together left her "pretty much stunned" by the former's easygoing character, stating, "To some extent, I initially believed that all these royalty people are just very snobbish and uptight people but in our very first encounter she acted pretty much like any other normal girl you see everyday". Similarly, retired England international Ellen White has also particularly praised Alexandra's "teamwork spirit" during their time together in the national team, stating that the two "generally got along very well" and that in necessary situations the royal proved to be a valuable and important teammate with whom White often worked in tandem leading England's attack. Moreover, Phil Neville, who managed the England women's national team from 2018 to 2021 and oversaw their victory at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, described the royal as a "very hardworking, selfless, and talented player not afraid to realise her errors and immediately correct them when necessary", adding, "In the eyes of many, when I was the manager, I was essentially talking to my country's own queen and head of state as a commoner but the reality is that both of us understood that when it comes to football, titles and statuses don't matter and what ultimately matters is the team's success that everyone, regardless of any differences, should work together at their hardest to achieve it". Meanwhile, Vivianne Miedema, a teammate of hers at Arsenal but otherwise an opponent on the international level representing the Netherlands, described her as "one of the most brilliant teammates and one of the most formidable opponents I have ever met".
Since her retirement from professional football, Alexandra has continued to be an active and vocal figure for women's football, an issue which she has come to champion since her retirement in 2019. Most notably, following the England women's national team's victory at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, the Queen subsequently reiterated her call for further attention and investment into women's football as a whole, stating, "If winning a single major tournament is all it takes for women's football in England to receive all the media coverage and attention, then they have done so for years now and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, hopefully with renewed interest and attention it so deserves". In addition to this, Alexandra also emerged as a vocal critic of the unsuccessful European Super League project, which she once described as "the rich man's football and one that is both soulless and meritless at its core". Moreover, despite the project reportedly planning to include a women's league alongside the men's, Alexandra herself opined that "regardless of the gender equality pretense behind it, it would be an absolute shame if female footballers are also roped into this disaster of a plan, one that is concocted by a group of greedy businessmen with little to no passion or interest in football itself". Similarly, Culture Secretary Chloe Smith also voiced her public disapproval of the project in conjunction with Prime Minister David Cameron, stating that the European Super League would "kill football as we know it for both men and women". More recently, together with former teammates Leah Williamson and Lotte Wubben-Moy, the Queen vocally called for the British government to both guarantee and expand access to sports, including football, for girls at schools, owing to the longstanding systemic imbalance between boys and girls in terms of access towards sports. Moreover, following a spate of anterior cruciate ligament injuries that befell her former England teammates including Beth Mead and Leah Williamson as well as others such as Vivianne Miedema and Alexia Putellas, Alexandra has vocally called for "further intensive research" into what she called a "growing epidemic among female footballers" while also advocating for the commissioning of football boots specifically tailored according to the female body so as to lessen the potential risks of injury, an initiative that she spearheaded shortly after retiring in a joint effort with the German brand Adidas.
During a 2019 interview with BBC Sport, Alexandra revealed that sometime prior to her World Cup debut in 2015, then-USWNT manager Jill Ellis once reportedly approached her with the aim of convincing her to play for the United States given that despite her more pronounced British identity she is otherwise still eligible to represent the United States by virtue of having been born there herself while also having an American-born mother. However, despite the "enticing" temptation of playing for the two-time champions, with the United States having previously won the inaugural 1991 edition and the 1999 edition, Alexandra ultimately rejected the offer in favour of playing for England, a decision that she said was considerably influenced by that of her half-brother who left the United States in 2003 shortly after carrying them to a historic World Cup glory the previous year to join England, with whom he later won three World Cups and two UEFA European Championships in a row. Furthermore, she also said, "Whenever I win a major trophy I would want it to be with my father holding the trophy and not some random politician that I barely know about". Later on, Ellis herself confirmed the story of her approaching the royal to play for the United States rather than for England, stating, "From the very beginning, we knew that we were trying to get a very talented player into our ranks even if it seemed difficult or impossible to do. Even more, the fact that she later defeated us in the World Cup final afterward definitely stung and really convinced us that we had lost out on an incredibly talented and skilled player who perhaps could have made the difference for us when we needed it". Likewise, Megan Rapinoe, her former teammate at OL Reign, once called it a "great shame" that the two did not ultimately play together for the United States, a statement echoed by fellow United States international Alex Morgan whom Alexandra faced at both the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup finals and the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup semi-finals, winning on both occasions.
As of 2023, and since the inception of the Ballon d'Or Féminin in 2015, Alexandra, along with compatriot Lucy Bronze, are the only two players so far to have won the FIFA Women's World Cup, the UEFA Women's Champions League, and the Ballon d'Or Féminin. Interestingly, five-time UEFA Women's Champions League champion and two-time Ballon d'Or Féminin winner Ada Hegerberg is not included in the list owing to her lack of success with Norway who won their only Women's World Cup title back in 1995. Likewise, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and one-time Ballon d'Or Féminin winner Beth Mead is also not included given that she has yet to win the UEFA Women's Champions League with her current club.
Heir Apparent
Beginning in the early 2010s, a teenage Alexandra would gradually come to absorb a more prominent role as the heir to the throne, with her future duties simultaneously becoming ever more apparent since then. Soon enough, on 1 January 2011, Alexandra made her maiden public appearance alongside her family members and relatives at the wedding of her aunt Catherine, Princess Royal to American actress Jodie Foster, the first instance of a same-sex wedding involving a member of the British royal family, and which, given that same-sex marriage was only legalised in the United Kingdom roughly a year later, instead took place in the Netherlands, which had been the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage back in 2001. Following this, the princess subsequently made her second public appearance in the following February where she attended the funeral of her grandfather, the late King Charles III, with the event beginning with a sizable procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey led at the front by brothers King Thomas and Prince Nelson before coming to an end at the esteemed Anglican church where a 94-gun salute, the amount of which represents the years of his life, was given as a final farewell before the late monarch was finally laid to rest alongside his other ancestors. Attended by various political and military figures, as well as several surviving former United States Air Force servicemen who once served together with the former during the Second World War, the event saw Thomas honour his deceased father as "an honourable man, a loving father, and a selfless patriot" while Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General Norton A. Schwartz praised him as a "capable pilot" and a "fearless warrior of justice".
From July to August 2012, Alexandra and her family were prominently featured as honorary guests at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London which, particularly saw her father personally participate in the opening gimmick alongside British actor Daniel Craig in which the two men parachuted out of a building and onto the stage below in a performance that was met with wide applause from many. In the meantime, Alexandra's half-brother also gained much prominence at the event as the captain of the Great Britain men's football team which he successfully led to victory via a 2-0 win over Mexico in the finals. Nonetheless, despite their status as hosts, Great Britain only managed to rack up a total of 66 medals, far behind China in second place with 94 medals, and the United States in first with 104 medals in total. Later that November, Alexandra also attended her half-brother's wedding to American actress Anne Hathaway at Oheka Castle in New York, United States where in the ensuing lunch feast she personally welcomed her "new beloved sister", stating, "Without a doubt, ever since I could read and talk, as a young little girl, I was so obsessed about a particular American actress for years on end. Now, to even personally welcome the actress as my own sister-in-law absolutely feels like an impossible or far-fetched dream although it is one that I will remember for a lifetime". In the meantime, on 20 July 2012, roughly a week before the 2012 Summer Olympics began, Alexandra also represented her country at the enthronement of Japan's Empress Akiko, the country's first female monarch in centuries.
Upon completing her secondary level education at the Southbank International School, Alexandra briefly refocused her interests in assuming her official duties as heir apparent to her father. In this, beforehand, the princess had mostly been accompanying her parents on their many state visits abroad and was never really given an opportunity to do so herself, owing to her age and priorities, until around September 2011 when, in an apparent break from tradition, it was announced that the princess would be headlining her first-ever solo visit abroad with the country of choice being France. In this, Alexandra met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and First Lady Carla Bruni, with whom she noticeably developed a close friendship early on owing to Bruni's close relations with her mother Christy Turlington as fellow fashion models during the 1990s. In the end, her solo visit to France, which spanned over the course of three days, was positively received by many including the French media outlet France 24 which praised the royal for "carrying herself elegantly and flawlessly at such a young age" while First Lady Carla Bruni described the princess as a "lovely young girl wise beyond her years" and an "absolute joy of a girl just like her mother".
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The following year also saw Alexandra undertake several further official trips abroad in her own personal capacity, beginning with a visit in February to the United States where she met then-President Barack Obama, which she soon followed up on with a visit to neighbouring Canada where she met then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Then, in June of that same year, the princess went on a personal trip to Spain where she attended the enthronement of King Felipe VI as the new Spanish monarch as a guest of honour. The following July, in response to the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, a commercial airliner en route to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from Amsterdam, Netherlands that was shot down while flying over the tumultuous area of eastern Ukraine by Russian forces in the area, Alexandra issued a public statement condemning those responsible for the attack, calling it an "act of utter barbarism", while also likening it to the infamous 1988 Lockerbie bombing in which a commercial airliner flying over Lockerbie, Scotland was destroyed mid-air by a bomb explosion placed by Libyan terrorists, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom. Among the 298 total passengers onboard the downed flight, all of whom were killed upon impact, ten of them were identified as British nationals while one hundred ninety-seven of them were otherwise identified as Dutch nationals.
On 13 July 2014, Alexandra, along with members of the Royal Family together traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they attended in person the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final between England and Argentina in which England, under the captaincy of her half-brother, won 4-2 on penalties to secure their third consecutive World Cup title, becoming the first nation to do so, while also equalising Brazil's record of four World Cup titles during which England captain William Smith himself notably broke the record of three World Cup titles for an individual player held by the Brazilian football legend Pelé. Meanwhile, in a close affair, the Netherlands narrowly defeated Germany 3-2 to clinch a third-place finish in the ensuing playoff match following their previous defeat to runners-up Argentina, making it just the second time that they have finished third since participating for the first time in the 1938 FIFA World Cup where they also finished third by defeating Sweden 3-0 before later winning it in 1974 FIFA World Cup by defeating hosts West Germany 5-4 on penalties following a 0-0 draw.
On 30 September 2016, in what was then her first-ever instance of setting foot in Israel, Alexandra, along with a host of other international dignitaries, attended the state funeral of former President Shimon Peres that was held at the Mount Herzl national cemetery site. Peres, whose relation to the princess via him being a cousin of the late Queen Lauren made him a well-regarded albeit a distant member of the British royal family, was eulogised by Alexandra who in her statement praised the late Israeli politician as a "humble, yet effective and visionary leader who never stopped seeking for eternal peace, even if such a goal seemed impossible or far-fetched at times". Similarly, Alexandra's father King Thomas also expressed much praise for the late Peres, stating, "In a rather troubled and complicated region such as the Middle East, Shimon Peres is undoubtedly one of its most talented, promising, and visionary leaders ever".
On 15 March 2017, Princess Margaret, Duchess of Halland, Alexandra's great-aunt, passed away at the age of eighty-nine, effectively marking the end of the generation of royals of her late grandfather's era given that Margaret, following the death of her half-brother, the late King Charles III on 2 March 2011, consequently became the oldest living member of the British royal family and also the only living member of her family remaining, with her other half-brother Prince William having died much earlier in 1943, thereby leaving the Duchess of Halland and the late King Charles III as the only surviving siblings until their respective deaths.
From early-to-mid-2017, following a series of terrorist attacks that targeted the Palace of Westminster, Manchester Arena, and the London Bridge, Alexandra published a statement expressing her condolences and condemning the violent acts, stating, "As the nation grieves for the unfortunate loss of its people to these heinous acts of terror, questions will arise over the safety and well-being of the people as a whole. Regarding this, I have full trust in the government and the relevant authorities to ensure that necessary measures are taken to ensure that such violent episodes will never come up again". Like her predecessors, together with her parents, Alexandra personally visited the sites where the incidents had taken place during which she and her family wore black clothing as a sign of respect for the deceased. In one interview, Alexandra later described seeing the aftermath of said incidents as having reminded her of the infamous 2005 London bombings in which Islamist terrorists bombed London's public transport system during morning rush hour, stating, "It is never a good thing to hear or to even see what a bunch of violent people intend to do to your own country, a place where you were born, raised, and live in for your entire life. Of course, the London bombings are now about a decade ago but to be reminded of it, even in the slightest, definitely stings and hurts me a lot in an emotional sense".
Death of Queen Dowager Lauren
On 12 August 2014, while in her first year of university in the United States, Alexandra was met with a personal tragedy when her elderly grandmother and former actress Queen Lauren passed away at the age of eighty-nine. Her grandmother's death, which had occurred in the presence of her mother, soon forced a distraught Alexandra to abruptly halt her studies for some time, having found it difficult to continue her studies further at the time. Consequently, both the princess and her mother, who had been accompanying her all the while, soon together flew back for the United Kingdom via the royal family's private plane with the late queen dowager's coffin in tow. The following days were then filled with extensive preparations as well as rehearsals for the late queen dowager's funeral, which eventually took place on 23 August 2014, with the ceremony, in contrast to the more elaborate and extensive one held for the late King Charles III, ultimately being a more relatively simple and brief one instead, a change in tone that was reportedly requested by the late Queen Lauren herself before her passing, in which she, according to her eldest son Thomas, "wanted a simple funeral away from the spotlight" despite initial suggestions that she should be awarded an equally elaborate and grand funeral like her late husband's given their lasting legacy on British society. Lasting for no more than thirty minutes long, the funeral saw the British royals depart Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey at 9:00 p.m. in a fleet of black sedans with the late queen dowager's coffin in tow and which was then subsequently laid to rest next to that of her late husband's, with the royals then paying their last respects to the family's "former patriarch and matriarch" before subsequently departing back for Buckingham Palace, hence concluding the funeral. Since then, it has been said to be a family tradition whereby each year on the date of the late couple's marriage, namely the 15th of March, the royals would together come at Westminster Abbey at exactly 9:00 p.m. to mark the late couple's passing as well as to "properly reflect on the days since the departure of two beloved and honourable individuals that came to mark and define the family in the modern and ever-changing world".
In the meantime, the following days, as later described by Alexandra herself, proved to be "much more difficult" for the former who was said to have often spent much of her time alone in the bedroom while also maintaining a largely silent and cold demeanour, a stark contrast to her normally carefree and talkative character. Around that same time, amidst concerns over her mental health, Alexandra was then prescribed by doctors a bottle of anti-depressant pills for her own personal consumption. However, on 12 September, an abrupt decision to consume her pills at an amount slightly higher than that recommended to her by doctors threw the princess into a comatose state, which was quickly noticed by her mother who soon afterward had her daughter treated to by palace doctors. Soon enough, possibilities surrounding the princess's state of survival and current health promptly led to staffers at the BBC and other British media outlets to don black outfits, as per the traditional customs, a decision that immediately proved to be a source for great concern and curiosity among the British public who in the hours that followed began descending on the gates of Buckingham Palace, while major news outlets, including the likes of the BBC and Sky News began reporting on the situation almost immediately, with the BBC then stating that the princess was facing a "serious illness" without providing any further details, a decision most likely influenced by the royal family's choice to keep any major knowledge regarding the princess's wellbeing a closely guarded secret and away from the public. Throughout the next four days or so, as crowds continued to fill the area outside of the palace gates, Buckingham Palace itself otherwise remained largely silent on the princess's condition, but not before later issuing a statement at 9:30 a.m. on 16 September that the princess was "making a promising recovery from her aforementioned illness", which was later confirmed roughly two days later when Alexandra herself publicly appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the first time since recovering from her coma, to which the crowd below shouted "God Save the Princess!", followed by a roar of applause and waves of clapping.
In the days following her recovery from her coma, under the recommendation of her doctors, Alexandra was to be kept mostly at home with the exception of important matters as well as being strictly monitored by her mother given that she is who Alexandra herself felt most close to and coupled with the fact that Queen Christy herself had beforehand acted as her daughter's main source of support following the latter's grandmother's departure providing much-needed physical and emotional support. Eventually, after around a month or so, once it was deemed that the princess had now possessed a stable state of mind and was not at any risk of relapsing, Alexandra, based on her own request, then went along with her mother on a month-long private trip to Hawaii where the mother and daughter pair proceeded to spend the following month under much secrecy which meant that when interacting with the general public, the pair often assumed fake aliases so as to conceal their true identities while also avoiding places that were said to have been frequented by high-profile individuals all in order to attract the least amount of attention possible. In a later interview, she said, "Without a doubt, everything about the vacation was 100% perfection, with it being just me and my mother relaxing at the beach with no one else interrupting, and just the two of us hiking through the beautiful Hawaiian rainforest", adding that at one point the mother-daughter duo reportedly camped for three days long in the Hawaiian jungle during which the two, according to Alexandra herself, "cooked delicious fishes, crossed mighty rivers, and saw beautiful waterfalls". In the meantime, the two also met with Hawaii Governor David Ige, who subsequently described the two as a "very kind and unassuming pair", adding, "From the moment I first met them, they definitely looked less like royals and more like two wonderful people very eager to enjoy all the things Hawaii could offer".
By the following year, having initially put her university studies on indefinite hold following her grandmother's death, Alexandra decided to finally return back to committing herself once more to her academic studies. However, in doing so, she chose not to return to her old university, instead opting to study at a local university in England, that being the University of London, a choice she later attributed to geographical reasons as well as her personal need to be "close to home", thus avoiding potential homesickness, and given that the university itself is only two miles away from Buckingham Palace, also made communications between herself and her family much easier in general. In addition, having also decided to take up professional football once again, the relevant training centers for both Arsenal and the England women's national team also happened to be within the university's proximity, thereby also making the princess's football duties less of an overall burden as she also decided to simultaneously resume her football career which she had then also put on hold following her grandmother's death.
On 10 October 2023, a date commonly known to be for World Mental Health Day, for the first time, Alexandra publicly disclosed that her previously vague "serious illness" was actually her being in a comatose state that resulted from a near-fatal overdose on drugs which she had consumed beyond the recommended limit. Explaining further, Alexandra went on to describe the period, which immediately followed the passing of her paternal grandmother in August 2014, as the "darkest period of my life to date", adding, "In a sense, it wasn't really 100% the case but at the time, I just felt extremely lost, lonely, and as if I had lost one of my bodily senses. I just didn't really have the energy or usual enthusiasm to do the things that I normally do because, at the time, they all just felt so dull and meaningless to me. From my own perspective back then, someone that I loved so much just left for good so what's the point of doing this stuff anymore?". Regardless, Alexandra has credited her "superhero mother" and "truly caring family" for helping her out of the situation and for "giving me a very solid, even if a rather generic reason to continue living and not end my life so abruptly just like how I almost did". The revelation, made during a special interview with the BBC, was widely received by the public while mental health experts praised the Queen for her "frankness in revealing an undeniably dark but consequential episode of her life". Similarly, British journalist Zeinab Badawi, who conducted the interview herself, said, "Admittedly, given who she is, some people are always going to take this whole thing with a little grain of salt but for me, as a commoner, it was not that hard to swiftly understand what she was going through during that dark time. Rich or poor, anyone losing a beloved relative of theirs is always going to have a hard time dealing with it and I commend her for willingly telling her experience as it is with the noble purpose of emphasising just how obviously important mental health is to an individual, especially with all the stuff that has been happening recently". In addition, Badawi also revealed that upon the Queen's own request, almost little to none of the interview was edited out including moments of her briefly pausing between sentences and occasionally sobbing a little, stating that she "really wanted the things that she said to be raw and hard-hitting and for the whole interview to be as honest and open as possible with little editing involved". Meanwhile, on her part, Alexandra said, "Aside from the fact that it would be on a day meant worldwide for mental health, I just personally felt that after some time keeping secret the real reason that made me ill back then I have to eventually come clean and let the public know the unfiltered truth where, as a princess and a future queen of the country, I once took drugs in an amount that was far too dangerous and that I almost died in doing so. In the end, I'm a human and all humans have emotions".
Investiture of the Princess of the Welsh
Following her creation as Princess of the Welsh through letters patent issued by her father, prospects of an investiture ceremony as the new Princess of the Welsh quickly gained traction, while also receiving much support from the former King Charles III, Alexandra's own grandfather. Moreover, such prospects were also looked upon favourably by a number of Welsh-born politicians including then-Secretary of State for Wales Ron Davies who argued that having such a ceremony for the title's first female holder would be a "great step forward for the cause of gender equality in Wales and the whole of the United Kingdom". However, despite its potential social implications, proposals for another investiture were not without criticism, with Welsh nationalists being fundamentally opposed to the continuation of the title's use for the heir apparent to the British throne. Nonetheless, in February 2002, proposals for an investiture ceremony in the future were confirmed with an announcement by Buckingham Palace, which declared that the investiture ceremony would "proceed as planned" and that it would take place sometime after the princess had reached the age of twenty. To that end, in the months leading up to the investiture ceremony, a then-twenty-year-old Alexandra was sent on a brief tour of Wales itself during which she also undertook language lessons in the Welsh language so as to better prepare the princess who was expected to deliver her speech in Welsh at some point during the ceremony.
