Alexandra of the United Kingdom and of the Netherlands

Alexandra
Defender of the Faiths President of the Hanoverian Union Head of the Commonwealth Head of the Amsterdam Commonwealth Head of the British Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief of the Luxembourg Armed Forces
Queen of the British and of the People of her other Realms Canada 2017-Present Australia 2017-Present New Zealand 2017-Present Jamaica 2017-Present The Bahamas 2017-Present Grenada 2017-Present Papua New Guinea 2017-Present Solomon Islands 2017-Present Tuvalu 2017-Present St. Lucia 2017-Present St. Vincent and the Grenadines 2017-Present Belize 2017-Present Antigua and Barbuda 2017-Present St. Kitts and Nevis 2017-Present Puerto Rico 2017-Present Barbados 2017-2021
Reign	13 October 2017 - present
Coronation	10 June 2019
Predecessor	Thomas
Prime Minister	See list David Cameron Justine Greening
Heir presumptive	Prince Richard, Duke of Cleveland
Regent	Christy Turlington (2017-2019)
Queen of the Dutch Grand Duchess of the Luxembourgers
Reign	13 October 2017 - present
Inauguration	1 January 2018
Predecessor	Thomas
Prime Minister	See list Mark Rutte (Netherlands) Xavier Bettel (Luxembourg)
Heir presumptive	Prince Richard, Duke of Cleveland
Regent	Christy Turlington (2017-2019)
Born	(1996-05-11) 11 May 1996 Wales House, Albany, New York, United States
Full name Alexandra Katharine Nicole Lauren Elizabeth Francis Albert Thomas
House	Hanover
Father	Thomas
Mother	Christy Turlington
Religion	Protestant
Alma mater	University of London (BSW, MEc, PhD)
Signature

Alexandra (English: Alexandra Katharine Nicole Lauren Elizabeth Francis Albert Thomas; German: Alexandra Kathrin Nikole Laurens Elisabeth Franz Albert Thomas; Dutch: Alexandra Catharina Nicole Laurens Elisabeth Frans Albert 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 otherwise the first duchess regnant in Luxembourgish history. As Queen of the British, she is the official head of state of approximately sixteen independent nations, a role she also exercises as the constitutional monarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Moreover, she is also simultaneously the head of both the Commonwealth of Nations and the Amsterdam Commonwealth, international organisations comprising former British and Dutch colonies respectively, as well as the president of the Hanoverian Union, a politico-economic union consisting of three Western European countries, namely the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

The eldest child of King Thomas and the American supermodel, Christy Turlington, and granddaughter of actress, Lauren Bacall, Alexandra initially lived out the first three years of her life with her mother in her birthplace of New York before later permanently moving to the United Kingdom. A highly talented footballer in her youth, she primarily played for Arsenal from 2010 to 2013, and again from 2016 to 2019, during which she won the Women's Super League for a total of five times, the Women's FA Cup twice, the FA Women's League Cup four times, and the UEFA Women's Champions League once, by which point, she had become the top goalscorer in the Women's Super League with several titles and individual awards to her name, much like her own famous half-brother in the Premier League. Aside from that, she also began a modestly successful career as a voice actress, with roles in several animated films such as Cars 2, The Lego Movie, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, and most recently, The Bad Guys.

For 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 May 2019, Alexandra's reign has come to be marked, most prominently by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, as well as by a brief political crisis in the United Kingdom, which saw the collapse of longtime Prime Minister David Cameron, and by a series of political scandals surrounding the neighbouring Netherlands. Nonetheless, amidst a number of personal controversies that have marked her early years as monarch, support for the British monarchy has remained at generally high levels, and so does her personal popularity.

After her father, the former King Thomas, Alexandra is considered to be the second Jewish monarch of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, by way of her paternal grandmother's Jewish roots. Moreover, she is also the first monarch in British, Dutch and Luxembourgish histories after her father to have been born to a father of royal ancestry and a mother of commoner descent. Most notably, she is also the first monarch in the history of all three nations to have been born to a mother of the Roman Catholic faith, that being the American supermodel, Christy Turlington. In addition, she is also widely believed to be the first openly gay British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish monarch, as evidenced by her current relationship with English footballer, Beth Mead.

With an estimated personal net worth of roughly $6.8 billion (£5.9 billion), and as the apparent heiress to the royal family's multi-billion dollar shipping company, Southampton Line, Alexandra is therefore expected to become the richest monarch in the world, with a projected personal net worth of up to $54.9 billion (£48.2 billion), an amount even higher than that of her assets held by the Crown Estate, which instead amounts to $21.5 billion (£18.8 billion), thereby bringing her total net worth to around $76.4 billion (£67.1 billion), an amount unmatched among the world's remaining monarchs and one that would make her the richest woman in the world.

