Personal Life: 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".
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".