Eventually, on 5 June 2016, her investiture ceremony was held at the historic Welsh medieval fortress of Caernarfon Castle which had previously served as the very site where the investiture ceremony for her predecessors took place before. Then, in the closing hours of the event, Alexandra read aloud her speech, first in English, followed by a second one in Welsh, with her fluency in the language being a subject of much praise by observers who noted the princess's "flawless delivery in the Welsh language". Meanwhile, the event itself was noted for reportedly being one of the most viewed events that year with an estimated viewership amount of up to 29.5 million people, including both UK citizens and non-UK citizens, although this was later surpassed by her own August 2019 coronation, which otherwise reported an estimated total amount of viewership at 32 million.
2016 EU referendum & "June riots"
On 23 June 2016, hoping to quell the nationwide debate over the United Kingdom's future in the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron's government held a nationwide referendum, the results of which, although legally non-binding, was expected to be implemented by the British government. In the end, the referendum resulted in a clear victory for the Remain vote at 57.6% to the Leave vote's 42.4%, thereby guaranteeing the United Kingdom's continued membership in the European Union. Consequently, over the next few days, a series of rallies organised by prominent figures of the Leave campaign, namely Nigel Farage and Michael Gove, quickly sprang up across England and which were particularly concentrated in the East Midlands region which had registered the highest percentage of Leave votes in the referendum. According to the BBC, along with several other media outlets, a "sizable majority" of the rallies were reported to be "very emotionally charged" along with containing "strong elements of overt xenophobia and anti-immigrant racism". In this, numerous figures of the Leave campaign were mostly seen bemoaning the campaign's dramatic loss at the polls which they particularly attributed to the strongly pro-Remain constituent country of Hanover where its roughly three million voters, most of whom are in favour of remaining in the European Union, helped ensure a decisive victory for the Leave campaign despite England, the most populous constituent country, recording a majority in favour of a withdrawal. In the meantime, amidst growing tensions, isolated incidents of violence, which later came to form the "June riots", began occurring across the United Kingdom with England being where most of the incidents were recorded. In the end, a BBC investigation reported that around thirty-eight people were killed whereas eighty-three more were injured and a further one hundred and thirty-two were arrested by police during the violence.
In response, both King Thomas and Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the violence that unfolded, with the latter expressing "much sadness and despair at the fact that a simple referendum could lead to such ugly incidents of violence" while the monarch expressed his "utter disbelief at the level of chaos that followed a simple and normal democratic procedure". Similarly, Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn condemned the "irrational and unnecessary violence that unfolded" while Minister-President of Hanover Mark Heffelfinger, referencing the particular criticism directed towards voters in Hanover by the Leave campaign's leaders, both condemned the riots and also called out the likes of Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, and Nigel Farage for "shameless anti-German racism", stating, "It is absolutely reprehensible and utterly bizarre that as the legitimate citizens of the United Kingdom in Hanover voted for their desired outcome, a certain group of people, when ultimately dealt with a loss, could not somehow bring themselves to accept the final results and instead resorted to shameless targeting and singling out an entire group of people for having exercised free will in a democratic country". Consequently, under the demand of Heffelfinger, whose party threatened to withdraw and leave the Conservatives governing alone in the minority, both Johnson and Gove were subsequently expelled from the party by David Cameron given their prominent roles and outspokenness as well-known figures for the Leave campaign. Meanwhile, with his much-publicised plan for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union effectively thwarted, by the following year, Farage subsequently resigned from the party leadership and in turn shifted his political activities over to the United States which had then elected fellow anti-EU politician and real estate mogul Donald Trump as president.
Meanwhile, on her part, Alexandra herself sparked some controversy when in addition to condemning the aforementioned violence she also proceeded to directly blame right-wing politician and UKIP leader Nigel Farage for the said incidents, stating, "Prior to and after the referendum, the man known as Nigel Farage has clearly never once shied away from the usual inflammatory and frankly racist remarks that have come to define who he is today". Pointing to a past remark made by Farage regarding his concern over potentially living next door to a group of Romanian men, the princess, who is of Romanian ancestry through her paternal great-grandparents, denounced Farage as "the single most bigoted man I've ever known in my entire life", adding, "My late grandfather was married to a woman of Romanian ancestry. Perhaps, if he was still alive today, then a certain man would not dare to say those very same words himself be it in front or behind my late grandfather". Almost immediately, the royal's comments quickly became a source of controversy with some viewing it as an unprecedented or rare entry into national politics by the royal institution which had largely avoided doing so under the guise of political impartiality. To that end, then-London mayor and major Leave figure Boris Johnson called the remarks "very dangerous" and warned against the potential violation of the monarchy's longstanding impartiality regarding national politics while Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron defended the royal's comments, stating, "Regardless of who had said it first, it is undoubtedly true that for much of the time leading up to the referendum, Farage and his cohorts were at the absolute forefront of uttering truly despicable and disgusting remarks targeted towards certain groups of people in this country. In my opinion, such comments do not necessarily need the royals to intervene and call it out for what it is but also every sane-minded person regardless of background or ideology".
In the following July, British broadcaster Andrew Neil suggested during a segment that the royal should "publicly apologise" for her "unwarranted intrusion into national politics". In response, Alexandra, while acknowledging her "intrusion" into the country's politics, nonetheless asserted that she would "never apologise for pointing out the truth, particularly that relating to a rather despicable man guilty of very disgusting remarks made towards minorities in the country".
King Charles III's 100th Anniversary
On 15 January 2017, together with her family members, Alexandra partook in nationwide celebrations marking the 100th posthumous birthday of her grandfather, the late King Charles III, who had then passed away on 2 March 2011 at the age of ninety-four. In opening the ceremony, the princess's father King Thomas remarked, "Exactly a hundred years ago, my beloved grandfather was born far away in Haga Palace as the First World War ravaged not just the entirety of Europe but also the United Kingdom. Yet, by the following decade, he finally returned to his one true home and despite the challenges, scepticism, and opposition, he prevailed through it all and by the end of it had not just defined a generation that lived through two World Wars but also defined a nation that over the course of several decades gradually evolved from its old and imperial past to its present state as a modern and cosmopolitan state where all is welcome while progress and advancement reign supreme".
Lasting for an almost entire day long, the celebrations began in the morning with the royal family congregating at Westminster Abbey in honour of the late king's memory. Following this, the royal family, along with Prime Minister David Cameron and members of Parliament, then attended an exclusive ceremony at the BFI IMAX, the largest cinema in the United Kingdom where past films starring the late monarch were screened. Lastly, during the nightly hours, as a tribute to the late monarch's past as a decorated Second World War airman, a flypast featuring ten Royal Air Force's Eurofighter Typhoons and ten United States Air Force's F-16 Fighting Falcons was held over The Mall with the professional heads of both respective service branches in attendance namely Air Chief Marshal Stephen Hillier and General David L. Goldfein. In the meantime, former US President George H. W. Bush, whose time in office overlapped with the last few years of the late Charles III's reign prior to the latter's abdication, praised the late monarch as a "noble figure of peace" and a "selfless patriot", adding, "When I served in the United States Navy back during the Second World War, I personally didn't even know that a prince, let alone a future king, was also fighting the evil fascist forces with us but yet it was in that sense of anonymity that he undoubtedly took the risks and put himself in the line of fire to uphold freedom and democracy against those wishing to destroy it". Similarly, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin hailed Charles as "one of the Jewish people's greatest heroes and defenders", stating, "For decades, even as he wasn't perhaps supposed to, he never shied from always standing up and advocating for protection of the Jewish people no matter where they are. In retrospect, perhaps no other individual possessed his unwavering spirit and firm passion for the welfare of the Jewish people who continue to face challenges every single day".
Having gone without a single incident, the event was widely received and was met with much applause by many with The Guardian describing it as a "beautiful, heartwarming, and solemn tribute to a larger-than-life figure" while the BBC likened the event's spectacle to that of the 2012 Summer Olympics which was also met with much public acclaim. In this, Chloe Smith, who oversaw the event as Culture Secretary, was similarly met with much public praise. In the meantime, plans for a subsequent 100th-anniversary celebration for the late Queen Lauren that was due to be held on 16 September 2024 was also confirmed with Smith asserting that the ensuing ceremony "will be slightly different in nature but just as majestic and beautiful in its entirety".
Abdication of King Thomas
Alexandra reflecting on her father's abdication
In the last few years leading up to the end of her father's reign, the King himself had largely shown little signs of ailing health. This, coupled with the fact that the King himself is a keen sportsman, particularly in sports such as tennis and polo, initially made a sudden abdication from the throne rather unlikely. Despite this, on precisely 6 October 2017, at 3:30 p.m., shortly after returning to his bedroom, King Thomas suddenly collapsed from an apparent heart attack. His fall, which was immediately noticed by his wife, was quickly dealt with as the royal was promptly rushed to a nearby medical room within Buckingham Palace itself where for the next few days or so doctors patiently operated on the incapacitated monarch. In the meantime, despite news of the monarch's health and condition being strictly limited to among palace staff and the royal family itself, newscasters at the United Kingdom's major broadcasters, namely the BBC and ITV, were nonetheless ordered to wear black outfits in the event of the King's possible death. Around that same time, as news of the King's health, even if somewhat limited in information, began to spread to the public, droves of British citizens begin to gradually assemble just outside of the gates of Buckingham Palace where for at least two days or so the crowd patiently waited for any further updates concerning the monarch's health.
Eventually, on 8 October 2017, Buckingham Palace announced that the King had "fully recovered from a minor injury sustained a few days ago", thereby quickly disseminating rumours of the monarch's death, while the King himself later thanked members of the public for their "touching show of support and love during my most critical days". In the days that followed, as questions began to rise over whether the now sixty-year-old King could continue to reign as usual for the foreseeable future, King Thomas himself subsequently suggested abdicating the throne in favour of his daughter and heir during which he reportedly described the stroke that he had recently suffered as a "personal calling" for him to abdicate the throne. Then, amidst concerns that a sudden abdication would consequently disrupt the princess's university studies, it was soon agreed that for the next two years, the princess's mother Christy Turlington, being the current queen consort herself and now the queen dowager, would therefore serve as a temporary regent on her daughter's behalf until the end of the said two-year period at which point she would formally assume her duties as head of state.
Following that, with the King's abdication from the throne expected to take place in the next few days, the agreement was subsequently relayed to Alexandra herself by Prime Minister David Cameron who then contacted the princess's university in order to personally relay the news to the new monarch. Later, according to Cameron himself, the princess was "understandably shocked in the beginning, for quite a good reason, but eventually calmed down, composed herself, and accepted that her time as the new monarch has begun". Otherwise, Alexandra herself later candidly recounted "feeling sleepless for the next few days", stating, "Obviously, I know well enough that one day my father will depart and I will immediately become the new monarch but I never expected it to be so quick even if my father actually abdicated rather than dying outright".
Reign
Ascension
On 13 October 2017, at precisely 12:00 p.m., the abdication of King Thomas finally came into effect, with Buckingham Palace being the first to announce the monarch's resignation, followed by the Royal Palace of Amsterdam and the Grand Ducal Palace. Soon afterward, having chosen her own given name for her regnal name as the new monarch, she was promptly proclaimed "Queen Alexandra" in both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands while in Luxembourg, she was fittingly proclaimed "Grand Duchess Alexandra" due to the country's historic nature of being a grand duchy as opposed to a kingdom. Then, just an hour later, in the form of a televised speech broadcasted by the BBC and other media outlets, the Queen declared her intention to "serve my country to the very best of my ability", adding that "while my role would mostly be as a conventional figurehead for the nation, I could never ignore the real-world challenges ahead, challenges that I will bravely face and overcome". Following this, as per tradition, a 21-gun salute was observed in the United Kingdom to mark her accession to the throne, with a similar gesture also being simultaneously observed in the Netherlands and Luxembourg respectively. Meanwhile, in line with her ascension to the throne, Alexandra also officially became the new president of the Hanoverian Union, an organisation comprising the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Luxembourg, all three countries of which she is the head of state.
At the time of her ascension to the throne, Alexandra effectively became just one of three queen regnants in the world alongside her distant relative, namely Denmark's Queen Margrethe II, and Japan's Empress Akiko. Then, just two months later, Romania's King Michael passed away, leaving his eldest child and heir to ascend the throne as Queen Margareta, thereby making it four queen regnants in the world currently on the throne. Regardless, as the youngest monarch at the time, Alexandra's ascension was met with considerable attention with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel describing the royal as a "bright, young woman" while Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern, who took office just a couple of weeks later, expressed her hope of working together with the Queen on relevant issues.
In the days following her ascension to the throne, rumours allegedly spread by republican and anti-monarchist groups began claiming that the Queen's ascension was not legitimate, with the claims said to be disputing Alexandra's legitimacy via an old statement made by her mother in which the latter, while still in a relationship with her then-boyfriend, the actor Roger Wilson, claimed that the two were married but only in a religious sense and not a legal one. In response, Wilson, who dated the American supermodel prior to the latter's marriage, confronted such rumours, explaining that in a legal sense the two were never officially married to each other and the fact that they had broken up roughly two years before Turlington herself later married her husband meant that they had "called it quits for a while already". In the meantime, after an initial silence, Turlington herself also addressed the rumours, stating, "Frankly, these unsubstantiated rumours are ridiculous and at worst insulting to me and my family. Yes, I did say such words before when I was with him (Wilson) but of course, we later broke up, and around two years later, I met and wedded the man who I've proudly called my husband for over twenty-four years now and to whom I am truly and well married for life". Meanwhile, Alexandra, the target of such rumours herself, was said to have initially considered pursuing legal action on the basis of defamation but eventually decided against it for unknown reasons with one source claiming that the Queen "refused to validate such baseless rumours any further".
On 1 January 2018, as per longstanding Dutch royal tradition whereby the new monarch is inaugurated on the first day of the following year, at exactly 7:30 a.m., the Queen, accompanied by the Commander of the Royal Netherlands Air Force Lieutenant General Dennis Luyt, departed for the Netherlands' Leeuwarden Air Base from the United Kingdom's RAF Kenley onboard the RNLAF's Gulfstream G650. Then, upon arriving at 8:13 a.m., she was received by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and subsequently driven in an orange Bentley Continental GT to the Nieuwe Kerk church in Amsterdam with the royal convoy driving over the A7 motorway before eventually arriving in Amsterdam itself after passing through the cities of Hoorn and Zaandam where the Queen waved to enthusiastic crowds on the side of the road. Upon arriving, the Queen was then escorted into the Nieuwe Kerk where she was then paid homage by members of the States General after taking her customary oath as the new Dutch monarch. Meanwhile, for reasons of simplicity, Alexandra's simultaneous inauguration as the monarch of Luxembourg, an occasion that followed a roughly similar process, was also done at Nieuwe Kerk and which followed shortly afterward with those in attendance including Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and members of the Chamber of Deputies who similarly paid their homage to the Grand Duchess after she took her oath as the new Luxembourgish monarch. Then, on the following day, Alexandra's swearing-in ceremony as the new Hanoverian Union president took place in which she made a three-hour trip to the Royal Palace of Brussels from her official residence of Royal Palace of Amsterdam where upon arriving she was afterward sworn in as the new president in the presence of the chairman, deputy chairman, and the secretary-general.
On administrative matters, given the geographical distance between the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom from one another, coupled with her inability to be in all three countries at once, the Queen, as is the case with the Commonwealth realms, is typically represented in the Netherlands and Luxembourg respectively by an appointed chancellor (officially titled "State Chancellor"), a role similar to a governor-general for Commonwealth realms in which the officeholder carries out the duties of head of state as the monarch's representative in the country. By convention, chancellors are often appointed for a period of five years with the officeholder usually being a former prime minister of said country or a distinguished former civil servant recommended to the monarch by the prime minister.
Public Image
Almost immediately, at the start of her reign, Alexandra mostly enjoyed overwhelming popularity among the general public, with one YouGov poll placing her approval rate at 94% on her very first day as monarch, a phenomenon that, according to some observers and commentators, could be explained by a number of factors with the first being the Queen's perceived approachability as an individual with the British public as a whole as evidenced by her near-frequent sightings at various public events as well as by the many interviews she has since conducted with various media outlets, both local and international ones, ranging from the BBC and The Guardian in the United Kingdom to CNN and France 24 in the United States and France respectively. In addition to that, her close association with women's football as one of its most talented and memorable players has also made her a largely popular figure among supporters and fans of women's football, particularly in England. This was further corroborated by England Women captain Leah Williamson who later said, "Without a doubt, the fact that the queen or king of a country could even be playing a sport together with the common people is definitely unthinkable, and perhaps, the sheer unpredictable and unprecedented nature of it made her (Alexandra) a very unique person and definitely someone one could well easily like, especially if that person is a women's football fan".
Besides that, some observers have also attributed her high popularity to her predecessors themselves, especially her late grandfather King Charles III, given the latter's overwhelming popularity among the public as a widely revered icon of modern liberalism and a staunch defender of the Jewish people. Moreover, the popularity of her own mother, the American supermodel Christy Turlington, as both a model and a humanitarian has also helped in cementing a widely positive image and sentiment for the young Alexandra who upon ascending to the throne immediately rode the overwhelmingly positive sentiment associated with her reign. On the other hand, especially during the 2020 George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, her traditionally high levels of popularity suffered a noticeably slight dip as police brutality and anti-racism protests held in both countries raised questions over the monarchy's past ties to British and Dutch imperialism respectively and colonial-era slavery of Africans. For instance, in the United Kingdom, a statue of the 17th-century English merchant and slave trader Edward Colston was toppled and pushed into Bristol Harbour as part of the protests while an equestrian statue of the late King William V was met with demands for removal from its site at Marlborough House, the late King's birthplace, although such demands were never carried out. In addition, some critics have also taken issue with the Queen's perceived immense wealth which, although never officially confirmed or disclosed to the public, has been estimated in the billions.
The Vogue editor Anna Wintour on Alexandra's physical beauty
Since her ascension to the throne, Alexandra has been photographed for various magazines, ranging from Vogue to Vanity Fair. In addition, she was also once chosen as Person of the Year by Time magazine, as well as being placed in the 11th spot by Forbes in 2021 for their annual list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women. Moreover, her considerable popularity, particularly among the male demographic, is made evident by her being named the 2019 winner of men's magazine Maxim's annual Hot 100 competition, as well as "Sexiest Woman Alive" by the magazine itself in that same year for which she narrowly beat American model Kate Upton by a difference of a single vote, becoming the second royal after her aunt and the first athlete to receive such a title. Furthermore, women's magazines have also rated her physical beauty in a largely favourable manner, with British Vogue once dubbing her "the most beautiful royal in the world" while Tatler, noting her athletic background, described her as "Britain's Princess Charlene" in a reference to the former South African swimmer who later wedded Monaco's Prince Albert II. Considered to be a fashion icon in her own right, be it during formal or informal occasions, Alexandra has been photographed wearing outfits from high-end designers including Alexander McQueen, Vera Wang, and Marc Jacobs along with otherwise casual and nondescript clothing with her preferred apparel being a pair of jeans coupled with a blank t-shirt underneath a shirt or alternatively a coat in instances of cold weather.
In line with her being a relatively youthful monarch, Alexandra herself maintains a fairly active social media presence, with around 129 million followers on Instagram and 98 million followers on Twitter, with the latter amount being just few millions ahead of American singer Taylor Swift. To that end, on both Twitter and Instagram, there exists an "official account" representing the monarchy and separate from the Queen's own personal account on both respective social media platforms and which is mostly responsible for "documenting and promoting the works and efforts of Her Majesty The Queen and Grand Duchess". However, as of recently, following the takeover of Twitter by the South African billionaire Elon Musk, both the Queen's personal and official accounts on Twitter were reportedly deactivated, presumably in response to Musk's controversial policies as the new CEO, while the ones on Instagram have continued to function as usual. Meanwhile, on 24 January 2023, it was reported by Reuters that the Queen had filed a lawsuit against Musk over unpaid rent relating to Twitter's use of its London headquarters which is rented to the company by the Crown Estate.
Regency
Throughout the following year, despite effectively being Queen herself already as a result of her father's abdication, Alexandra, through an agreement struck between her father and the British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish governments respectively, was nonetheless allowed to further pursue both her education and her football career with her mother otherwise serving as a temporary regent for the time being. Eventually, in the later months of 2018, Alexandra went on to graduate once more from the London School of Economics, this time with a master's degree in economics, thus making her the only British royal so far with such an academic degree given that both her father and her closest relatives have so far only graduated with a bachelor's degree in their own respective rights. Later on, when questioned on why she opted to continue furthering her studies well after her ascension to the throne, she said, "When I look back and realise that my own mother never gave up on her university studies even after just having gone through the undeniably painful experience of giving birth to her very first child, I felt somewhat ashamed as both her daughter and as a woman myself at the thought of just not trying to keep going on when there's some extra load being unloaded on my shoulders. Simply put, if my mother can do it, then so can I too".