Early Life

Wales House, an estate located in Upstate New York belonging to the British royal family

Alexandra was born on 11 May 1996 at the Wales House, a private residence belonging to the British royal family in Albany, New York as the eldest child of Prince Thomas and the American supermodel, Christy Turlington. Born 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 by roughly a decade old. Almost immediately, soon after the news of her birth was relayed back to the United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Luxembourg, it became, as one BBC commentator noted at the time, a "source of great celebration and joy", given that in both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, roughly two to three centuries have passed since the two countries had a queen regnant, while in Luxembourg, the princess's birth signified the later ascension of the country' first ever female ruler, made possible by the fact that around a year prior, all three countries agreed to simultaneously amend their longstanding succession laws, thereby allowing females to ascend to the throne without any caveats or consequences, such as in the case of the ascension of the briefly-reigning Queen Victoria in 1837, whose eighteen-day-long tenure as monarch saw the union between the United Kingdom and Hanover, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, temporarily severed due to those three countries' longstanding use of the medieval Salic Law. Regardless, in the United States itself, where the princess had been born in, news of her birth was also positively received, with President Bill Clinton, in a special address from the White House, proclaiming, "The United States of America welcomes the birth of the royal princess, and if she is to one day become queen of her country herself, then it let be known that America will be absolutely delighted in welcoming her as one in the foreseeable future".

Upon baptism, she was named Alexandra Katharine Nicole Lauren Elizabeth Francis Albert Thomas, with her given name, meaning "defender of men", a meaning that was said to have been deliberately chosen and intended given her future role as queen regnant of her country, while her subsequent middle names, in no particular order, paid tributes to the 16th-century English ruler, Queen Elizabeth I of the Tudor dynasty, the American actress, Katharine Hepburn, a close and lifelong friend of her paternal grandparents, her paternal grandmother, Queen Lauren, the late American actor and singer, Frank Sinatra, also a close friend of her grandparents, and followed by her own parents, the future King and Queen. On the other hand, her godparents included US Senator Ted Kennedy, singers, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, George Michael, as well as English guitarist and member of the famous British rock band, Queen. Furthermore, the star-studded list also included actors, Sean Connery and Hugh Grant, actresses, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Jaclyn Smith, and Hedy Lamarr, and the rest of the "big five" supermodels, namely Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz (later Alexandra's own aunt by marriage), and Cindy Crawford. Known for her largely diverse ethnic background, through her paternal ancestors, she is said to be of English, German, Belgian, and Romanian descent, while through her maternal ancestors, she is said to be of Salvadoran descent through her maternal grandmother, Maria Elizabeth, a flight attendant originating from the Central American country.

The Clinton family, consisting of former President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, and their only daughter, Chelsea Clinton

For roughly the first three years of her life, which spans from her very own birth in May 1996 to her mother's graduation from university in 1999, an infant Alexandra lived largely alongside her mother in New York, where the mother and daughter pair would, on some occasions, switch between living at the royal estate of Wales House in Albany, the state capital up north, and living at the Waldorf Astoria New York, a luxury hotel located in New York City. On the other hand, in the case where Turlington herself had to be away for an extended period of time, she would therefore have her daughter be temporarily taken care of in the White House in Washington D.C. by the family of then-President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, whom, in such a case, would therefore raise the young Alexandra in her mother's occasional absence alongside a much older, teenage Chelsea Clinton, the couple's only child, whom Alexandra quickly came to befriend during her intermittent stays at the White House. Meanwhile, on some occasions, the family home of actress, Katharine Hepburn, a close family friend of Alexandra's, in Fenwick, Connecticut, would also sometimes serve as a temporary "getaway spot" for the small family of three whom benefited much from the house being largely distant from any major cities in the state, with the state capital, Hartford being at least forty miles up north, coupled with its relatively tiny population, which is said to have never exceeded more than a hundred people, hence the relative state of tranquillity and peace the family was able to enjoy.

In the months following the princess's birth, a contentious debate briefly ensued between Alexandra's family members on whether the young princess would be raised in her ancestors' country, the United Kingdom, albeit at the cost of being temporarily separated from her mother for the time being (although it was also proposed that Turlington herself would instead simply relocate her studies away to the United Kingdom), or whether she would instead be raised abroad in the United States by none other than her own mother, whom at the time of Alexandra's birth, was pre-occupied with her studies at New York University, a circumstance which concerned the princess's grandparents, whom 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 Thomas's part, after being forced to return to the United Kingdom as a result of his father's abdication on January 1997, he nonetheless continued to maintain contact with both his wife and daughter, by way of periodically visiting them in New York throughout the following months, often under much extreme secrecy so as to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to his presence there, a choice he deliberately took under the advice of John F. Kennedy Jr., whom he later revealed in an interview sometime after the former's death in a 1999 plane crash to have advised him to "keep your family away from the paparazzi at all cost" and for him and his wife to "not end up like me and Carolyn", an advice which Thomas himself instantly "took to heart" by reportedly hiring a group of six armed bodyguards tasked with protecting both mother and daughter.