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Even so, despite the preoccupation with her academic and sporting needs, throughout much of the year, Alexandra was nevertheless able to achieve a number of significant feats for herself as the new monarch, beginning with a speech that she gave on 8 January 2018 commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Fourteen Points speech made by President Woodrow Wilson following the First World War in which she remarked, "For exactly a hundred years since the late President Wilson made it known to the whole world the necessity and importance of self-determination, freedom, and democracy, the important struggle in achieving such ideas has never ceased to end and yet, against all odds, activists and believers in such ideas have never stopped fighting for what they believe in and want to see implemented for the sake of not just themselves but for a better future for everyone". Later that May, she was also said to have subtly criticised the American government's decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement, having emphasised the "importance of constructive dialogues over aggressive armed confrontations" in a speech she gave just a day after the decision was made. However, despite her perceived criticism of the United States, on 30 November that year, Alexandra, along with her father, attended the state funeral of former President George H. W. Bush with then-President Donald Trump and former US presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama also in attendance alongside other foreign leaders. Meanwhile, the Queen herself also personally hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that was held domestically in London, England while also spending some time abroad attending the G8 summit in Quebec, Canada and the NATO summit in Brussels, Netherlands where she met Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for the first time.
Moreover, in that same year, she also presided over the opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which was held in Queensland, Australia between 4 and 15 April 2018, the first sports event she presided over as the British monarch. Meanwhile, on 15 July 2018, at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final in Russia, defending champions England defeated France 5-4 on penalties in a dramatic and tense affair in which a botched attempt by Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribéry was capitalised upon by Tottenham Hotspur fullback Kieran Trippier, the fifth England penalty taker, who scored the winning penalty past goalkeeper and club teammate Hugo Lloris to mark an unprecedented fourth consecutive World Cup title for England and which is also their first under new manager Gareth Southgate who later led the country to a fifth consecutive title at the 2022 edition in Qatar, making it roughly sixteen years unbeaten for England since 2006. In light of this, as per tradition, Alexandra later treated Southgate and the England players to a celebratory dinner at Buckingham Palace where the latter became only the second England manager after the late Alf Ramsey to be knighted for their successes while Wayne Rooney, who also announced his retirement shortly afterward, notably joined former teammate and compatriot William Smith in being one of only two players with four World Cup titles. On the other hand, Brazil, having been denied an appearance in the finals by a narrow 0-1 loss to eventual runners-up France, instead settled for third place by defeating Croatia 2-0 in the third-place playoffs where an initial Neymar penalty, aided by a second-half goal from Willian, saw them avenge their initial loss with a dominant win over the Croatians who were previously denied a maiden appearance in the finals by a 1-2 loss to England where goals from Manchester United players Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford canceled out an equalising goal from Liverpool's Dejan Lovren.
On 8 October 2018, Alexandra was among the several high-profile guests who attended the second wedding of Hungary's King Charles V. Held at the royal residence of Buda Castle in the capital city of Budapest, the occasion saw the Hungarian monarch, who divorced his first wife the previous year, remarry to Hungarian Victoria's Secret model Barbara Palvin. In this, the wedding, aside from making the latter the first native-born Hungarian queen consort in centuries, also sparked much controversy given that Palvin is thirty-two years her husband's junior and is therefore also rather close in age to the latter's eldest child and heir Crown Princess Eleonore. Regardless, other Victoria's Secret models have also gone on to marry into royalty including the Portuguese-born Sara Sampaio who in May 2020 wedded Afonso, Prince of Beira, son of Portugal's King Edward III, and the South African-born Candice Swanepoel who in October 2018 became one of the several wives of Eswatini's King Mswati III.
Coronation
On 1 August 2019, after a roughly two-year-long period of preparation and rehearsal, Alexandra was coronated as Queen of the British at Westminster Abbey, the traditional coronation site for British monarchs. Her coronation, the second in British history to involve a female sovereign after that of Queen Mary III's in 1702, notably saw a major shift in its overall tone and setting, with changes including the act of homage in which senior male members of the royal family would kneel and pay homage to the new monarch being officially discontinued, as well as the notable inclusion of figures from other major religious faiths, namely Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, to reflect the United Kingdom's "modern multireligious society". In addition to that, her subsidiary title of "Defender of the Faith", which traditionally reflects the monarch's role as a protector of the Christian faith in the United Kingdom, was modified to a more "inclusive" version, that is "Defender of the Faiths", a change that, in the words of Prime Minister David Cameron, "reflects a modern and more multicultural Britain, one that is vastly different than the Britain of the 20th century while at the same time affirming the monarch's longstanding role as the leader of the Anglican faith". Similarly, the usage of the more updated introductory phrase of "by the Grace of God and the Will of the People", which first came into use under the reign of King Frederick was also retained, and which was meant to emphasise a delicate balance between the traditional concept of the divine right of kings and the more modern concept of a popular monarchy that was first popularised in the United Kingdom by the Queen's great-grandfather King Frederick in an attempt to "modernise" the institution.
Much like that of her predecessors, Alexandra's coronation saw the usual attendance of various foreign guests from many countries around the world, namely the presidents of France, South Africa, Bahrain, Germany, Israel, and Indonesia, as well as the sovereigns of Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Greece, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, and Japan, among others. In addition to this, a number of celebrities and athletes were also featured at the coronation, namely the Queen's former Arsenal and England teammates, singers Adele, John Legend, Katy Perry, Mick Jagger, and Harry Styles, as well as actors Hugh Grant, Emma Watson, Morgan Freeman, and Angelina Jolie. Moreover, owing to her personal connections with football, notable sports figures David Beckham, Harry Kane, Mia Hamm, Alex Morgan, and Sir Alex Ferguson were also in attendance along with non-footballing athletes including Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Tiger Woods, and Michael Phelps. Beginning at 10:00 a.m., the Queen, riding in the Gold State Coach with her mother sitting beside her, traveled to the coronation site of Westminster Abbey in the presence of a large procession made up of members of the British Armed Forces. Following her arrival at the site, in a religious ceremony led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Alexandra was formally coronated as Queen of the British, with the guests in attendance unanimously proclaiming "God Save the Queen" in response, the first of such instance in almost three hundred years since the coronation of Queen Mary III in 1708.
Meanwhile, despite the overwhelming positivity, the coronation was not without its controversies as republican and anti-monarchist protests sprang up across London in anticipation of the event although these were quickly dealt with by authorities. Meanwhile, for either political or social reasons, despite the array of high-profile guests in attendance, some were otherwise reportedly excluded from the ceremony. Among those included US President Donald Trump, reportedly due to his wide unpopularity among Britons at large, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, owing to recent memories of the Salisbury poisonings, with both leaders instead being substituted by Vice President Mike Pence and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev respectively. Meanwhile, despite effectively being his father's deputy abroad, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was reportedly excluded from the event, a decision most likely influenced by lingering outrage over the crown prince's alleged role in the assassination of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi the previous year. Instead, Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, was allowed to represent his government at the coronation given that the elderly King Salman himself was deemed physically unable to attend the coronation on his own.
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In a first for a royal coronation, the ceremony was subsequently followed by a live concert at Windsor Castle the following day featuring a considerable number of well-known British musical acts of various genres, namely Elton John, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, Queen, Blue, Adele, Slick Rick, Sting, and The Rolling Stones. Then, on 10 August 2019, under the Queen's own initiative, an exhibition match was held in her honour at Wembley Stadium pitting the England men's and women's national teams against one another and who are captained by Harry Kane and Steph Houghton respectively. In the end, the women's team defeated the men's team 2-1 in which winger Beth Mead provided both a goal and an assist, resulting in her later being named player of the match. With an official attendance of 88,543 spectators, the event successfully raised a rough total of £5.7 million, with the entirety of the proceeds being subsequently channeled towards further developing football for both men and women. In the meantime, a grand one-off football tournament, officially named the Premier Cup, was held in the months leading up to her coronation that featured a total of sixteen clubs with Premier League champions Liverpool eventually emerging victorious by defeating Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich 3-1 in the finals while Bundesliga runners-up Borussia Dortmund defeated Premier League runners-up Manchester City 5-4 on penalties in a dramatic fashion to secure a third-place finish.
Perhaps most significantly, the coronation itself also saw the very first instance of the United Kingdom's new national anthem "Onwards, Britannia!" being sung in public, with the very first instance being the moment shortly after the Archbishop of Canterbury had placed St Edward's Crown onto the Queen's head, in which the attendees and choir members inside the abbey proceeded to sing the new national anthem in unison. First conceived as a viable and popular alternative to the longstanding "God Save the King", the song was later jointly composed by Master of the Queen's Music Judith Weir and noted German composer Hans Zimmer whose well-documented success and reputation as a film score composer in Hollywood led the Queen to personally tap the former into jointly composing the new national anthem, a choice that she later explained, stating, "For anyone with even the slightest knowledge of Hollywood films, Hans Zimmer is indisputably a great talent whose works are universally well-acclaimed and which have also won a number of awards themselves. With that in mind, how many countries today can claim that a man of such brilliance and talent has had a part in composing their national anthem? None, per se, except for the United Kingdom, which would absolutely both stand out and be much delighted with such an honour". To that end, Zimmer himself was then prominently featured at the coronation and would even later receive an Order of the British Empire award for his part in composing "Onwards, Britannia!".
Early Years
Beginning in August, Alexandra started conducting her first few state visits since her coronation with the first country of choice being Japan where she met Empress Akiko and also visited the factories of renowned Japanese automobile manufacturers including Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan. Following this, she also visited Korea, where she was hosted by President Moon Jae-in and later even personally met with some of the country's most well-known artists including the pop groups BTS and Blackpink. In that same month, she also visited the Southeast Asian nations of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia during which she survived an assassination attempt in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, addressed the thriving LGBT community in Singapore, and personally apologised for past Dutch atrocities committed against Indonesians. Then, in the following September, the Queen also met with Vatican City's Pope Francis at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, becoming the third successive British monarch to meet with the Roman Catholic leadership after her late grandfather first did so in a historic meeting with the late Pope Pius XII while her father met the former Pope Benedict XVI, the predecessor of Pope Francis. Aside from this, in a personal gesture towards her late grandmother, Alexandra also held a state visit to Romania, from which the late Queen Lauren's parents originated, where she met with Queen Margareta and the country's Jewish community. In this, she also met with neighbouring Bulgaria's Tsar Simeon II, the world's currently longest-reigning monarch, having taken the throne in 1943 in the middle of the Second World War and is therefore the only serving head of state from as far back as the war itself, a distinction that he previously shared with Hungary's King Otto II and Romania's King Michael, both of whom are now deceased.
Aside from that, Alexandra has also held a number of state visits to Africa as well, with the first instance being a state visit to South Africa in March 2018, just a month after President Cyril Ramaphosa took office following the resignation of his controversial predecessor Jacob Zuma. Describing Ramaphosa as a "visionary leader in the spirit of Nelson Mandela", the two leaders subsequently toured the country's major cities and also visited the Kruger National Park which the Queen herself once visited as a child beforehand during which she also met the late Nelson Mandela, a hugely popular South African political figure who she later described as a "kind old grandfather undoubtedly determined to transform a nation". Then, in June, she paid a state visit to Tanzania for which she received considerable attention from both the Tanzanian and international media for successfully climbing the famous Mount Kilimanjaro, a feat that she later described as a "dream come true", adding, "Just by its sheer height and beauty, I always felt fascinated by it since the first time I laid eyes on it. Obviously, Everest is too dangerous for even an adult me to climb so at the very least, Kilimanjaro is the best option that I got and it's something that I'll undoubtedly enjoy a lot when I finally finish climbing it". In the meantime, Alexandra also visited the island country of Madagascar where she met President Andry Rajoelina and also took photographs with the country's native lemur animals.
On 25 October 2019, controversy arose when it was announced that the Queen would be visiting the Caribbean island nation of Cuba where she then met with President Miguel Díaz-Canel as well as Raul Castro, former leader of Cuba and the surviving younger brother of the late Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro. Almost immediately, among some sectors of the international community, the meetings between the Queen and the two men sparked some considerable backlash, with some even perceiving it as an "endorsement" of the authoritarian Cuban regime. However, in her farewell address to the country, the Queen publicly expressed her wish that the "unnecessary burden imposed upon the Cuban people would be lifted in good conscience by the United States government” while also publicly expressing her hope for a "beneficial and fruitful dialogue between the governments of Cuba and the United States concerning important matters such as democracy and trade". Soon enough, despite receiving much praise from humanitarian groups who applauded the Queen for her neutral approach towards ongoing tensions between the two countries, the remark itself, particularly the part where she called for the lifting of the American embargo on Cuba, drew strong criticism from the American government including President Donald Trump who stressed that the embargo would "remain fully in force unless Cuba makes some significant reforms first" while some members of the Republican Party and several Cuban exiles in the United States accused the Queen of "protecting the brutal Castro regime" to which British Prime Minister David Cameron responded by stating that the Queen's remark was "purely humanitarian in nature and never about protecting or defending the Cuban regime" while particularly pointing out the fact that the United States is currently the only country with an active embargo on Cuba whereas most European nations enjoy fairly unrestricted trade relations with Cuba. Likewise, leaders of the Democratic Party, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who once criticised the embargo herself, defended the monarch's remarks, stating, "What the Queen had recently said about Cuba isn't exactly a fringe opinion but one shared by many genuinely concerned for the livelihoods of innocent people who are yet to see any change from an embargo that has been in place for over half a century and counting".
Despite the controversy, the Queen later followed up on a second state visit to the Americas just a month later, with her second state visit to the continent being to El Salvador, the ancestral home of her maternal grandmother Maria Elizabeth. Upon arriving in the country, and accompanied by her mother and grandmother, the Queen met with President Nayib Bukele whose administration oversaw a notable decline in the country's notoriously high crime rate which later led the former to express her wish during the ensuing state dinner at "seeing a peaceful and vibrant El Salvador freed from its murderous and horrific past". Ironically, despite an initial positive perception of the Bukele administration early on, in recent years, Alexandra's perception of the Salvadoran president is reported to have gradually soured, as a result of several domestic controversies involving Bukele, with the most infamous being his decision to send soldiers into the country's legislative assembly in order to ensure the passing of a bill guaranteeing further funding for the country's police and armed forces, as well as his decision to fire the country's attorney general and five of its supreme court judges, both of which have been described as a "self-coup" and met with condemnation by many. Soon enough, on 2 May 2021, just a day after El Salvador's attorney general, along with its five supreme court judges were fired by Bukele, the Queen publicly expressed on Twitter her worries at the country's current state of affairs, stating, "Aside from the ongoing global pandemic, the current times in El Salvador have never been easy recently. Regardless, it is my personal wish that the country and its people will ultimately weather these difficulties and eventually come out as a stronger nation and not a weaker one plagued by instability, crime, corruption, and others". In response, Bukele, replying via Twitter, called the Queen's statement "intrusive" and "condescending", stating, "No foreigner, even if they have an ancestor in El Salvador, will tell the country's own people how to run it. If a dictatorship is the way to go then so be it for no one, especially the global elite, can disrupt the people's will".
On 20 September 2019, Alexandra personally addressed the United Nations for the very first time as her country's head of state in which she called for a "global and coordinated initiative to tackle both the pressing issues of global warming and extremism in all known forms" while also particularly advocating for "further collective action" to tackle the longstanding global migrant crisis, an issue that she described as "personally close to my heart" and "greatly appalling to hear about every single day". Furthermore, in a remark believed to be a subtle form of criticism towards US President Donald Trump, the Queen remarked, "When it comes to a land of opportunities, immigrants are not to be turned away but rather welcomed and celebrated as part of the community they have come to associate with. In the end, throughout much of history, humans have always been on the move to places around them and they rarely, if ever, otherwise remain in one single place". In addition, the Queen also stressed the need for religious tolerance, stating, "As the proud daughter of a Protestant father and a Roman Catholic mother, I personally know all too well about maintaining everlasting balance and eternal tolerance between people of two differing religious sects as well as the consequences if they are otherwise not properly upheld which, to simply put it, are not the best for humanity. After having seemingly abandoned it for centuries, religious wars between two major religious faiths should not be allowed to return and overtake constructive dialogue between the two sides".
On 27 October 2019, shortly after it was announced that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in a military operation conducted by US special forces, the Queen personally took to social media to praise "the valiant American, Iraqi, and Kurdish collective effort in successfully eliminating a known tyrant and murderer responsible for the deaths of countless of innocent civilians" while also comparing al-Baghdadi's death to that of the infamous Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's roughly six years prior at the hands of US Navy SEALs in a raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Meanwhile, on 31 July 2022, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian-born leader of Al-Qaeda, was killed by a US drone strike while reportedly residing at a safe house in Kabul, Afghanistan just months after the Taliban retook the country from Western forces. In this, his death marks the second successful elimination of a major Al-Qaeda leader after that of his infamous predecessor Osama bin Laden. In response, just several hours later, Alexandra gave a brief televised speech from Buckingham Palace, stating, "Just recently, Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the major figures of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, had been successfully neutralised by American forces while living in Kabul, Afghanistan. At this point, there is absolutely no doubt about al-Zawahiri's complicity and role in orchestrating the tragedy that is the September 11 attacks as it had been for years on end now. With this, I personally hope that those seeking some form of genuine justice for the lives lost that day now know that as of today both of the men responsible for such tragedy are now gone for good, their punishments having been duly served in the name of justice for those wronged by their egregious actions". In addition to this, the Queen also applauded the United States' "pitch perfect" precision in eliminating al-Zawahiri given that no civilians were reportedly harmed in the process other than the militant leader himself as the sole casualty of the incident.
Meanwhile, in December of that year, following the confirmation of Finnish politician Sanna Marin as the country's new prime minister, Alexandra herself notably became the first world leader to personally congratulate Marin on her new premiership role via Twitter where she also expressed her wish that "an undeniably historic and memorable meeting between the youngest monarch and the youngest prime minister in the world could take place in the near future". Soon enough, such a proposal did indeed become a reality when on 17 December 2019, exactly a week into Marin's tenure as prime minister, Alexandra herself paid a state visit to Finland which began with her participating in a Q&A session with the Finnish press followed by a boat ride with Marin along the coast of the Gulf of Finland and later an official state dinner held in her honour at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki where the Queen met Finnish President Sauli Niinistö who subsequently praised the monarch as a "bright and extraordinarily talented young woman". In the midst of this, the close and somewhat personal friendship between Alexandra and Marin was quickly noted by the media, with The Guardian particularly noting the two's "wholesome genuine spirit of friendship" as seen by their somewhat informal and more relaxed behaviour when in each other's presence which The Independent attributed to the two women being relatively young leaders themselves, hence the somewhat close bond between the two who are notably just seven years apart in age. Moreover, following the defeat of Marin's SDP party at the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election, thereby effectively ending her four-year tenure as prime minister, Alexandra herself publicly expressed her "deepest sadness" electoral defeat of her "close friend", to which Marin responded by affirming that their close friendship will remain strong for the foreseeable future. Later, on 12 September 2023, at the Wembley Stadium in London, Marin was photographed attending an exhibition match between England's men's and women's national football teams in which she was joined by Alexandra and several of their close friends.
COVID-19 Pandemic
Alexandra on the COVID-19 pandemic occurring during her reign
On 31 January 2020, following the emergence of the COVID-19 virus in the United Kingdom, Alexandra privately moved to nearby Windsor Castle all while public engagements planned for the near future were promptly canceled by her own decree. Then, on March 5th, following the first COVID-related death in the country, she promptly addressed the public through a televised broadcast from the castle in which she declared, "Eighty years ago, the British people have both calmly and vigilantly endured the grueling troubles and deathly hardships of the Blitz. Today, it is time that we emulate the very same sense of calmness and vigilance that have propelled us forward and past our misery before. In the end, success is what we cherish and is also what we shall fight for together as a united nation and community". On May 8th of that year, in commemorating the 77th VE Day anniversary, she once again addressed the nation, in which she spoke of the importance of "perseverance, vigilance, and rationality" in facing the COVID-19 pandemic, stating, "In difficult times like these, it is rather easy to get carried away or be led astray, therefore, it is our collective responsibility to ensure a firm and united front against this ongoing pandemic". Then, on May 11th, which was also the date of her 24th birthday, the Queen carried out her first public engagement since the beginning of the pandemic by visiting a number of NHS facilities across Great Britain before proceeding with a three-day-long tour around Hanover where she met with a number of Hanoverian government officials and medical experts. Then, she also visited the neighbouring countries of the Netherlands and Luxembourg, where she also reigns over as monarch, meeting government officials and medical experts in both countries respectively.
In the first few days since the government's COVID-19 vaccination program began, Alexandra, along with the immediate members of the Royal Family, was reported to have been one of the first few people in the country to have taken the vaccine, namely the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed by a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company. Following this, the Queen, in conjunction with various high-profile British figures, actively took part in promoting vaccination against the virus on a wider scale to the public, with the monarch herself appearing in several commercials and short videos encouraging the public to get vaccinated. In the meantime, it was reported in May 2020 that in light of the financial burdens caused by the pandemic, the Queen would be lowering her annual salary by roughly 45%, a move that was also observed in the neighbouring Netherlands and Luxembourg, which was soon met with a mostly positive response, with Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn applauding the Queen for her "self-consciousness" and her "honourable display of personal empathy" while also contrasting it with the "utter lack of shame displayed by the shambolic Conservative government" in regards to instances of alleged rule-breaking parties held by government ministers deemed to be in violation of COVID-19 lockdown rules.
On 6 May 2020, as per the rules of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, a general election was held to elect members of the House of Commons. In this, despite some controversy over the timing of the election which happened to be within the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided that the election would proceed as planned with alternative methods such as early and postal votings strongly encouraged out of health and safety concerns. In the end, despite some delays due to the widespread use of the new voting methods, incumbent David Cameron and the Conservative Party, who had been in a coalition with the HUP, successfully achieved a working majority of 381 seats whereas the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn saw their share of seats reduced further from 232 to 185, prompting Corbyn to later announce his resignation as party leader in light of their worst showing in decades. In the midst of this, her half-sister Jacqueline Smith was elected to the House of Commons as a representative of the St Albans constituency after which the latter went on to become leader of the Liberal Democrats in light of the resignation of Tim Farron following a disastrous showing. Meanwhile, on 15 January 2021, following a Dutch parliamentary inquiry into the country's childcare benefits scandal, the incumbent Mark Rutte subsequently tendered his resignation as the country's prime minister whilst accepting full responsibility for the scandal himself. Nonetheless, in the following 2021 Dutch general election, which took place from 15 to 17 March 2021, Rutte, who leads the National Coalition, subsequently won re-election to serve his fourth consecutive term as prime minister.
Post-COVID-19
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, and on the grounds of "personal health" and "safety issues", the Queen consequently temporarily ceased conducting any further state visits abroad for the time being until around September of that same year when she began resuming her usual state visits as monarch abroad, with her first country of choice being Israel, a choice that, given the longstanding tensions in the region, immediately proved controversial. In response, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond argued that the state visit was "nothing more than the Queen getting in touch with her well-known Jewish heritage" while critics, particularly Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh claimed that the state visit, the first for a British monarch to Israel, supposedly signified the monarchy's "endorsement of Zionist atrocities against the Palestinians", to which Prime Minister David Cameron responded by asserting that the Queen would "meet the leaders of both Israel and Palestine in an equal and non-judgemental manner".
On 8 September 2020, the state visit began with the Queen's entourage firstly landing at Palmachim Airbase where they were received by Foreign Minister of Israel Gabi Ashkenazi before promptly continuing eastward to the Beit HaNassi in Jerusalem where the Queen met with President Reuven Rivlin in the latter's official residence during which the two reportedly discussed the rise of anti-Semitism and feasible peace solutions with neighbouring Palestine. Throughout the next four days or so, rising tensions over the state visit soon contributed to rumours of assassination attempts planned by Palestinian militants against the British monarch, although neither of these ever actually materialised, with Defence Minister Benny Gantz asserting that the Israel Defense Forces were "fully prepared for any possibilities and will not tolerate any instances of a political assassination" while his British counterpart Ben Wallace warned that any attempts against the monarch would be immediately considered an "act of war" and would therefore be met with grave consequences. In the meantime, Alexandra also met with the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, with the two leaders later reported to have held "thoughtful and engaging discussions regarding the longstanding tensions in such a troubled region". Moreover, the Queen also personally visited the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem which, among others, notably contains a memorial made out of marble marked by a marble sword planted on top of it in honour of the efforts by the Queen's grandfather, the late King Charles III, whose well-known efforts at rescuing a sizable amount of Jews fleeing Nazi persecution prior to the Second World War had made him a celebrated figure among the global Jewish community. In addition to this, Alexandra also particularly paid her respects at the grave of the late Israeli statesman Shimon Peres whom she was said to have affectionately referred to as "Grandpa Shimon" given that the latter is reportedly a first cousin of the Queen's grandmother, the late Queen Lauren. Eventually, with her state visit to Israel proving to be a faultless and successful affair, the Queen later returned back to the United Kingdom, which was then preceded by a "heartfelt" farewell ceremony held shortly before her departure from Israel. Then, around a month later, Alexandra would return to the Middle East once more in which she visited the neighbouring country of Jordan where she met its reigning monarch King Abdullah II and the latter's consort Queen Rania, with whom she then struck a "strong and firm partnership" on mutual issues, particularly those concerning women and children.
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On 7 January 2021, just a day after the attack on the United States Capitol by pro-Trump supporters, Home Secretary Victoria Atkins announced that outgoing President Donald Trump would be "indefinitely barred from further entering the United Kingdom", stating that Trump's connections to his supporters who launched the attack and his own personal response to the attack was "causes for concern and therefore merits no further granting of entry into the United Kingdom to Mr. Donald J. Trump". The decision, unprecedented in both American and British history, quickly received much coverage and attention from media outlets around the world. In response to the ban, Trump himself called it "dangerously unprecedented" before proceeding to accuse the Queen, a fervent critic of him, of "getting the government to serve her wicked leftist personal agenda". In response, Atkins called the accusation "baseless" and a "typical Donald Trump conspiracy" while asserting that the decision to bar the controversial American politician from further entry into the country was "of my own choice and thinking and not of the Queen's", adding that it had received "utmost approval" from Prime Minister David Cameron himself who promptly confirmed his Home Secretary's claim, stating, "We Brits are quite personally aware of our own history of attempted coups and given the advancement in technology since then, we very much like that a coup instigator would duly steer clear of the United Kingdom and keep his extremist antics to himself". In the meantime, when asked if she would rescind the entry ban should Trump be re-elected once again in the near future, Atkins said that such a decision would be a "very delicate one" and asserted that "thorough and extensive discussions" would be held regarding the decision.
Meanwhile, in June of that same year, the Queen went on to host the sitting US President Joe Biden in a scaled-down ceremony at Buckingham Palace after which she, along with her siblings attended that year's G8 summit held in Cornwall, England alongside Prime Minister David Cameron and the other leaders of the organisation including Biden himself. Then, on July 10th, in an apparent sign of close relations between the two leaders, which stood in stark contrast to that between the Queen and Biden's predecessor, Alexandra paid her first-ever state visit as monarch to the United States, arriving alongside Foreign Secretary Rory Stewart at Joint Base Andrews where they were received by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Over the course of the week-long visit, the Queen toured a number of historical sites across the United States including Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, and the Lincoln Memorial, visited several of the country's top universities, and also met with a number of Hollywood celebrities. Meanwhile, the highlight of her state visit came in the form of an address to a joint session of the United States Congress in which she touched on the "special relationship" between the two countries and, in a subtle reference to the attack on the United States Capitol in January beforehand, stressed the importance of "fair elections" and a "working democracy" during which she was interrupted by a series of heckling from the pair of controversial Republican congresswomen Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, both of whom were consequently temporarily expelled from the chamber by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, allowing the monarch to read out the rest of her speech before concluding with unanimous applause from the crowd. In the midst of this, Alexandra herself briefly became the target of a failed assassination attempt believed to be ideologically motivated in which a pair of gunmen opened fire on the vehicles carrying the Queen, Foreign Secretary Rory Stewart, and Vice President Kamala Harris, although all three of them ultimately emerged unscathed by the attempt while Alexandra herself later condemned the perpetrators, describing them as "violent ideological terrorists".
On 11 July 2021, Alexandra personally attended and witnessed England's 3-0 victory over Spain in the UEFA Euro 2020 Final at Wembley Stadium, London in which captain Harry Kane scored first to give England the lead before Jordan Henderson doubled the lead afterward and which was only extended further by an own-goal error from Spanish midfielder Dani Parejo whose blunder confirmed England's third European title in almost a decade since they last won it in 2012 in which England defeated Spain 5-2 to claim their second consecutive European title after their inaugural one in 2008. In this, her father Prince Thomas, Duke of Hanover personally handed the trophy to England captain Harry Kane in a recreation of the moment where the late King Charles III handed the World Cup trophy over to then-England captain Bobby Moore at the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final at Wembley Stadium while her younger brother Prince Richard was later named the tournament's best young player for his memorable hat-trick in a 4-0 win over the Czech Republic. Then, on October 10th, she was also present at the San Siro in Milan, Italy, where England defeated Spain 2-0 through goals from captain Harry Kane and defender Harry Maguire in the 2021 UEFA Nations League Final to claim their first title in just its second edition whereas the Netherlands won the inaugural edition by defeating Portugal 2-1 at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, Portugal.
On 15 August 2021, not long after the Afghan capital of Kabul fell to encroaching Taliban forces, Alexandra herself was reported personally meeting and addressing returning British troops evacuated from the Afghan capital in the days leading up to the city's fall to the militants in a "special meeting" held at the Army Headquarters in Hampshire where the BBC later reported that the Queen held a "very serious and heartfelt discussion with returning British troops over the ongoing chaos in Afghanistan". Since then, Alexandra has actively called for the returning Taliban administration to "abide by your stated promises" with the said promises referring to the militant group's pledge for, among others, a more "moderate" administration, a move seen by some as the group's supposed departure from its previous hardline rule that was ended by a US invasion of the country in late 2001. Then, amidst several reversals and delays in meeting the aforementioned promises, Alexandra has since come to actively and publicly criticise what she termed the "return of the old regressive administration of the Taliban regime", stating, "One day, they publicly hinted at turning over a new leaf and starting over now that they have all the power but alas, just the following day, they have clearly shown that they are going to stick to their old ancient ways no matter what all while completely disregarding their initial promises". Then, on 20 May 2022, just a day after the Taliban decreed that female television anchors are to cover themselves up, the Queen said, "Geopolitical interests aside, it is absolutely obvious that recent developments have been an absolute blow for women, especially in traditionally conservative or patriarchal societies, for all the freedom, independence, and personal liberty they've previously enjoyed are now being quickly taken away in a matter of days with little to no resistance". Later, on December 21st, the Queen once more voiced her criticism of the Taliban administration after an indefinite suspension on women's university education was announced by Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the Taliban-appointed Afghan Minister for Higher Education.
On 6 December 2021, as the current President of the Hanoverian Union, the Queen attended the 16th Brussels Summit in Brussels, Netherlands, her first summit meeting since becoming the organisation's president in October 2017. At the summit, in her capacity as President, she assumed the official duty of opening the new legislative session, which was then normally followed by a period of political debate among the parliamentary members that eventually culminated in the enacting of an official agenda that was later officially named "16th Trinational Plan" and which largely concerned efforts at aiding the recovery of member states from the COVID-19 pandemic and in dealing with the ensuing supply chain crisis. In the meantime, Alexandra also presided over the appointment of the British-born Baroness Hale of Richmond as the first female chief justice of the Hanover Supreme Court, the organisation's highest judicial institution, a feat she described as "a long time coming for an organisation that prides itself on the pursuit of progress, cooperation, and inclusiveness". The landmark appointment came shortly after Hale's predecessor Lord Woolf had completed his ten-year term as chief justice.
On 25 February 2022, Alexandra, together with Foreign Secretary Rory Stewart, became one of the first few foreign leaders to visit the Southeast Asian nation of Thailand which, around ten days prior, had witnessed the abolition of its centuries-old monarchy via a popular revolution. In this, upon meeting with President Yingluck Shinawatra, the country's first elected head of state and also previously the prime minister from 2011 to 2014, in an apparent endorsement of the revolution and a simultaneous criticism directed towards the former ruling Thai military junta, Alexandra subsequently heralded the "admirable bravery and unwavering resilience of the Thai citizenry in demanding and fighting for change" while also expressing her hopes of the new republican government being able to "correct and rectify the mistakes and shortcomings of the previous regime that the people have come to reject". In the meantime, the Queen also visited the former royal residences of Grand Palace and Dusit Palace, both of which have since been turned into the official residences of the president after being seized by the republican government in the wake of the monarchy's abolition. Moreover, Alexandra also subtly applauded the republican government's initiative in bringing those responsible for atrocities committed during the revolution to justice with the main highlight being the arrest of King Vajiralongkorn in Germany, from where he was then extradited to his native Thailand where he was subsequently charged for various crimes due to his role as the country's head of state and later sentenced to life imprisonment although, amidst concerns over security and a potential resurgence in support for the old regime, the sentence was to be served abroad in Germany which had previously arrested the former monarch and later agreed to house Vajiralongkorn in a maximum security prison. Meanwhile, in echoing his American counterpart Antony Blinken, Foreign Secretary Rory Stewart himself pledged "strong political, economic, and military assistance" for the new Thai republican government which has otherwise been met with strong condemnation or reluctance from its neighbours Myanmar and Cambodia, both of which are ruled by military strongmen, as well as the likes of China and Russia.
A fierce critic of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, since the conflict's inception in February 2022, the Queen has regularly spoken out against what she perceived as "clear-cut military aggression by a sovereign country against another", stating, "The last time an European country decided to egregiously violate the sovereignty of another European nation, the whole world paid the price for it, namely in the form of millions of deaths worldwide". On 25 May 2022, the Queen herself met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a brief visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in which she was joined by her father and Foreign Secretary Rory Stewart. In addition to the visit, the Queen also strongly condemned the accession referendums held by Russia in several occupied regions of Ukraine, calling them "downright farcical" and "another blatant example of Russia mocking and abusing democratic norms in order to achieve their irredentist and nationalistic goals of Novorossiya". Later, in a speech marking the first anniversary of the invasion, Alexandra urged for Western governments to "continue resolutely supporting Ukraine in their fight for sovereignty and total independence from Russia who have been exposed by many to be rather struggling in their bloodthirsty conquest in the face of spirited and unyielding resistance by the people of Ukraine". On 24 August 2023, in response to news reports surrounding the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's private military company Wagner Group, from a plane crash, the Queen described it as "very good news for the victims of years of Russian and Wagner violence" while asserting that the conflict itself nonetheless remains unchanged given Putin's continued role in the ongoing war.
On 25 May 2022, shortly after the release of a damning report by the British civil servant Sue Gray that further implicated longtime Prime Minister David Cameron and the ruling Conservative Party over the issue of lockdown parties held during the ongoing pandemic, by way of a press conference held roughly ten minutes after the report's release, David Cameron announced his decision to "effectively resign" as prime minister, thereby triggering a subsequent leadership election for the Conservative Party that eventually saw Philip Hammond, formerly the Foreign Secretary under Cameron, elected as the new leader of the ruling Conservative Party and therefore the country's newest prime minister. On 6 June 2022, at 10:15 a.m, shortly after Cameron tendered his resignation to the Queen, Hammond, the victor of the party leadership election, was then duly sworn in as the new prime minister while the sitting Chancellor of the Exchequer David Gauke was sworn in as the new deputy prime minister, replacing Cameron's longtime deputy George Osborne in the position while also retaining his original post. Meanwhile, Hammond's post of Foreign Secretary was handed over to Rory Stewart who officially took office a few days later. In the meantime, on June 1st, the Queen also officially opened the Alexandra line, a high-frequency hybrid urban-suburban rail service that was first constructed back in May 2009 and which operates within the vicinity of London and is also named after the monarch herself.
On 31 July 2022, shortly after a historic back-to-back victory for the England women's national team over their German rivals in the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 championship which they won 2-1 thanks to a late tiebreaker goal by forward Chloe Kelly in the 110th minute in extra time, the Queen issued a public announcement whereby all the members of the England women's national team would each be awarded an Order of the British Empire in recognition of their "continued success in women's football", with the victory seeing them win their second UEFA Women's Championship in a row, becoming only the second nation to do so after Germany, which had won the majority of the tournament's previous editions. In conjunction with that, the Queen also publicly called on the British government to "ensure that women's football is just as popular and widely covered as the men's", stating, "Up to this point, the women's team have continued to win both the World Cup and the Euros twice in a row without fail, which to me, and perhaps to the entire team itself, deserves more than just brief and cursory recognition from both the government and the wider public, just as how the men's team won three World Cups and two Euros in a row just a decade ago". A week later, all the England women's national team players, including Dutch-born manager Sarina Wiegman (who otherwise received an Order of Orange-Nassau award and an honorary damehood for her success), were then invited to a celebratory dinner at Buckingham Palace as per the tradition of honouring a major success achieved by either the country's men's or women's national football teams that began from England's memorable 1966 FIFA World Cup victory where the players and then-manager Sir Alf Ramsey were treated to a celebratory dinner at Buckingham Palace by King Charles III for their historic success. Otherwise, amidst popular assumptions of her being personally critical of the controversial 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar as evidenced by the royal's notable absence from the tournament in which heads of state of competing nations are usually present in support, Alexandra nonetheless celebrated England's triumph at the tournament where they defeated Germany 5-1 to mark a fifth consecutive World Cup title, making it sixteen years unbeaten. Later on, as per tradition, the England squad, along with head coach Gareth Southgate, was subsequently treated to a celebratory dinner at Buckingham Palace during which awards and decorations were handed out to those deemed to have performed well in the tournament.
On 29 December 2022, Alexandra, along with a host of other major football figures, together voiced their condolences shortly after it was reported that the Brazilian football legend Pelé had passed away at the age of eighty-two at the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, where the latter had been receiving treatment in the days prior to his death for a reported tumour before eventually dying of colon cancer. In a public statement released shortly after the Brazilian legend's death, she remarked that "regardless of gender, men or women, the man known as Pelé or Edson Arantes do Nascimento will always be an icon for generations to remember and be inspired by to play the beautiful game of football". The following year, the Queen was also met with the death of her distant cousin, namely Greece's King Constantine II on January 10th, thereby ending a long five-decades-long reign, and just a day later, the death of German supermodel Tatjana Patitz, one of her mother's close modeling friends. Meanwhile, in April the following year, Alexandra held a state visit to neighbouring Ireland, becoming the first British monarch to visit the country since it gained full independence from the United Kingdom in 1919, with previous state visits being deemed unfeasible owing to both political sensitivities and security issues caused by activities of the Irish Republican Army who eventually ceased all armed activities following the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. During the ensuing three-day period, amidst a series of nationalist protests, the Queen met with Irish President Michael D. Higgins and Ireland Women captain Katie McCabe, previously a teammate of hers at Arsenal and who publicly spoke out in support of her former teammate, stating, "Regardless of the admittedly complicated and uneasy past between our countries, I nonetheless genuinely saw in her a very talented and friendly teammate who I'd dare say to have enjoyed spending time with during those past years". Meanwhile, in that same month, the Queen also attended the inaugural Women's Finalissima match at Wembley Stadium, London, in which England, winners of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, defeated Brazil, winners of the 2022 Copa América Femenina, 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in which a 23rd-minute Ella Toone goal was countered by a late 93rd-minute Andressa goal in extra time. Similarly, in the men's edition that was held the previous year at Wembley Stadium, England defeated Argentina 3-1 via goals from Richard, Harry Kane, and Phil Foden while Argentina only managed a reply once via Lionel Messi.
On 10 July 2023, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, following his coalition government's collapse over immigration issues, announced that he would not be seeking a fifth term as prime minister, effectively bringing to an end the an almost decade long tenure with an ensuing general election resulting in Paul Magnette, leader of the Coalition for Labour and Socialism, appointed prime minister. Meanwhile, ten days later, in her capacity as head of state, the Queen presided over the opening ceremony of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand during which she gave a short speech commending the progress of women's football in recent years while also briefly acknowledging the victims of a shooting in Auckland, New Zealand just hours prior to the event, stating, "The unfortunate lives lost just recently will undoubtedly be a source of grief and tragedy for all but at the same time the violent actions of one man will never deter the event and all its supporters from going ahead now in the spirit of both the lives lost as well as the values and the future this tournament holds". In the end, while making history as the first women's national team to reach three consecutive finals in a row, England also notably became the first women's team to win three World Cups in a row by defeating maiden finalists Spain 5-2 in the finals at the Stadium Australia where the Queen, joined by her brothers William Smith and Prince Richard, witnessed Georgia Stanway score four times against the Spaniards, becoming just the second female player after Alexandra herself to score a hat-trick in a Women's World Cup final and most notably the only player, male or female, to score four goals in a World Cup final. In the ensuing celebratory dinner, Alexandra heralded the Lionesses' record-breaking successes as "out of this world" and also a "living proof of the successes of the Wembley Renaissance", adding, "Obviously, to some people, this is perhaps the end or culmination of a several years long effort but make no mistake, for as long as football itself exists, England will always continue to strive and innovate with the unquestionable goal of consistently being on top in both men's and women's football as both innovators and pioneers of the sport". In the meantime, two-time champions United States were infamously eliminated in the group stages for the first time via a shock 0-1 loss to debutants Portugal who, in turn, made it all the way to the semi-finals where a 0-2 loss to eventual runners-up Spain ultimately denied them a chance for a historic maiden appearance in the finals and instead saw them contest the third-place playoffs with hosts Australia where two goals in extra time, including one from captain Sam Kerr, saw the Matildas clinch an impressive third-place finish after a previous 0-3 semi-finals defeat to eventual champions England.
On 7 October 2023, shortly after a surprise attack conducted by the Palestinian militant group Hamas left hundreds of Israeli civilians dead with a number of them taken hostage afterward, Alexandra issued a public statement condemning the group's actions, describing it as a "horrific major act of terror" and a "serious impediment to meaningful peace processes". Afterward, amidst increasing calls for a ceasefire between the two sides, the Queen remarked that "any cessation in hostilities must be both impactful and worthwhile" while also sternly warning against "misguided acts of communal violence" spurred by either anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, stating, "The events that unfolded in Gaza were already difficult enough and therefore they do not need to serve as inspiration for further violence abroad, namely in the United Kingdom where communities of differing faiths have lived in relative peace for years". In addition, she also criticised the Yemeni Houthis for their "incessant attack on commercial ships", stating that "regardless of any situation, the concept of freedom of navigation is absolutely non-negotiable" while also chiding the militants for "making enemies with whom they should have otherwise not".
On 20 February 2024, not long after the ruling Conservative Party suffered two major by-election losses which saw their share of seats in the House of Commons reduced dangerously close to the majority threshold, a no-confidence vote was brought forward by Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer that resulted in the collapse of the government after nineteen Conservative parliamentarians rebelled against their party and voted decisively alongside the opposition to achieve a final 384-352 result, thereby leading the Queen to dissolve the lower house with general elections scheduled in a couple of months. In this, rumours have arisen that the country's three biggest opposition parties, namely the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, and the Hanoverian Union Party have secretly concocted an electoral pact to oust the ruling Conservatives, reportedly in anticipation of a hung parliament based on current trends and predictions.
Personal Life
In the tradition of her ancestors, the Queen is personally known for her own love of automobiles as evidenced by her personal collection of several luxury vehicles including a McLaren GT, a BMW M8, and the iconic Jaguar E-Type in which a one-off and exclusive model was made for her eighteenth birthday by the British luxury vehicle brand Jaguar. However, while all three vehicles are personally driven by the Queen on non-ceremonial or leisurely occasions, for official occasions, she is normally driven in an armoured Rolls-Royce Phantom VI along with several other Rolls-Royce and Bentley automobiles. In line with this, Alexandra herself is reportedly proficient at fixing automobiles by herself, a skill she publicly displayed during a special appearance in Top Gear. However, despite her fondness for automobiles, Alexandra is said to have also enjoyed horseback riding which she would often do around the grounds of Buckingham Palace or the Scottish Highlands whenever she was visiting Scotland up north. In a 2018 interview, she revealed that among the collection of horses at her disposal, her personal favourite is a male white thoroughbred named "Bolt" in reference to the titular dog character from the 2008 film Bolt. Incidentally, she also personally owns a Siberian husky which she named "Little Bolt". A certified pilot, Alexandra is known to have occasionally flown her late grandfather's treasured de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane for recreational purposes, having previously inherited the antique biplane that was built back for her late grandfather in the 1930s and which has since been passed down from one generation to the other.
During an interview with Vogue, Alexandra revealed that in her free time, when not doing any physical activities or spending time with her family members, Alexandra revealed herself to be a recreational "gamer", stating that as an avid football fan, she mostly enjoyed the FIFA video game series in which case she claims to be "relatively proficient" at playing it. In addition to this, Alexandra is also said to enjoy the popular sandbox game Minecraft, classic puzzle video game Tetris, racing simulation video game series Gran Turismo, and the open world video game series Assassin's Creed. In this, Alexandra explained that her parents generally do not restrict her time playing video games, stating, "Early on, I always had a sense of discipline, self-control, and punctuality that I rarely overindulge when playing video games or the sort. Personally, for me, my ideal playing time is a couple of hours maximum because if I go on longer than that then I'll just end up tired and exhausted by the end of it".
In line with her well-known athletic lifestyle, on the occasions where she was not preoccupied with any sort of duties, Alexandra, usually alongside her mother, would often participate in various marathons across the United Kingdom including the annual London Marathon for which she had a personal best record of 2:57:36. Regarding this, the Queen has described it as "one of the very moments where I can just be myself with no one else bound to notice amidst an ocean of people around" but added that her participation in such events otherwise presented some reasonable security risks, thereby requiring her to always wear a tracking device on herself along with being discreetly accompanied by at least several able-bodied bodyguards nearby who are to always be within distance of the monarch in case of emergencies. In addition to this, she is also a noted anti-smoking activist, a cause she inherited from her own mother who began indulging herself in anti-smoking activism following her father's passing from lung cancer just several months after Alexandra, his first grandchild, was born, a moment that the royal herself described as "too vague to fully remember but one that certainly breaks my heart each time".
A polyglot, Alexandra is known to be able to communicate fluently in a number of languages in addition to her native English which includes German, Dutch, Spanish, and Hebrew, a feat that she attributed to her rather diverse background in which her father is the descendant of a long line of English monarchs while her mother is otherwise born to an immigrant from El Salvador in Central America. At the same time, her future role as her country's head of state, which requires her to travel to many different countries around the world, coupled with the fact that she would also later become the head of state of the Dutch-speaking Netherlands, prompted her to learn a few more languages as preparation for her future role as monarch, a task that she once described as "very Herculean but ultimately rewarding in the end", stating, "Life just becomes absolutely more fun when you can talk to a different group of people in their own language and vice versa".
A self-professed "superfan" of Hollywood films, particularly those of the romantic comedy genre, Alexandra is known to have personally enjoyed a number of films to a strong degree, namely Notting Hill, Legally Blonde, 13 Going on 30, Love Actually, and She's Out of My League. In this, she has named the Legally Blonde character Elle Woods, played by Reese Witherspoon, as her "personal favourite", stating that the character's "happy-go-lucky attitude" and "unwavering determination" were qualities that she came to see as particularly relevant as she was entering adulthood herself, adding, "Regardless of one's status or position in life, losing a dearly beloved family member right on the cusp of adulthood is an undeniably difficult thing and which is something I was forced to face even when I obviously didn't ask for it. On some occasions, it almost brought me down both physically and mentally but I got help and most importantly persevered which was something that Elle Woods definitely inspired me to do". Meanwhile, from an early age, Alexandra came to be a passionate fan of the American comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, the latter with whom Alexandra is known to be very close in the years since. On the other hand, in terms of music, Alexandra is known to have enjoyed a mix of contemporary and classic musical acts including Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, NSYNC, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, George Michael, Queen, Paula Abdul, and Whitney Houston. In the meantime, her favourite actors and actresses include Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Jack Black, Julia Roberts, Emma Watson, Alexis Bledel, Reese Witherspoon, Anne Hathaway, and Julie Andrews.
Although born exactly seventeen years apart, Alexandra nonetheless shares the same birthday with her half-brother William Smith on 11 May, thereby resulting in the two often celebrating their birthdays together as one big event. Coincidentally, both Alexandra and her half-brother are the eldest children of their father by their respective mothers. In addition, the two also had hugely successful careers as professional footballers and were both born in the United States, namely in the easternmost and westernmost states of New York and California. In the meantime, by virtue of her birth date, she is exactly three years older than American singer Sabrina Carpenter and otherwise four years younger than Dutch goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois who currently plays for La Liga club Real Madrid. However, she does share the same birth year with British actresses Sophie Turner, Florence Pugh, and Emma Mackey, as well as singers Dove Cameron and Hailee Steinfeld.
With an estimated personal net worth of $7.2 billion via her hereditary inheritance of the complete shares of LC Holdings, a Luxembourgish holding company, Alexandra is generally regarded as one of the richest monarchs in the world. Moreover, with a projected inheritance of up to $48 billion in shares belonging to her father in the multi-billion dollar holding company Atlantic Connection, she is therefore expected to be worth a grand total of around $55 billion, effectively making her one of the richest women in the world. However, according to several media reports, the former King Thomas reportedly intends to divide the total between his seven children with each expected to receive around $6.8 billion only, an amount that was later revised to $12 billion each after his two eldest children reportedly chose not to be among the major recipients and his twin daughters agreed to inherit their shares jointly as a single unit rather than as two separate individuals. However, despite being fully entitled to her personal wealth, the Queen, much like her predecessors, has traditionally delegated financial responsibilities to the Keeper of the Privy Purse. Meanwhile, beginning from the reign of King Charles III, British monarchs have traditionally employed a member of the English branch of the illustrious Rothschild banking family, beginning with Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild, whose primary role is overseeing and managing the monarch's investments with their shares in Atlantic Connection considered to be the most profitable and biggest of them all.
Although primarily known for her successful football career, in a 2022 interview with BBC Sport, Alexandra revealed that if not for football, she could have considered a different career in sports with alternative options including tennis and basketball. In this, despite her relatively short height compared to the WNBA average, a factor that might hinder her progression in the sport, Alexandra asserts that in an alternate reality, she would have liked to become a professional basketball player in her own right in which her preferred position in a team would be a point guard, a role that she deemed to be the most fitting owing to her relatively short height and impressive pace, both of which could prove useful in her role as the team's playmaker and top assister. In addition, Alexandra has also expressed some occasional interest in tennis, with her idols in the sport being the likes of Billie Jean King, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova. To that end, on her 20th birthday, Alexandra herself managed to get Sharapova to participate in a best-of-three exhibition match that also doubled as a charity event at the famous Centre Court in Wimbledon, London which ultimately ended in a 2-1 win for the royal who initially bested Sharapova 7-5 in the first round before the Russian came back to win 6-3 in the second round but not before Alexandra herself ultimately emerged triumphant by defeating the latter 6-4 in the third and final round. During the subsequent post-match interview, Alexandra revealed that despite the gap in experience, she asked Sharapova to "not go easy on me", stating, "Logically speaking, I knew pretty well that by conventional wisdom, I was going to absolutely lose to someone like Sharapova. To ultimately come out victorious somehow is one thing but even if I had lost anyway, which is what most people expected me to, I can safely say that she (Sharapova) did not hold back and kept me on my toes with every single stroke by her racquet". Meanwhile, on her part, Sharapova herself admitted to "giving a 101%" in all three rounds against the royal whose eventual triumph, coupled with her surprising tenacity and ability to remain competitive against the more experienced Russian tennis player, was described by her as a "very big surprise" although she nonetheless described it as a "very good and memorable contest" and added that both of them "gave their very best against each other" despite the gap in experience and initial signs pointing to an easy victory for Sharapova. In the meantime, the event itself successfully raised a rough total of £4.47 million, all of which was later donated to charitable causes.
Relations & Friendships
Much like her predecessors, in her own right, Alexandra herself is also well-connected to a number of famous individuals and celebrities, with her most well-known celebrity acquaintance being the English actress Emma Watson. In an interview with the BBC, it was reported that the Queen, who was said to have had a "deeply passionate interest" in playing the role of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, first came to learn of Watson after seeing the actress in the first few entries of the series, a decision that Alexandra herself later claimed to have briefly instilled in her "some sense of jealousy", given her own passionate dream of playing the role herself, which she ultimately failed to do given her extremely young age at the time of the first film's release, that being in 2001, at which point the royal was then only five years old, almost half a decade younger than the then-eleven-year-old Emma Watson at the time. Ironically, by the time of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, the final entry into the series in 2011, Alexandra otherwise came to view the actress in a more positive light, so much so that the two later publicly embraced one another momentarily during the film's premiere at Trafalgar Square, London, with Alexandra herself later jokingly referred to it as the end of her feud with Watson over the Hermione Granger character, stating, "Whatever my feelings were before, Emma's clearly done a very good job portraying and bringing the character to life and that's personally good enough for me". Since then, the two have maintained a fairly discreet and less-publicised friendship that occasionally saw the two get together for a few rounds of tennis and the like.
Aside from Watson, Alexandra is also particularly close with American actress Alexis Bledel whom she first met after becoming a fan of the comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls which Bledel starred in alongside Lauren Graham. To that end, the two first met one another at the 2006 Teen Choice Awards in California, United States where Alexandra, accompanied by her parents, met Bledel for the first time in public and was even later included in the latter's speech when she won the award for Choice TV Actress Comedy in which the actress described the royal as "my biggest little fan in the world". afterward, Alexandra herself even made a cameo appearance in the 2016 sequel Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life after having reportedly missed out on a chance of appearing in the preceding series due to her young age at the time. In 2014, she was even one of the few select guests in attendance at Bledel's wedding to American actor Vincent Kartheiser. Meanwhile, on the political side, Alexandra is known to be particularly close to Sanna Marin, Finland's prime minister from 2019 to 2023, with whom she has maintained regular contact and occasionally hangs out with during her spare time. In this, The Independent described them as "unlikely sisters with a bond seemingly bound by destiny", owing to their very close friendship with each other and them being only around a decade apart in age.
Following the marriage of her aunt Catherine, Princess Royal to American actress Jodie Foster in 2011, the first same-sex wedding involving a member of the British royal family, in the years that followed, Alexandra is said to have quickly become close with her new aunt-in-law whose intelligence was said to have greatly attracted the young princess to the American actress so much so that, as Alexandra herself later revealed, she would occasionally serve as a "home tutor" to the former, particularly in the French language given Foster's incredible proficiency in the language. In addition, Foster would also occasionally assist the royal in her academic studies including her well-known thesis surrounding media polarisation for which the two would hold late-night discussions in order to better improve Alexandra's thesis each time. Regarding this relationship, Alexandra has since come to describe Foster as her "second mother", stating, "Obviously, I very dearly love my biological mother and all for the entirety of my life but, when it comes to relationships between an aunt and a niece, I think the connection that I currently have with her is just very rare in nature and not something that you always usually see especially between an aunt and a niece. Overall, she has been very helpful when I needed her to and not to mention she is also smart, pretty, and kind".
Although born to a commoner mother, by whom she is the granddaughter of a Salvadoran immigrant, through her father, Alexandra is otherwise related to a number of other European royals including her second cousins King Frederik X of Denmark and King Paul II of Greece, her second cousin once removed King Harald V of Norway, and her fourth cousin Leonor, Princess of Asturias. In addition, Alexandra is also a distant niece of the late 20th-century English socialite and author Violet Trefusis who, after much speculation, was confirmed to have been the love child of socialite Alice Keppel and the Queen's great-great-great grandfather King William V whose affair with his royal mistress also led to the birth of Sonia Cubitt who was also an author like her sister. Meanwhile, by her aunt, Alexandra is the cousin of English model Georgia May Jagger, daughter of The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, and also the American model Kate Rodman, daughter of former American professional basketball player Dennis Rodman. Moreover, Alexandra is even distantly related to former British prime minister David Cameron who is her fifth cousin once removed given that the two share a common ancestor in King William IV whose illegitimate daughter Elizabeth FitzClarence by his royal mistress Dorothea Jordan is Cameron's great-great-great-great grandmother.
Despite being popularly grouped by the media alongside the likes of Kaia Gerber, Lila Moss, and Leni Klum as daughters of famous 1990s supermodels, Alexandra herself notably marks a departure from tradition as the only one to not actively dabble in the modeling industry but rather in professional football. Regarding this, Alexandra once said, "Generally speaking, I think there is a common perception or misconception that just because we are daughters of supermodels who happened to know each other very well back in the days, then we would somehow naturally become close friends with each other ourselves. For me, that is not necessarily the case because I have a lot of other friends that I'm perhaps much closer to in overall terms and I don't think that we mostly see each other that much unless our mums decide to stop by each other's houses every now and then". Nonetheless, Alexandra is reportedly close friends with Kaia Gerber, who is said to be her close childhood friend, although she is rumoured to have otherwise mostly avoided Lottie Moss, half-sister of English supermodel Kate Moss and who, at least in recent years, has both gained infamy and sparked controversy with her history of drug use and habit on OnlyFans where she often posted racy pictures of her to paid subscribers. According to one anonymous source, the younger Moss sister "represented everything wrong that Alexandra was so fearful of while growing up" and is mostly deemed to be an "image risk" to the "stately" and "proper" Alexandra with her unconventional lifestyle. In the meantime, she is also a first cousin of English model Georgia May Jagger, with whom she is similarly known to be somewhat close as evidenced by Alexandra's own nickname for Jagger, namely "Cousin Gigi", and Alexandra herself being made a godmother to the latter's daughter by the British aristocrat Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster.
Meanwhile, as a former professional footballer, Alexandra is also said to be "cordially friendly" with English footballer Romeo Beckham, son of her half-brother's former teammate David Beckham, with the two young athletes said to prefer playing 1-on-1 football against one another whenever the Beckhams were visiting. As of current, while Alexandra herself has largely retired, Beckham instead plays for Brentford B, the reserve side of Premier League club Brentford. In this, Alexandra is known to be particularly close to Arsenal defender and England Women captain Leah Williamson, citing their shared past of having graduated from the club academy where the two briefly met on several occasions before reuniting as senior players. In a 2022 interview, she remarked, "Without a doubt, as similar as our paths were at the club together, we both quite obviously come from starkly different backgrounds but funnily enough that actually brought us closer than ever as friends because in a way Leah was definitely who I personally saw myself being if I had just been born a normal girl and not literally the next in line to the throne of a country". Coincidentally, Williamson herself is currently dating Prince Richard (alternatively known as Richard Turlington), Alexandra's younger brother, thereby potentially making them sisters-in-law in the near future and Williamson herself a future queen consort of the United Kingdom should Richard ascend to the throne to succeed his heirless older sister.
Given that she is of partial Jewish descent through her late paternal grandmother Queen Lauren, Alexandra is also a distant relative of the former Israeli statesman Shimon Peres who has served as both Israel's president and prime minister over the course of a decades-long political career. In a 2016 interview, Alexandra revealed that as a teenager she often referred to Peres as "Grandpa Shimon" given his seniority, stating, "In reality, as we both lived in two separate countries that are rather far apart, during the time that he was still alive, we only met each other on a few occasions and those instances themselves were pretty rare and did not come easily every single day. Nonetheless, based on the rare and few instances where I did get to meet and talk to him in person, I clearly understood how, despite the many challenges and the recurring thought that everlasting regional peace may never be possible, Grandpa Shimon never once gave up in trying to achieve that for the sake of both Israelis and Palestinians, both of whom have seen their brothers and sisters lose their lives to senseless, recurring violence that has persisted for decades". Conversely, in private, Alexandra is said to be personally critical of current Israeli prime minister and Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu whom she reportedly saw as a "hawkish warmonger" and a "major obstacle to regional peace and stability alongside Hamas". In this, despite its apparent shortcomings, Alexandra has supported the Oslo Accords as well as similar peace initiatives and was said to have greatly idolised the more diplomacy-friendly figures such as Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, with the latter's 100th posthumous birthday on 1 March 2022 even being marked by Alexandra delivering a speech to a group comprised of British Jews in which she remarked, "Exactly a hundred years ago, a hero, and most importantly, a peacemaker, was born into this world as Yitzhak Rabin. Undoubtedly a defining and admirable statesman in his own right, Mr. Rabin, together with the Palestinian leadership, made a bold and powerful attempt at achieving everlasting peace, something that most people or politicians in the region could only dream of. For this, he was unfortunately murdered by an extremist who seemingly saw no benefit in doing so and perhaps favoured an otherwise everlasting conflict between the two neighbouring people. Yet, even with Mr. Rabin having already left us for roughly three decades or so, his vision and idea for Israel and Palestine to co-exist in eternal peace shall absolutely live on and continue to be fought for by not the lovers of war but rather the lovers of peace".
Romances
Much like her father, Alexandra is known to have preferred an extremely private and secretive approach to any romantic relationships, which she argued was "personally necessary for me, especially with the ever story-hungry paparazzi who generally don't give a single damn about your private life and feelings for the sake of some eye-catching headline every now and then". Evidently, this approach can be seen by the fact that little to no public knowledge of her relationship with Jack Schlossberg, an American lawyer and grandson of the late John F. Kennedy, existed throughout the entire time the couple was together and that their relationship only became known after the two only opted to disclose it to the public, which they only did after having parted ways several months prior.
Owing to her royal status and physical attractiveness, ever since coming of age, Alexandra has been described by various media outlets as "the world's most eligible bachelorette". To that end, when asked about her personal opinion over being labeled the "world's most eligible bachelorette", the royal mostly took a non-committal and if not a slightly disapproving approach, stating, "According to reality, this might seem inevitable in that given who I am, it's just so obvious that a lot of potential suitors or the sort are going to be tied to me. However, on a personal level, I'm not really into that sort of discussion very much because as much as some tabloids like to make it a thing I'm not some woman who is out and about just waiting to bump into some man like in those romcom movies. If anything, I'm probably not even ready yet to be in love at all".
During a 2022 interview with Vogue, Alexandra revealed that she first became aware of her bisexuality sometime in 2018 during which she quickly disclosed to her family members afterward. Later, in recounting the moment, she remarked, "Without a doubt, I was just extremely lucky to have been born into an extremely liberal and somewhat tolerant family who were willing to accept me for who I am as opposed to banishing or exiling me away which is definitely something that a number of unlucky people sadly suffered when they choose to come out to their respective families". In the meantime, Alexandra also revealed that at one point during her high school years, she was once in a relationship with an unnamed classmate of hers where after some initial progress, she eventually had the relationship terminated after finding out that the said classmate of hers had only dated her for the sake of a challenge and not necessarily out of genuine interest, a sudden revelation that reportedly "traumatised" the royal, leading her to avoid having a new romance for several years afterward out of fear of a repeat of the incident. Regarding this, she later said, "As weird as it might sound, even as a royal myself, there are certainly a few challenges and difficulties that I had to face which when it comes to romances meant that after what happened before I was always worried if I'm really with somebody for the love and passion rather than just for perhaps money and position". Despite this, during her short-lived study in the United States, in which she assumed an entirely new identity, Alexandra was said to have briefly dated an unnamed male classmate of hers who she later described as "generically sweet and quite alright" but that her abrupt return to the United Kingdom following her grandmother's death soon brought a premature end to the relationship which was never rekindled afterward.
Jack Schlossberg
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Sometime in late 2017, rumours began to emerge that romantically linked Alexandra to the American lawyer and grandson of the late President John F. Kennedy Jack Schlossberg, who was quickly perceived by several media outlets to be the royal's "first true love", owing to the latter's rather secretive lifestyle. Such rumours involving the two were said to have begun emerging following a number of instances in which Alexandra and Schlossberg were seen talking to one another that have mostly been used as hints of a supposed hidden romantic relationship involving the two although neither Alexandra nor Schlossberg took the effort to issue any sort of confirmation of their supposed romantic relationship. However, in a later interview with Cosmopolitan, the very first instance in which she publicly confirmed the couple's relationship, Alexandra revealed that the two first became close friends and later romantic partners during her brief time abroad in the United States where Alexandra, owing to her family's warm ties to the influential Kennedy family, initially sought the advice of Schlossberg in picking her desired university of choice, for which she was first recommended the well-known Yale University where Schlossberg himself is an alumnus. Ultimately, although Alexandra herself opted to ultimately enrol at the Seattle University in Seattle, Washington, the two continued to remain cordial friends somewhat before later beginning a romantic relationship afterward, a decision that was said to be welcomed by both of their families who saw it as a revival of the memorable but ill-fated romance between Schlossberg's uncle John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, both of whom died in a tragic plane crash on 16 July 1999 when Alexandra herself was just three and Schlossberg being only six years old. As it was her first-ever serious romantic relationship, Alexandra has since credited it for helping her to become more "emotionally mature and aware", stating, "Pretty much, Jack taught me a lot about how a relationship should go and what one expects from and is expected of in a relationship. Simply put, after what happened before, I gradually learned not to shy away and instead dare myself to try again because in Jack himself I knew and felt assured that by chance or luck someone out there truly fits me and isn't necessarily out to use me for their own selfish means".
Eventually, by August 2022, it was then believed that the couple had ended their secret romantic relationship, a fact that was later confirmed by Alexandra who revealed that the two had broken up years beforehand in 2019, around the same time that she subsequently began a relationship with footballer Beth Mead, her current romantic partner. At the same time, both Alexandra and Schlossberg subsequently asserted that they will "continue to remain friends for the foreseeable future" regardless of past developments. Meanwhile, Alexandra revealed that the couple's preoccupation with their respective careers, coupled with the massive physical distance between them with Schlossberg, on his part, mostly residing in the United States while Alexandra herself mostly lived in the United Kingdom, ultimately led to the end of their relationship as it was reportedly found "untenable" to continue by both sides who then agreed to mutually terminate the romance in favour of a more casual and non-romantic friendship, with Alexandra herself later stating, "Regardless of what happened between us in the past, Jack is and will always be a good friend of mine that I'm personally much happy to have known in the first place".
Meanwhile, regarding popular assumptions and expectations surrounding her past relationship with Schlossberg, she remarked, "From the outsiders' perspective, it was definitely like a match made in heaven and that judging by who we are, what we do, and the history of our respective families, we should inevitably be together for life in the near future. Unfortunately, fate thought differently and in the end, by chance or circumstances, we weren't necessarily meant for one another which is something that both myself and Jack have come to terms with". Later on, she added, "In hindsight, I wouldn't certainly call it a bad memory or the sort. Instead, I found my time with Jack to be rather happy and somewhat educational for myself because it was then that I truly knew what to expect from my own partner and what he or she expected from me in return". Incidentally, although for only a short while, their parents, namely Alexandra's father King Thomas and Schlossberg's mother Caroline Kennedy were said to have been in a brief and discreet romantic relationship prior to their respective marriages in which religious differences, coupled with Kennedy's desire to avoid the spotlight of being a queen consort, brought an end to their romance although the two have since remained on friendly terms as evidenced by both Kennedy and Schlossberg attending Alexandra's October 2019 coronation.
Beth Mead
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On 31 July 2022, while celebrating England's back-to-back UEFA Women's Championship triumph in a 2-1 win over Germany in the Euro 2022 finals, Alexandra sparked some media interest when shortly after the whistle blew marking the end of the match the royal proceeded to embrace and kiss England forward Beth Mead whose tender moments with the former were promptly photographed and published by a number of leading newspapers which soon led to rumours of the Queen being in a same-sex relationship with the England and Arsenal forward, a theory that initially picked up the pace while sceptics suggested that the two were merely "good friends", citing the Queen's past with both Arsenal and the England women's national team and her own notoriously private stance on her sexuality. Meanwhile, when immediately asked for clarification, most of the couple's close associates largely responded with deliberate indifference, with head coach Sarina Wiegman describing the two as "very close friends just having fun after winning a major tournament".
Eventually, on 7 August 2022, in an interview with BBC Sport, Mead finally confirmed that the two are indeed a romantic couple, adding that the two have actually begun dating sometime after the end of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final where Alexandra was nearing her planned retirement from professional football. In this, Mead, who first met the royal several years prior while playing together for England at the youth level before eventually joining the latter at Arsenal, was said to have become romantically attracted to Alexandra throughout the years that they spent together as teammates to which the royal's sudden decision to retire from football reportedly concerned Mead over the future of their friendship thereby causing the former to "take it to the next step" by asking her royal teammate out on a fairly innocent "girls' night out" at a restaurant in London. To that end, over the course of a single dinner, the two eventually agreed to start a serious romantic relationship after Alexandra, as per her own admission, was both "charmed" and "stunned" by Mead's "honest outpouring of emotions". Elaborating further, Alexandra herself also revealed that the two shared their first kiss that night and were "almost inseparable" on the way back home.
Despite this, immediate concerns relating to privacy and security encouraged the couple to initially conduct their relationship in a secretive manner out of fear of excessive media coverage. Meanwhile, it was also said that whenever the two are not preoccupied with their respective duties, the two would often go out together incognito with Alexandra herself revealing that whenever possible the couple would either stroll through London with little to no security while also wearing casual clothes or have lunches and dinners at restaurants in London of their choosing. Meanwhile, the couple also spoke of the mutual surprise expressed by both of their parents with those of Mead, despite some reasonable shock at the dynamics, being largely supportive of it while those of Alexandra, namely the former King and Queen, also expressed much support for it, with Alexandra herself stating, "Admittedly, it was a little shocking of course but in the end, we both loved each other so much that for as long as I'm happy then my parents should be too". Beforehand, the former King Thomas himself had also publicly defended his younger sister's decision to marry American actress Jodie Foster, stating, "If my little sister is happy then so am I too for whatever she does. Besides, I myself personally know all too well about unconventional marriages that some people with rather archaic views would not have approved of and that includes the one between my own dear parents back then where they used to say that my mother, a simple New Yorker and the daughter of an immigrant couple, is not seemingly allowed to marry my father, the future king of a country".
Almost unanimously so, the couple's relationship was met with a mostly positive reception by many with American soccer player Megan Rapinoe, who is herself engaged to former American professional basketball player Sue Bird, publicly congratulating the couple on social media. Moreover, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, in a sign of acceptance by the Church of England, also expressed a positive response to the couple's announcement, stating that he "wishes Her Majesty the Queen and Miss Mead all the best in their happy relationship together". Since then, the couple has been popularly referred to by the portmanteau of "Bethalex", a combination of their respective given names, while some have also described them as "the royalty of Arsenal", a term that also came to include Alexandra's younger brother Richard and partner Leah Williamson, both of whom also play for the club. Collectively, the quartet are popularly dubbed "The Four Gooners" and are well-known for their mutual closeness with each other.
In general, both Alexandra and Mead are considered to be very talented footballers in their own right, with both women having a number of titles to themselves at both club and international levels. Moreover, the two also have at least one Ballon d'Or Féminin award each, with Alexandra having won it thrice in 2015, 2017, and 2019 while Mead won it once in 2022, and have also each been named BBC Women's Footballer of the Year at least once. Moreover, both are among the Women's Super League's top goalscorers and also top assisters of all time and are mutually regarded as some of the league's most talented players.
Modeling
Despite an early exposure to the modeling industry through the likes of her mother and aunts, namely the Princess Royal and Claudia Schiffer, Alexandra, prior to her ascension to the throne, has otherwise mostly refrained from ever actively dabbling in the industry herself. In an interview with 60 Minutes, she attributed her decision to not pursue a career in modeling to a "very important talk" that she had with her mother, with the latter, despite her pre-eminent status in the modeling industry, ultimately encouraging her daughter to pursue what she personally loved the most rather than simply following in her parents' footstep such as the likes of Kaia Gerber, Leni Klum, and Lila Moss, each of whom are daughters of well-known supermodel mothers. To that end, given that she had already developed a passionate interest in football, Alexandra soon decided to pursue a career as a full-time professional footballer with the resolute backing of her own family members, with her mother said to be her "biggest supporter" whereas her half-brother, a widely-successful footballer himself, served as her "personal mentor" throughout her playing years.
In a July 2022 interview, Alexandra revealed that shortly after she was proclaimed queen, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue then reportedly asked her if she was willing to be featured on the magazine's "special issue" that year wearing a Union Jack-themed bikini in an allusion to her British heritage, an offer that she promptly rejected over concerns of tarnishing initial perceptions of her as the new female monarch of the country in almost three hundred years. In addition, the fact that she would be baring much of her body for a magazine normally subscribed to by men also proved an immediate concern, with Alexandra herself later jokingly stating, "Perhaps later on I might but at just twenty-one at that time, I'm absolutely not going to wear a fancy bikini just for some horny men to lust over". Moreover, she later said, "If anything, I personally prefer that women who are deemed by most people to be pretty and beautiful seize the initiative to seek out and establish an identity separate from their looks because in the end, winning the lottery gene is one thing while doing something worthwhile and meaningful yourself is another and which undoubtedly requires much effort and passion being put into it". In this, Alexandra cited her own mother, a supermodel-turned-philanthropist, as her "idol" in becoming an adult woman herself, stating, "It is perhaps natural for me as a daughter but my mother is my everything and who I tend to look up to a lot once I became an adult myself".
Despite this, in the years since, Alexandra has, on several occasions, posed for magazine covers herself, in which cases she always appeared fully clothed, with the most famous instances being a group photoshoot with her siblings and her mother celebrating the latter's 50th birthday and an individual photoshoot with Dutch supermodel Karen Mulder which featured the two women standing side by side wearing matching sweaters complete with a pair of jeans.
Interests
Anti-Semitism
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Since coming of age, Alexandra has been an active and outspoken proponent against anti-Semitism, an issue which she considered "personal" and "close to myself as someone of Jewish background". Incidentally, her Jewish background, coupled with her overtly liberal character, has consequently made her the subject of various conspiracy theories, many of which are anti-Semitic in nature, including the Royalgate conspiracy which claimed that the Queen had used her vast personal wealth to supposedly influence the results of the 2020 United States presidential election which was won by Democrat Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris while Republican Donald Trump and running mate Mike Pence otherwise suffered defeat.
Beginning in 2017, Alexandra has come to be a strong critic of the United States's then-president and real estate mogul Donald Trump who she once attributed to "the rise of anti-Semitism in a country known for both its diversity, as well as for its liberty". For instance, in an August 2017 op-ed article published by The New York Times just a few days following the infamous white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which took place from 11 to 12 August 2017, Alexandra herself personally denounced the rally, which she called a "blatant and unmistakable evidence of the increasingly problematic rise of both white supremacism and anti-Semitism in the United States". In addition, Alexandra has also personally criticised Trump for his perceived links to either white supremacist or far-right politicians and organisations, including his then-senior advisor Stephen Miller, who was later revealed to have promoted articles from white nationalist publications, as well as the far-right political movement QAnon who would later become infamously involved in the attack on the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021.
Back in the United Kingdom, the Queen's spirited condemnation of anti-Semitism has also prompted calls from a large number of local Jewish leaders and a considerable number of members of the public urging for her to also criticise then-Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a controversial figure in British politics who has been the subject of various accusations and allegations concerning anti-Semitism. However, given her requirement to remain largely neutral in British politics, Alexandra has otherwise mostly avoided openly criticising either Corbyn or other politicians, albeit in a somewhat rare exception where in response to Corbyn's dismissal of a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission concerning anti-Semitism within the Labour Party, which he framed as having been "dramatically overstated for political reasons", the Queen, in a lengthy posting on Twitter shortly afterward, wrote, "As an ever-changing country with a strong tradition of liberal democracy, the United Kingdom, through its politicians, who command and attract followers and supporters, must always remain consistently committed in safeguarding that sacred tradition against any unsavoury elements that seek to infringe upon it, which includes, among others, unwarranted prejudice or discrimination against any particular group, be it based on sexuality, religion, race, and gender. Otherwise, to abandon such a duty could and will amount to unfortunate consequences that may change the country as we know it". The remark, despite not explicitly mentioning Corbyn by name, but given its conveniently quick timing, came to be seen by many as a subtle rebuke of Corbyn's dismissive attitude, with some praising the Queen for her "natural expertise in standing up for what she personally believes in while also neatly threading the line of remaining neutral and not openly involved in national politics".
Consequently, her strong personal association with her paternal Jewish roots, coupled with her somewhat outspoken stance on anti-Semitism, is said to have made her a "popular target" and a "bogeyman" for anti-Semites and the far-right, with BBC journalist Mylo Russell stating, "To the far-right, the presence of a very influential, strong, and outspoken Jewish woman on the world stage, is sure to rub a lot of shoulders with them, who perhaps are all too happy to tie her to any bogus anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that you would often hear from the extreme right". Similarly, her Jewish identity and her outspokenness on the issue of anti-Semitism has, at least on one occasion, made her the target of a failed assassination attempt, where during her state visit to Malaysia, a local Malay citizen of the country unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate the monarch by ambushing the latter's convoy before being ultimately arrested by authorities who later reported that the attempt was driven by the man's intention to assassinate the Queen after learning of her Jewish ancestry, as well as her perceived but mostly informal association with Israel, with whom Malaysia does not have diplomatic relations and who the country regularly condemns for its actions against Palestinians. Later on, during a 2020 interview with the The Guardian discussing the assassination attempt, Alexandra remarked, "To be frank, this apparent prejudice and hate towards Jews, particularly by a certain group of people for whatever reason, was not something that I wasn't personally aware of for a while already. If anything, the moment I accepted my role as Queen, I knew that given my visibility as a public figure, coupled with this longstanding prejudice and hate towards Jews by these certain group of people, every now and then, I could possibly become the target of some terrorist or assassin trying to kill me based purely on who I am as a person, and it's something that I've lived with and accepted for a while now because at the end of the day the world isn't perfect and for every one Jew in the world there are probably, and unfortunately, at least ten anti-Semites somewhere in the world itself". Then, she later added, "Ultimately what matters most is that by the end of it, I will stand tall and unimpeded by all this prejudice and hate rather than just simply stepping down and hiding from those who wish to harm or terrorise me in any way".
Around October 2023, amidst a reported increase in anti-Semitism sparked by renewed conflict between Israel and Hamas militants, the Queen publicly warned against "retribution killings" in the United Kingdom by supporters of either side, stating, "The events that recently unfolded in Israel were undoubtedly tragic and horrific for the eye to see but God forbid that such violence and terror spread into the mostly peaceful and thriving communities abroad who are now at risk of experiencing factional violence that tears communities and families apart". In this, she also asserted her late grandfather's heralded role as a vocal defender of Jewish people while also strongly warning against "misguided and despicable Islamophobia", stating, "Even with the conflict's many complexities and various layers, there will be no absolute justification for an attack on either a Jew or a Muslim or anyone in support of either side".
Latin America
Despite her predominantly British heritage, her partial Hispanic roots via her maternal grandmother has also led to Alexandra becoming a rather vocal figure, particularly on issues concerning Hispanics and countries in Latin America as a whole. To that end, as the granddaughter of a Salvadoran immigrant, Alexandra has at times criticised the "corrupt" and "self-serving" regimes in the region whom she claimed are "fostering and cultivating a constant state of lawlessness and instability" thereby contributing to the region's reputation for crime and poverty. In addition, Alexandra has also expressed her sense of despair at the outflow of professional talent from Central America due to its often violent and turbulent nature, stating, "Obviously, I'm not necessarily saying that my maternal grandmother emigrating abroad is wrong per se but in the grand scheme of things, the fact that these seemingly promising countries are losing valuable talents each day, be it to violence or migration, is just absolutely disheartening and definitely plays a great deal in preventing or stunting a nation's overall development".
Since ascending to the throne, Alexandra has made several visits to Latin America with the most notable instances being her state visits to Cuba and El Salvador, the former a communist country run by the Castro brothers and the latter a country recently emerging from its previous state of lawlessness under the current presidency of Nayib Bukele who the Queen herself personally met. Aside from this, she has also visited the countries of West Indies, Barbados, and Belize, all of which are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. However, lingering tensions and longstanding disputes since the Falklands War meant that the Queen is yet to visit Argentina in an official capacity although she has met several famous Argentinean figures, namely those in the sporting industry such as the late Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi, and Diego Simeone. In addition, Pope Francis, the current head of the Catholic Church, is also Argentinean and has previously met the Queen himself. Regarding this, the Queen herself said, "As futile as it may sound now, I sincerely hope that one day, a state visit by me to Argentina would not be the source of some ridiculous controversy over a conflict that happened decades prior which, in turn, revolves around a dispute that is well settled already. Historically, the English and the French were at each other's throats for centuries on end yet clearly, as of the 21st century, there isn't exactly any lingering bad blood between the two people. Likewise, even after fighting the Germans in two World Wars, it is ridiculous to say that the English still hold considerable contempt for the Germans and that a visit by the German president or chancellor to the United Kingdom would cause massive controversy".
Media Polarisation
In recent years, Alexandra has also come to be a notable voice in the issue of media polarisation, an issue which she described in an interview with The Guardian as "close to my heart, given especially my status as a public figure who's bound to receive more media coverage than arguably any other individual". In this, the Queen also cited the months she spent living in the United States, primarily in order to further her studies, as another reason behind writing the thesis, stating, "When I lived in an American city, it was quite obvious that I'm going to be immediately exposed to the American media, especially the news outlets. From the looks of it, the media environment there looked so toxic and felt very negative, especially with one side just relentlessly bashing and scrutinising the current president who they just happen to dislike".
Moreover, her strong passion for the cause against media polarisation has also seen her engage in intermittent but well-publicised feuds with the likes of Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch whose ownership of a large number of media outlets in both the United States, the United Kingdom, and in Australia itself, a situation that was described by Alexandra herself as "perhaps the single most undemocratic thing to ever exist in the 21st century aside from the obvious few dictatorships still existing in the world". To that end, during the course of achieving her Doctor of Philosophy degree, Alexandra notably wrote a thesis titled The British & American media compared: A case for a truly fair and nonpartisan media in which she compared and contrasted the different media environments in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively while also criticising the perceived "dangerous levels of media polarisation" in the United States, a situation that she once likened to a "warzone between the liberal-leaning CNN and the conservative-leaning Fox News that is owned by a man who is not even an American citizen". Conversely, she has otherwise expressed praise for what she perceived as the comparably less polarised media environment of the United Kingdom which is mostly dominated by the likes of the BBC and its close rival ITV, both of which traditionally commit themselves to impartiality.
Humanitarianism
A lifelong humanitarian since her childhood years, Alexandra has, on many occasions, actively partnered with her mother Christy Turlington who was said to have initially exposed her daughter to humanitarianism at the mere age of nine through a working visit to El Salvador in 2005. Since then, Alexandra has actively contributed to or spearheaded various programs or initiatives aimed at improving general livelihoods in war-torn countries with the stated intention, as outlined by the Queen herself, of "ensuring that people from any country on the planet would be able to afford a normal life regardless of their governments' policies which could potentially hinder them from living a normal life". For instance, in October 2017, in response to an earthquake with a 7.3 magnitude that occurred on the Iran-Iraq border, Alexandra openly called for "both of Iran's allies and adversaries to throw away their petty global politics to ensure that basic human needs are met after such a catastrophic tragedy". Moreover, a few days afterward, she was even spotted personally visiting the affected areas herself, earning much praise from both the Iraqi and Iranian governments, as well as from the international community, with Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres praising the Queen as an "outstanding world leader in times of crisis".
An active and outspoken member of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood organisation, she has also worked extensively with the United Nations and the World Health Organisation agency since prior to her ascension to the throne. In addition, she has also actively served on Every Mother Counts, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organisation founded by her mother dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother. According to Alexandra herself, a personal experience, in which her mother, while giving birth to her oldest child, suffered some complications in the process which, according to Turlington herself, nearly led to her own death, was her principal motivation behind involving herself actively in her mother's organisation, stating, "As a girl who could have well otherwise grew up with a mother that she'll never know and see, it pains me to feel that I've not done anything myself to ensure that most girls or boys don't have to go down that path themselves, especially with everything that I have right now".
Business & Economics
Having graduated with a master's degree in economics from the prestigious London School of Economics, Alexandra has, at times, vocally expressed her own opinions on financial issues and matters generally relating to the economy.
In 2018, while still in the midst of her studies, Alexandra published a fairly lengthy op-ed in The New York Times criticising the American administration of Donald Trump's "reckless behaviour with the national economy". In a sharp rebuke of the Republican-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the royal wrote that "it is not exactly strange to hear those on one side of the political divide express their worries over the ever-increasing national debt but what is rather strange is seeing those same people advocate for policies that, as commonly understood, would only serve to further exacerbate their prior worries". In addition to this, Alexandra has also staunchly criticised austerity policies, particularly their implementation during instances of recession, stating, "In the simplest of ways, when a country seeks to rescue itself from a state of recession, where prices fall and economic growth is sluggish, the most obvious solution is quite clearly by spending money and utilising the budget in a concise and wise manner so that any vital services at risk of extinction due to the recession would not essentially be dealt the killing blow by the government's incessant spending cuts, something that is only compounded by an increase in taxes which absolutely affects the lowest income earners".
Owing to her country's status as a member of the European Union, Alexandra is said to be personally in support of free trade agreements and minimal trade restrictions between countries especially those that are within each other's proximity. Conversely, she is said to be otherwise critical of "trade wars" and "excessive" protectionist trade policies which she once described as a "bizarre and nonsensical rejection of the modern globalised reality".
Religious Pluralism
Having been born to a Protestant father and a Roman Catholic mother, as well as being the descendant of a Jewish grandmother, Alexandra is also a noted advocate for religious pluralism, be it within religious sects themselves or between religions in general. During a 2018 interview with the BBC, the Queen remarked, "The matter of the fact is, with the increasing tide of religious extremism and fanaticism we're seeing in recent years, especially from certain groups, co-operation, or at the very least, a spirit of peaceful co-existence between all the major religions of the world must be established because at the end of the day, religions are here to stay, perhaps until the end of mankind and it is best for everyone that they are not necessarily abused just to stoke conflicts and cause wars wherever they may be".
For instance, in July 2018, in response to a BBC article in which a Roman Catholic priest was reportedly attacked by unidentified assailants while a march by the Orange Order was happening nearby, the Queen publicly voiced her criticism of the incident, and, in an apparent subtle endorsement of calls to have such marches, dubbed "orange walks", be rerouted, called for "vigilant measures to be taken immediately in order to ensure that no such ugly incidents ever happen again", stating, "Be it in England, Scotland, or anywhere else in the United Kingdom, incidents like this must fully remain unacceptable and shunned by every layer of society". Similarly, in recent years, the Queen was also known to have been somewhat critical of the Dutch-born politician Geert Wilders who she once indirectly accused of "stoking unnecessary division and hate amongst a pluralistic and tolerant society" during a speech on religious tolerance and multiculturalism.
LGBT Rights
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While initially somewhat muted and more reserved in her advocacy for the LGBT community, amidst her aunt's marriage to American actress Jodie Foster in 2011, Alexandra, especially since her ascension to the throne, has been a notable and well-known campaigner and advocate for the community, with the earliest instance being even actually prior to her ascension to the throne, when sometime in 2012, a then-sixteen-year-old Alexandra publicly spouted points defending the LGBT community in a friendly debate with American politician Mitt Romney who at one moment during the debate was famously told by the princess, "Isn't it baffling Mr. Romney that at any given time these days, the simple matter of consensual albeit unconventional love between two individuals could ever be more important and headline-grabbing than complex geopolitical issues? I personally hope not". Later, in 2017, when asked about her personal opinion towards her aunt's lesbian marriage to actress Jodie Foster, Alexandra famously replied, "Frankly speaking, I don't really mind it. For me, I see it as nothing else other than giving me one extra aunt who happens to be both very beautiful and smart!".
Especially so, ever since her romantic relationship with English footballer Beth Mead became publicly known, Alexandra herself gradually became a more outspoken advocate for LGBT rights and the community as a whole, a cause she described in a 2019 interview with CNN as "personally close to my heart, and it's not just because of who I happen to be, as well as the fact that at least one of my own aunt is a lesbian herself". She then added, "Personally, I feel that with all this wealth and influence I carry simply by being who I am right now, it would be absolutely worse for me to just sit it out and let all this injustice happen as opposed to being called some derogatory term by some angry men on television". Moreover, her most recent decision to personally abstain from attending the controversial 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament in Qatar, albeit supposedly due to "work constraints", was also seen by some as the Queen subtly rebuking the Qatari government for its hardline stance against the LGBT community, as well as its controversial record relating to human rights, particularly those affecting migrant workers in the tiny Middle Eastern country. In this, after her younger brother Prince Richard sparked controversy by wearing a rainbow-themed pair of gloves to the tournament, a gesture that was deemed to be in violation of Qatar's conservative Muslim atmosphere, Alexandra herself appeared to once more subtly rebuke the Qatari government, stating that the "unparalleled" and "disproportionate" attention given towards her brother's gloves was "very silly and unfortunate" while also defending the latter's personal right to wear whatever he chooses to. Meanwhile, after the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani previously insinuated that Richard's aforementioned controversial gesture might complicate his older sister's task of being her country's head of state, Alexandra responded, "While it seems that a few certain people are concerned about potential difficulties relating to my job as queen, I would like to quickly assure them and everyone else that absolutely nothing has done to make my job harder than it already is and I'm doing just fine as usual".
On 9 February 2023, in a landmark decision, the General Synod of the Church of England voted to allow religious blessings to be given towards same-sex marriages, a dramatic shift in policy that, given the Church of England's strident opposition against same-sex marriages themselves, was largely seen by many as a compromise between the church and those in favour of same-sex marriages. However, perhaps most significantly, the landmark decision itself has refocused some attention on the Queen's current role as the church's supreme governor, a role traditionally held by the British monarch, which BBC columnist Myla Robinson described as "an unfortunately awkward set of circumstances, but at the same time a significant personal victory for the Queen, given her current relationship status". Nonetheless, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, in response to revelations of the Queen's relationship with English footballer Beth Mead, said that he would "not oppose" a formal marriage involving the two given that the latter's aunt, namely the Princess Royal was allowed to marry American actress Jodie Foster while also importantly retaining her place in the line of succession which is currently ninth overall after initially placing third at the time of her birth.
Women's Football
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Being a former professional footballer herself, Alexandra is also a somewhat vocal figure in the United Kingdom's women's football scene as a whole, especially given her status as a well-known footballer in the Women's Super League, the top flight of the women's English football league system, and her inherent status as the country's monarch. To that end, some observers have taken to credit the royal as one of the main causes behind a renewed interest in women's football, particularly in England, with Kira Lawrence of The Guardian describing the Queen as an "extremely valuable asset that many could only dream of", adding that "in a world where the apparent reality is that men's football is generally more popular and relevant than women's football, those of the latter sport would be more than lucky to have a powerful and influential voice in their favour to advance their cause on a wider scale". Likewise, Alexia Putellas, who captains a controversy-ridden Spain women's national team, publicly expressed her hope that much like in England, Spain's Queen Letizia, the latter being a woman herself but only a queen consort, would "publicly come out and support us all the way, especially during these difficult times", stating, "Be it as a king or a queen, anyone with that kind of a title automatically has a lot of influence on important matters and it's only right that he or she uses it for the greater good like ensuring that female footballers are treated well and are respected just like their male counterparts". Incidentally, following the aftermath of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, Spain women's head coach Jorge Vilda, already the subject of criticism for his alleged poor treatment of players and for his bad tactical management which reportedly led to Spain's 2-5 loss at the hands of England in the finals, later resigned from his position after renewed pressure from both dissenting players, nicknamed the Las 15, as well as the likes of Alexandra and Queen Letizia, with the latter expressing in a rare statement her "deepest worries for the beleaguered players who perhaps deserve a fresh start".
Since her official retirement from professional football in 2019, Alexandra has, among others, vocally called or advocated for further government and public interest in women's sports as a whole, particularly in football, which she once described as "the single most British sport there is today". In addition, despite her general affiliation with England which, like all the other constituent countries in the United Kingdom, has its own governing football body and its own national football team for both men and women respectively, Alexandra has nonetheless advocated for a "catch-all" and "inclusive" approach towards further developing women's football in the United Kingdom in general, stating, "Regardless of whether one is either English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish, or Hanoverian, in such events like the Olympics, we would all ultimately come together as one under a single flag and common British identity, and when it comes to football, for a team that would not just consist of English players, but also Scottish ones and others, no one, under any circumstances, should ever be left behind in terms of progress and development and it is only desirable that a Scottish player, man or woman, is just as good as an English player in both respects". To that end, the Queen herself has publicly voiced her "personal disappointment" towards pushbacks against a united Great Britain football team, particularly by the football associations of the United Kingdom's constituent countries, stating, "Politics aside, there is, without question, the undeniable fact that each of the United Kingdom's constituent countries, regardless of their identity and history, have at least one or several very talented footballers that, in theory, would have come to form a truly mighty and competitive football team for the world to see. Unfortunately, reality would not necessarily allow such a thing rather easily, and for a united and common British spirit, such difficulties will continue to remain for the foreseeable future".
Around July 2020, it was announced that the Queen, in conjunction with numerous other high-profile figures of varying backgrounds and professions, would be one of the many founding members of the National Women's Soccer League team Angel City FC whose founding members also included the likes of actresses Natalie Portman and Jessica Chastain, Youtubers Lilly Singh and Casey Neistat, as well as entrepreneur and team president Julie Uhrman. In response to the announcement, Alexandra personally confirmed her participation in the foundation of the soccer team, stating, "At the end of the day, my name would be lost among the many other equally well-known names of those who founded the team in the first place. Ultimately, what matters is not whose name would be on the list but rather the effort and passion put into the team by those very people as a collective working together for such a noble goal".
Conversely, in the years since, the Queen has also emerged as a somewhat vocal critic and "opponent" of FIFA, who she appeared to particularly criticise in an October 2022 interview with The Guardian, in which she expressed her "genuine bafflement at a country being allowed to host a tournament that it has never hosted before" while also likening it to "asking some random person with no prior experience in hosting house parties to host a house party themselves for the first time ever". In addition to that, the royal also criticised the controversial nature of the tournament's most recent edition, stating, "For decades since its inception, the World Cup is supposed to unite and bring the world's many communities together past national borders, not to otherwise divide it and make itself a subject of significant controversy". Meanwhile, Alexandra has also criticised the organisation's decision to appoint Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima as its first-ever fan ambassador, calling it "bizarre" and "illogical", while otherwise suggesting the retired American soccer player and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup winner Mia Hamm as an alternative candidate given the latter's well-known pedigree concerning the sport. Regardless, by comparison, most of her criticisms against the organisation have been described by most observers as "standard" and "tame" especially unlike those made by her half-brother who, as a mere private citizen rather than a head of state, has been more vocal and confrontational against FIFA and its current president Gianni Infantino who he once described as "the personification of everything wrong with football politics and bureaucracy, namely in the form of a non-footballing bald man who quite fittingly comes from a country with a well-known reputation for shady and questionable businesses rather than good or excellent football".
In line with her deep-seated personal passion for women's football, as Queen, Alexandra personally conceived the idea of a grand exhibition match contested between England's men's and women's national teams, the first of which was held in August 2019 in honour of her coronation that same month and which has since been followed by two subsequent editions. In this, England became the first and only FIFA member state so far to have hosted intergender matches involving its men's and women's national teams, a feat that has been met with overwhelming praise from observers, some of whom also lauded the Queen for using her position and influence to advance the cause of women's football in her country, a gesture that has never been observed before from other countries' respective leaders. Consequently, some critics of FIFA, an organisation that has been met with some criticism regarding its handling of women's football, once called for the future editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup to be organised by a related but separate international governing body, similar to how tennis is administered separately by the Association of Tennis Professionals and the Women's Tennis Association which regulates men's and women's professional tennis respectively. In this, owing to her outsized role in advancing women's football in England, who are currently both the undefeated world and continental champions, advocates of the idea have unanimously proposed Alexandra as the hypothetical organisation's first president.
Assassination Attempts
Given her status as her country's monarch, along with various other factors, since coming to the throne, Alexandra has experienced a number of assassination attempts on her life, neither of which have so far proved successful. The first of these came about on 16 August 2019 during her state visit to Malaysia where a convoy carrying the Queen and her entourage, while en route to the Istana Negara (English: National Palace), was attacked by a lone assassin armed with a handgun. The assassin, who was initially one of the several armed bikers escorting the convoy, was reported to have driven up to the side of the Queen's vehicle before unsuccessfully attempting to assassinate the royal by shooting at the bulletproof windows through the use of a handgun, namely a Colt M1911, which in the end only managed to leave small and minor cracks on the affected window while the Queen herself remained largely unharmed although reportedly "shocked" and "slightly terrified" by the sudden attempt on her life. Ultimately, the assassin, later identified as 33-year-old Anuar Omar, a Major in the elite VAT 69 Commando unit, was promptly immobilised after the driver of the Queen's vehicle veered slightly sideways into the would-be assassin's direction, knocking the latter off his motorcycle and onto the ground where he was soon arrested by nearby authorities while the convoy proceeded without further incident. In a subsequent statement, the Queen revealed that she was "somewhat shaken up" at the sudden sight of a handgun pointed at her face, describing it as "one of the most deathly terrifying moments of my life", while simultaneously expressing some sense of relief at the presence of bulletproof windows which effectively blocked any incoming bullets, thereby saving her life.
Following this, a subsequent report by the Malaysian news outlet The Star revealed that a follow-up police interrogation of the suspect found that the man had intended to assassinate the British monarch given her Jewish background and her perceived support for Israel whose decades-long conflict with the Palestinians and perceived illegitimacy in the eyes of Malaysian society is a major sensitive issue among the country's Muslim majority. Following this, controversy emerged over whether the man would be trialed under a Malaysian court given the location of the incident or under a British court instead given that the intended target is the head of state of the United Kingdom. Eventually, on August 24th, the dispute was resolved when, following the precedent established by the trial of the Lockerbie bombing perpetrators, a treaty was struck between the British and Malaysian governments whereby Anuar Omar would be put to trial by a British court in a Malaysian territory that would be temporarily leased to the British for the duration of the trial for which the chosen location was a former Royal Malaysian Air Force base, namely the RMAF Kuala Lumpur Air Base. On 5 October 2019, following a month-long trial and after all further appeals from the defendant's relatives were rejected by the courts, Anuar Omar was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in a British prison. Following this, amidst calls from some local politicians for either his release, a more lenient sentence, or for him to serve his sentence in a Malaysian prison instead, Anuar was promptly extradited to the United Kingdom where he began serving his sentence at the Category A HM Prison Frankland in County Durham, England. In May 2021, the Malaysian government under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin filed a request seeking an early release but was rejected by the Supreme Court on the grounds of "national security risks", prompting the Malaysian Islamist politician Abdul Hadi Awang to liken the would-be assassin's indefinite sentence at a British prison to the "cruel subjugation of Palestinians in Israeli prisons by Zionist forces", a remark that was promptly rebuked by Supreme Court President The Lord Reed of Allermuir who criticised the "glorification of a violent man with malicious intent to cause physical harm under a judgment driven entirely by racial prejudice". Later on, in November 2022, following his election as prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, whom Alexandra had previously voiced her support for following his second arrest in 2015, expressed his rejection of any further moves seeking for the would-be assassin's release, stating, "Beyond all the emotion and rhetoric, what happened in August 2019 was a clear-cut case of attempted murder, namely towards another country's head of state, an act that must be punished accordingly to the full extent of the law. No matter the motivation, acts of violence from either Muslims or non-Muslims are absolutely unacceptable and must not be tolerated nor encouraged by anyone".
Similarly, another assassination attempt would come about during her July 2021 state visit to the United States where, much like the previous case in Malaysia, a heavily armed convoy carrying the Queen and Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris down a street in Montana was attacked by a pair of gunmen, later identified as brothers, Joel and Tyler Perry. According to official reports, the brothers, seated in a white Toyota sedan, suddenly drove onto the path of the oncoming convoy and proceeded to open fire using their respective Colt AR-15 rifles although none of the rounds fired were able to cause any serious harm towards either of the occupants with the brothers themselves subsequently fleeing the scene in haste, leading to a roughly fifteen-minute-long police chase that ultimately ended in the brothers' death after their car eventually crashed into a nearby tree, killing both brothers instantly. Then, while the Queen herself proceeded with the rest of her state visit and subsequently departed the United States without further incident, a subsequent investigation launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation found that the monarch had been the target of an ideologically-driven assassination plot based on pieces of evidence found at a discreet ranch belonging to the brothers that, according to Director Christopher A. Wray, "showed signs that the Perry brothers were motivated by a supposed grand conspiracy deeply rooted in blatant anti-Semitism that seemingly justified their supposedly necessary attempt to assassinate a foreign head of state, one that happens to be of Jewish ancestry". In response, Alexandra herself promptly issued a statement thanking the FBI's efforts in the investigation while also publicly condemning "those responsible for such a vile act and those who, by nature, would be in support of such violent and uncivilised acts", a remark believed to be subtly targeting supporters of former President Donald Trump, of whom she had been highly critical.
On 3 February 2023, the BBC reported that Jaswant Singh Chail, a British national of Sikh ancestry, had confessed to charges of treason, which were first brought against him after his arrest on Christmas Day 2021, in which Chail was arrested by security forces while attempting to breach Buckingham Palace, where the Queen and her family had been spending Christmas, with the stated intention of killing the British monarch. Then, when further questioned behind his reasoning for doing so, Chail claimed that his assassination attempt, which he had planned to execute using a loaded crossbow, was intended as an act of revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre where hundreds of Indian civilians were shot to death by soldiers of the British Raj. Meanwhile, following the news report, Buckingham Palace then published a statement expressing its "greatest relief in the fact that justice was served" while the Queen herself later said that although she had "frankly forgotten about the whole murder attempt until now", she was nonetheless "very proud" of the officers present who swiftly took care of the problem, thereby ensuring that no one was ever hurt in the process.
Style of Play
Former Arsenal Women manager Joe Montemurro on Alexandra's speed and versatility
Blessed by an explosive pace, coupled with a relatively short stature and combined with adept dribbling and crossing abilities, Alexandra initially started off as a winger in her early years at Arsenal in support of fellow teammate Ellen White who otherwise mostly served as the principal forward for her team. In this, despite not necessarily playing in her dream position of a center-forward, her rapid pace and adept crosses made her a highly proficient winger with a knack for facing opposition full-backs head-on while also cutting inside into the penalty area. In addition, although naturally left-footed, Alexandra is nonetheless generally adept with either leg and has been deployed on either flank. However, as she later shifted more to the center as a striker or even an attacking midfielder, Alexandra then came to be known more for her creativity in engineering goalscoring chances through a combination of excellent positioning, adept dribbling, and masterful passing. Known for her elaborate and precise crossing abilities, Alexandra cited former England international David Beckham as her main inspiration.
Considered to be one of the best dribblers in the world, Alexandra is highly regarded by many for her ability to easily get past opponents when in possession of the ball via either the elaborate Cruyff turn maneuver or a simple nutmeg with her low center of gravity and strong pair of legs allowing her to easily shift herself and the ball itself into a different spot almost instantly thereby making her a rather difficult player to mark or even dispossess. In addition, Alexandra is also well-known for her quick and precise crosses which proved very useful in setting up attacks from the sides especially given her tendency to occasionally play out wide before drifting inside with the ball akin to an inside forward. Although traditionally left-footed, Alexandra is known to be able to operate effectively on either side in spite of her usually being positioned on the right from where she would mostly cut inwards using her strong foot.
Known for being a primarily deep-lying forward in the style of Johan Cruyff, William Smith, and Harry Kane, Alexandra is highly regarded for her excellent positioning and expansive vision with her movements and positioning often serving to draw opposition center-backs away from their usual positions while also creating chances deep within the midfield area via excellent link-up play with her teammates. In this, a high work-rate saw Alexandra always being on the move around the middle of the pitch keeping an eye on the ball while also scouting potential teammates with whom to form an attacking sequence. In this, Alexandra cited the positioning and off-the-ball movements of Bayern Munich forward Thomas Müller whose widely-renowned tactical intelligence and overall awareness were cited by her as the inspiration behind her own playing style. Nonetheless, aside from her tactical ingenuity, Alexandra is equally known for her goalscoring prowess, being the top all-time goalscorer for Arsenal Women and the Women's Super League, and her simultaneous capability in creating goalscoring opportunities for either herself or her teammates, with former Arsenal Women head coach Joe Montemurro describing Alexandra as "the quintessential all-rounder striker desired by elite teams capable of doing almost everything required" while Arsenal legend Thierry Henry hailed her as an "ingenious creator" and a "consistent goalscoring machine". Similarly, Vivianne Miedema, with whom she established an effective attacking partnership, has also heaped much praise on Alexandra, describing the latter as "highly dependable" and "extremely cooperative", adding, "At times, it does feel like whether consciously or not the two of us just have some sort of a telepathic connection between us since in most cases we both knew exactly where to be, when to move, and most importantly whether a goal was possible from a certain position". Fittingly, the duo, who often alternated between themselves the roles of number 10 and number 9, have been popularly compared to the likes of Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and Manchester United's William Smith and Wayne Rooney.
Separately, Alexandra has also been noted for her "exemplary sense of professionalism", a trait that she revealed in an interview with ESPN to have been "deeply instilled" in her at a young age by her half-brother, a successful professional footballer himself, adding that the latter also told her that "regardless of how good you are, even if naturally, you would be absolutely nothing and would not get anywhere without a tiny bit of discipline in yourself". Similarly, Alexandra's consistently high work rate has also been a subject of praise, with former Arsenal Women manager Joe Montemurro once stating, "When you consider the fact that as her country's queen, she's also beholden with all these other tasks and duties that she has outside of football, it's just unbelievable and amazing really that she's just consistently putting this much effort in football with little signs of stopping". Similarly, former Arsenal teammate Vivianne Miedema described Alexandra as "the most hardworking and dedicated teammate and striker I've ever seen", adding that "if she (Alexandra) was expected to score goals in a particular match, it is more than likely that she will do and will absolutely not stop in doing so until the time is up".
While not necessarily known to have shared or inherited her half-brother's infamous militaristic leadership style (hence his nickname "The General"), Alexandra has nonetheless received much praise for her great sense of teamwork which, coupled with her general friendliness towards her teammates, helped establish her as a reliable and proficient team player and who particularly excelled in that regard, especially during important matches. Accordingly, by her own admission, Alexandra described herself as "not necessarily someone who can easily and just effortlessly take charge of a huge team in an instant but who, under the right circumstances, can work well with others in times of need". Meanwhile, in a 2019 interview, former Lionesses captain Steph Houghton said, "Of course, throughout the time she was there she was never actually captain in an official sense but if necessary I would say I trust her somewhat as a team captain because in a way she just has that sense of unbroken togetherness that easily brings a disjointed team together".
In an August 2022 interview with Sky Sports, Alexandra named former Arsenal teammates Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema as her "favourite football buddies", stating that in a usual team setup where all three of them are available, Miedema would normally play as a center forward while both she and Mead otherwise act as wingers on the right and left respectively to form what many have described as the Women's Super League's "greatest attacking trio" with all three of them currently leading the league in terms of both goals scored and assists provided. Known simply as "ABA", a combination of the first letters of their given names and a play on the name of the famous Swedish pop group ABBA, the trio have been popularly compared to Real Madrid's "BBC", Barcelona's "MSN", and Manchester United's "WCW", all of which are considered to be some of the most decorated attacking trios in men's football. Conversely, much like her half-brother's well-known professional rivalries with the likes of Thierry Henry and Cristiano Ronaldo, on her part, Alexandra named the Norwegian international Ada Hegerberg as her "great rival", stating, "Of course, the fact that we both played for different clubs in different countries meant that we never really face each other except for in the Champions League but when we do face each other in that tournament, Ada is undoubtedly one of or if not the single player that gives me the most worries ahead of a match because I knew that I would be up against a talented goalscoring machine who can give me a run for my money at any time". Evidently, both Alexandra and Hegerberg themselves together dominate both the Ballon d'Or Féminin and the UEFA Women's Champions League, namely as the only players to have won the award more than once and as players currently ranked within the top three of the tournament's all-time goalscorers with Hegerberg in first, Alexandra in second, and Anja Mittag in third.
In a 2019 interview with People, when asked about her favourite football club, Alexandra said that while she "grew up very much liking Manchester United", given her half-brother's association and success with the club, she otherwise declared herself to be "a Gooner through and through", citing her own time of having played for Arsenal for roughly a decade long. Since her retirement, whenever she is not preoccupied, Alexandra could be seen occasionally attending matches involving both Arsenal's men's and women's teams, leading one British football commentator to describe her as "a constant and unmistakable presence at stadiums always sternly looking at the pitch below with arms crossed and seemingly eagle-eyed precision". Likewise, Mikel Arteta, who currently manages Arsenal's men's side, described the royal as "someone who truly cares a lot about the club and who always wanted to be informed firsthand of anything that just happened".
Media Depiction
Known for her somewhat media-friendly persona and photogenic appearance, since ascending to the throne, Alexandra has been depicted by various people in the media and has also personally made appearances in the media herself. For instance, in an episode of the 2016 miniseries Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, she appeared in a cameo role as herself who happens to befriend the character Rory Gilmore played by actress Alexis Bledel. In another instance, she also appeared on the reality television series Running Wild with Bear Grylls where in a special final episode of the show's third season, she, along with host and adventurer Bear Grylls together traversed through the Scottish Highlands, an experience she later described as "challenging but fun" and "personally groundbreaking", stating, "Prior to doing the show, I have never been on live television where by all accounts people get to see me at my most vulnerable just trying to scale or climb hills and mountains because that's exactly what I did and the fact that I wasn't doing it in private but rather on television meant something very new to me and to some extent definitely changed me in a way". Owing to her popularity, the episode became one of the series' most-watched episodes with an estimated viewership of 4.51 million which topped the previous number of 3.55 million for a separate special episode involving United States President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, in 2022, Alexandra herself appeared in the Netflix documentary Rise of The Lionesses as an integral former member of the England women's national team that won the 2015 and 2019 Women's World Cups and the UEFA Women's Euro 2017, England's first few international honours for the women's national team.
In addition to that, Alexandra has also appeared as herself in the popular GQ: Actually Me series, in which she, via impromptu accounts created on popular social media sites including Instagram, Quora, and Youtube, would reply to online questions asked by internet users, as well as in WIRED's autocomplete interviews where she would reply to a random autocomplete question on the search engine Google. Furthermore, Alexandra also made a celebrity appearance as herself in the long-running automotive show Top Gear where in a special episode of the show's twenty-seventh season, she, along with her half-brother William Smith participated in a two-lap race around the Top Gear test track using their favourite personal vehicles, with Alexandra's being her McLaren GT and her half-brother's being the latter's own McLaren 570S. In the end, Alexandra herself narrowly won the race against her half-brother with a recorded time difference of 0.60 seconds.
In both 2015 and 2019 respectively, Alexandra was featured on the UK version of EA Sports' FIFA 15 and FIFA 19 video games, becoming one of the first few female footballers to be featured on the cover of any EA Sports games alongside the likes of Christine Sinclair, Alex Morgan, and Steph Catley, as well as the first siblings pair to be featured on the cover along with her half-brother William Smith who was regularly featured on the UK version of previous editions owing to his talent and popularity.
Controversies
2016 Southbank International School lawsuit
In June 2016, Alexandra publicly came out in support of a lawsuit brought by families of dozens of former Southbank International School students that came about amidst controversy over the school's past association with convicted child molester William Vahey whose teaching tenure at the school from 2009 until 2013 saw him molest an unspecified number of boys, pictures of which were found in a flash drive of his. Vahey, who later committed suicide in March 2014, was found to have sexually abused a large number of students at both Southbank International School and other schools where he had previously taught, revelations of which quickly sparked massive controversy and various questions over the decision to permit him to teach at the school despite being officially classified as a sex offender as far back as 1970.
Speaking about the revelations in an interview with the BBC, Alexandra, who herself was a student at the school, called them "gravely troubling" and also lamented her disappointment over the school's apparent inability to prevent Vahey from teaching despite his past as a sexual offender, stating, "Fortunately, as far back as I can remember, I never once met or crossed paths with him (Lahey) before but regardless of that and especially in light of all the things he was found to have done while teaching at the school, all those sexual abuses and molestation s, it is absolutely unforgivable and at times incomprehensible how such a man like that was even allowed to set foot inside the school itself". Moreover, in addition to affirming her support for lawsuits against the school, which she called "the only right thing to do", Alexandra also revealed that the revelations themselves, which first came about in April 2014, consequently led to her siblings, all of whom had also went to the same school for convenience, being immediately transferred to another school that is still in relative proximity to Buckingham Palace. Among those affected was her younger brother Richard, who was reportedly "traumatised" by the revelations despite not necessarily being a victim himself, with the prince later revealing that for a brief period, he was "very worried" about talking to any male teachers of his out of a fear that any of them might be a sexual predator too.
Royalgate conspiracy theory
On 5 December 2020, outgoing President Donald Trump, who had then lost that year's presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden, sparked controversy when he claimed in a speech to supporters in Dayton, Ohio that among other supposed theories, the presidential election had supposedly been "stolen" by none other than Queen Alexandra, a fervent critic of Trump's, thereby sparking an infamous conspiracy theory which was quickly nicknamed by the media as Royalgate. The conspiracy theory, according to Donald Trump himself, claimed that the Queen, through the use of her family's multi-billion-dollar wealth, had supposedly acted to influence the outcome of the election in favour of Democrat Joe Biden and the latter's running mate Kamala Harris.
Almost immediately, much like other of Donald Trump's alleged theories behind his loss in the 2020 presidential election, that particular claim was quickly met with overwhelming skepticism as well as criticism by mainstream media outlets, namely CNN, NBC News, and The New York Times. In the meantime, just a few days after the conspiracy theory became public knowledge, the theory itself soon took a more noticeably anti-Semitic tone when in an episode of his show Infowars, notorious American far-right conspiracist Alex Jones remarked, "I don't understand how everything's not already so obvious right now to everyone. Lots of bad people, especially the deep state, wanted Donald Trump gone, and of course, there's also the Jews who want him gone as well! Now, call this a coincidence or whatever you like but the fact that the British royal family, if I remember correctly, had a Jewish family member in it is, at least to me, not a coincidence but a fact that proves that the moment Donald Trump came to threaten their world domination plans, they would already be at the ready to oust him by any means necessary, and so far, they've done it with stealing the 2020 presidential election for the Democrats. and we cannot let that go any further". Shortly afterward, many critics promptly condemned Jones's remark, with the Anti-Defamation League describing it as "textbook anti-Semitism by none other than the man named Alex Jones himself". Furthermore, then-United States ambassador to the United Kingdom Woody Johnson, who was appointed by Donald Trump himself to his ambassadorial post, also publicly criticised propagators of the conspiracy theory, stating, "As an ambassador to one of the United States' closest longtime allies, I fully understand and deeply cherish the value of friendship that has existed for so long between the United States and the United Kingdom, while this conspiracy theory itself, by any measures, is the opposite of that and it is one that could potentially damage and threaten that longstanding alliance between two close allies with perhaps irreversible consequences".
In the end, owing to its largely dubious and unsubstantiated nature, the conspiracy theory itself was never taken seriously or ever properly investigated by federal authorities, with then-United States Attorney General William Barr, also a Trump appointee to the position, even publicly stating that his department, namely the United States Department of Justice, would "not properly consider such a case for any serious investigation in the lack of any credible evidence other than claims that could well threaten the longstanding diplomatic relations between the United States and the United Kingdom". Then, on 8 December 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Alex Jones and the latter's own company InfoWars in response to Jones's previous remark on the Royalgate conspiracy theory, which the palace described as "utmost defamation in its entirety". Shortly afterward, the Queen herself promptly took to Twitter, stating, "While it might have been more preferable to simply ignore and not dignify such a clearly ugly and anti-Semitic remark with a response, the fact that such a remark itself, combined with the level of popular support it holds among a considerable number of people, unfortunately does not deserve such a simple gesture, but rather a fitting response that shows that such a dangerous and untruthful remark will not go unpunished, but otherwise met with its appropriate consequences".
On 21 July 2021, a California state court entrusted with overseeing the defamation lawsuit brought by the Queen against the American conspiracy theorist ruled that the latter's remark was found to be "indisputably defamatory in nature", with the presiding judge Georgia Parry stating in a follow-up ruling, "Based on the pieces of evidence and information provided to the court by both the plaintiff (Buckingham Palace) and the defendant (Alex Jones) during the discovery phase, it has been indisputably determined by the court that the remark made by Mr. Jones, which accused the plaintiff, namely Her Majesty The Queen of the United Kingdom of supposed involvement in the 2020 United States presidential election is, without question, slanderous in nature, and which therefore warrants the necessary settlement afterward". Then, on 9 August 2021, the court further ruled that Jones had been compelled to pay a total of $250 million in settlements, along with an issuing of public apology, with Parry further stating that "in addition to the clearly libelous nature of the remark, the one made by Mr. Jones, in the court's judgment, can pose serious harm and threat to the existing diplomatic relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, with the potential complications being far-reaching and beyond". However, just two hours after the ruling was issued, NBC News reported that Jones, having reportedly found himself unable to pay the $250 million total, had filed for bankruptcy, a move that Alexandra herself promptly decried on Twitter as a "blatant act of cowardice", while Judge Parry stated that she would seek to immediately challenge Jones' bankruptcy filing, which she argued, "had been done in clear bad faith and in an obvious attempt to escape rightful justice". Soon enough, just a week afterward, Jones' bankruptcy filing was declared invalid by the court, which then persisted in ordering the former to pay the $250 million settlement, which the Queen publicly expressed interest in donating to organisations dedicated to "combatting hate speech and other forms of racism".
2022 Disney-DeSantis feud
On 30 March 2023, in a development concerning an ongoing dispute between The Walt Disney Company and incumbent Florida governor Ron DeSantis, particularly over a law passed by the Florida legislature that was popularly dubbed by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" law, the Queen, along with her siblings, were all indirectly named in a legal clause used by Disney so as to prevent the termination of several particular last-minute agreements by a new governing board appointed by the Floridian governor, in which the aforementioned provisions would legally stand until "twenty-one years after the death of the last surviving descendant of His Royal Highness Prince Thomas, Duke of Hanover, currently living as of the date of this declaration".
Consequently, the wording of the clause meant that the company's particular last-minute agreements would seek to legally stand and be clear of any attempted removals for as long as the Queen and any of her other six siblings generally lived long lives while also producing their respective descendants, thereby ensuring that, given the sheer number and general longevity of the Queen and her siblings, as the direct descendants of their father, the Duke of Hanover, the aforementioned last-minute agreements would be likely to remain for centuries onwards in the absence of complete extinction of the Duke of Hanover's descendants. Nonetheless, despite being indirectly named in the clause pertaining to a highly-publicised and ongoing feud in the United States, Alexandra herself has remained largely silent on the matter, although observers generally believe that, given her mostly liberal views, she would nonetheless be a critic of DeSantis's conservative and right-wing policies enacted as governor.
Titles & Honours
- 11 May 1996 - 11 May 1997 Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall, Princess of Orange, and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
- 11 May 1997 - 13 October 2017 Her Royal Highness The Princess of the Welsh, Princess of Orange, and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
- 13 October 2017 - Present Her Majesty The Queen of the British, Queen of the Dutch, and Grand Duchess of the Luxembourgers
Although her official title as monarch consisted of each of her three separate titles as the monarch of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg respectively, in practice, during an event or ceremony that concerned only one out of those three respective countries, Alexandra would simply be referred to only by the appropriate title that corresponds to that particular country, while during international events, such as a session of the United Nations General Assembly, she would otherwise be addressed as the monarch of all three countries simultaneously. In such a case, her British title would always take precedence over her two other titles, with her Dutch title following suit, and lastly, her Luxembourgish title.
Owing to the series of past dynastic marriages between her ancestors, Alexandra is the current head of the Hanover-Stuart-Orange-Nassau dynasty, a grand union of the royal houses of Hanover, Stuart, and Orange-Nassau. Due to this, Alexandra is a direct descendant of King Charles I who was infamously beheaded by Oliver Cromwell and is also a direct descendant of William the Silent who successfully led the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Empire.
In addition to her main royal titles which are the most well-known to many, Alexandra also holds several subsidiary titles in her own right. As the British monarch, she is also the grand duchess of Oldenburg, duchess of Brunswick, princess of Schaumburg-Lippe, and princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Meanwhile, as the Dutch monarch, among other subsidiary titles, she is also a princess of Orange-Nassau and the duchess of Limburg. Lastly, as the Luxembourgish monarch, Alexandra is also the duchess of Nassau, a secondary title that she and her ancestors were confirmed with after King Frederick issued a proclamation disqualifying the title's previous holders, namely the descendants of Adolphe, the last Duke of Nassau, who had been citizens of the defeated Germany in World War I. Consequently, his own descendants, including Alexandra herself, were designated as the new heads of the House of Nassau, a claim that has been strongly contested by the royal house's disqualified senior members.
Honours
National & Commonwealth
United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter- United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Royal Williamite Order
- United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Royal Guelphic Order
- United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Order of St. George
- United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle
- United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick
- United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath
- United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George
- United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Gallant Order of the British Empire
- United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order
- United Kingdom - Recipient of the Royal Family Order of King Charles III
- United Kingdom - Recipient of the Royal Family Order of King Thomas
- United Kingdom - Recipient of the Medal of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of King Charles III
Netherlands - Grand Master of the Military William Order- Netherlands - Grand Master and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
- Netherlands - Grand Master of the Order of the Crown
- Netherlands - Grand Master of the Order for Loyalty and Merit
- Netherlands - Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Ark
- Netherlands - Honorary Commander of the Order of Saint John in the Netherlands
Luxembourg - Grand Master and Grand Cross of the Order of the Oak Crown- Luxembourg - Grand Master of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Canada - Sovereign of the Order of Canada
Australia - Sovereign of the Order of Australia
New Zealand - Sovereign of the Order of New Zealand
West Indies - Sovereign of the Order of West Indies
Solomon Islands - Sovereign of the Order of Solomon Islands
Belize - Sovereign of the Order of Belize
Tuvalu - Sovereign of the Order of Tuvalu
Foreign
United States - Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Spain - Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Norway - Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of St Olav
Sweden - Member of the Royal Order of the Seraphim- Sweden - Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Sword
Denmark - Knight of the Order of the Elephant- Denmark - Grand Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog
Portugal - Grand Collar of the Order of the Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, and of Valour, Loyalty and Merit
France - Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour- France - Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit
South Africa - Companion in Gold of the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo
Germany - Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Lithuania - Grand Cross with Golden Chain of the Order of Vytautas the Great
Austria - Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
Poland - Grand Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland- Poland - Knight of the Order of the White Eagle
Japan - Collar and Grand Order of the Order of Chrysanthemum- Japan - Golden Medal of Merit Japanese Red Cross
- Japan - Golden Medal of Honorary Member of Japanese Red Cross
Italy - Dame of the Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Crown of Italy
Malaysia - Honorary Recipient of the Order of the Crown of the Realm- Malaysia - Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm
Singapore - Honorary First Class of the Order of Temasek
El Salvador - Grand Cross with Gold Star of the Order of José Matías Delgado
Finland - Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland with Collar
Indonesia - First Class Recipient of the Star of the Republic of Indonesia
Jordan - Grand Cordon of the Order of the Star of Jordan- Jordan - Collar of the Order of al-Hussein bin Ali
Greece - Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer
Bulgaria - Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius
Romania - Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Carol I
Chile - Sash of the Order of Stara Planina
Israel - Recipient of the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honour
Thailand - Grand Cross of the Order of the Rajamitrabhorn
South Korea - Recipient of the Grand Order of Mugunghwa
Professional Football
Arsenal
- Women's Super League: 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, Spring Series, 2017-18, 2018-19
- Women's FA Cup: 2011, 2015, 2016
- FA Women's League Cup: 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017-18, 2018-19
- UEFA Women's Champions League: 2010-11, 2016-17
OL Reign
- NWSL Championship: 2014
- NWSL Shield: 2014
England
- World Cup: 2015, 2019
- UEFA Women's Championship: 2017
- Cyprus Women's Cup: 2015
- Yongchuan International Tournament: 2015
- SheBelieves Cup: 2018, 2019
Individual
- Ballon d'Or Féminin: 2015, 2017, 2019
- FIFA Women's World Player of the Year/The Best FIFA Women's Player: 2015, 2019
- FIFA Women's World Cup Golden Ball: 2019
- FIFA Women's World Cup Golden Boot: 2015, 2019
- FIFA Women's World Cup Best Young Player: 2015
- FIFA Women's World Cup Goal of the Tournament: 2019
- FIFA Women's World Cup All Star Team: 2015, 2019
- FIFA Women's World Cup Dream Team: 2015, 2019
- FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship Golden Ball: 2014
- FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship Golden Boot: 2014
- PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year: 2015, 2019
- BBC Women's Footballer of the Year: 2015, 2019
- FA WSL: Player of the Season: 2011-12, 2012-13, 2014-15, 2018-19
- PFA Young Player of the Year: 2015, 2019
- PFA Team of the Year: 2015, 2019
- PFA Fan's Player of the Month: May 2011, December 2012
- Arsenal Player of the Season: 2011-12, 2012-13, 2014-15, 2018-19
- Arsenal Women Supporters Club Player of the Season: 2011-12, 2014-15, 2018-19
- Women's Super League Golden Boot: 2012, 2015, 2016, Spring Series, 2018-19
- UEFA Women's Championship Player of the Tournament: 2017
- UEFA Women's Championship Team of the Tournament: 2017
- UEFA Women's Championship Golden Boot: 2017
- The FA's Senior Women's Player of the Year: 2015, 2017, 2019
- England Young Player of the Year: 2015
- Women's Super League Hall of Fame: 2019
- English Football Hall of Fame: 2019
- NWSL Golden Boot: 2014
- NWSL Best XI: 2014
Military Appointments
Arms
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| Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Princess of the Welsh (1997 - 2017) |
Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Queen of the British (2017 - Present) |
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| Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Princess of Orange (1997 - 2017) |
Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Queen of the Dutch (2017 - Present) |
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| Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (1997 - 2017) |
Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Grand Duchess of the Luxembourgers (2017 - Present) |
Ancestry
| Ancestors of Alexandra of the United Kingdom and of the Netherlands | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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