While Turlington herself did indeed take most of the responsibility of raising her daughter on her own, she was nevertheless aided in this endeavour by the likes of Alexandra's distant cousin and American politician, Jane Rockefeller, whom at the time of the princess's birth, was serving as the United States Secretary of Treasury under President Bill Clinton, as well as by her mother's own supermodel friends, whom were said to have mostly adored the young princess, along with a number of Alexandra's other distant relatives living in the United States. Meanwhile, around June 1997, unbeknownst to the princess, her maternal grandfather, Dwain Turlington passed away from lung cancer at the age of sixty-four. Reportedly, so as to not "upset" the infant princess, her grandfather's funeral was attended by all of her family members except for herself, whom was otherwise temporarily kept at home during the funeral under the care of a relative.

The Queen's two illegitimate older half-siblings, William Smith, a former professional footballer and manager, and Jacqueline Smith, a broadcaster and journalist. Their mother is the American actress, Jaclyn Smith

Although her early years in New York would later be recounted in a largely positive manner, it was also said that throughout those years, both Alexandra and her mother nonetheless faced a series of difficulties stemming from their high-profile statuses, something that often led to them being a target of paparazzi attention, although this was somewhat mitigated by the constant presence of six armed bodyguards hired by the princess's father in order to protect the mother and daughter pair. However, amidst all this, one notable incident eventually stood out from the rest where according to Alexandra whom later recounted the incident in a 2017 interview with The Washington Post where sometime in 1998, then-real estate mogul and later US president, Donald Trump whom, supposedly after hearing rumours first spread by the New York Post of an alleged rift between Alexandra's parents, then reportedly attempted to woo the princess's mother, the American supermodel, Christy Turlington. It was said that Trump, in an apparent attempt to win the American supermodel over, had a bouquet of flowers sent over to the latter's house, although this gesture itself ultimately went unrequited, leading the real estate mogul to reportedly follow-up with a second and also unsuccessful attempt, this time through the use of a phone call that also proved short-lived, supposedly after Turlington herself threatened to file harassment charges against the real estate mogul, a claim that was otherwise refuted by Trump in a subsequent interview.

Until she was around seven years old, Alexandra also lived closely together with the late American actress, Katharine Hepburn, whom 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 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. Nonetheless, Alexandra herself later described the late actress in subsequent interviews as a "sweet and kind old grandmother", while also praising the late Hepburn's personality as "wise and far advanced beyond her time". Incidentally, one of Alexandra's own middle names, Katharine, was derived from the late actress whom, for decades leading up to her eventual passing, maintained an extremely strong friendship with Alexandra's grandparents.

A picture of Alexandra's mother, Christy Turlington visiting the African country of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland until 2018

In her adolescent years, Alexandra would also routinely follow her mother abroad on various international trips in support of the latter's many humanitarian activities, which began at the age of nine, when she embarked on her very first humanitarian trip abroad to her mother's ancestral home country of El Salvador, where Alexandra's maternal grandmother originated from. Then, in the years 2007 and 2008, Alexandra went on to embark on another couple of visits alongside her mother, namely to the countries of Swaziland and Peru respectively, which were then followed by another trip with her mother to Ethiopia in 2010, during which the fourteen-year-old princess met and discussed issues of importance to the Ethiopian population with then-First Lady of Ethiopia, Azeb Mesfin, wife of then-President Meles Zenawi. Later on, she would recount her aforementioned trips abroad with her mother in an overwhelmingly positive light, while also describing them as "undeniably eye-opening and thought challenging", before further stating that the visits "definitely made me more aware of the world outside of my fancy home in London". Meanwhile, in a 2016 interview with The Guardian, the princess said that her humanitarian trips abroad with her mother "made me feel a little like Audrey Hepburn", a reference to the late British actress and humanitarian whom after retiring from acting, devoted the rest of her life to humanitarian causes under UNICEF, for which both Alexandra and her mother were later made UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors, thereby joining the ranks of Alexandra's sister-in-law and French supermodel, Laetitia Casta, as well as her mother's own supermodel friends, including Claudia Schiffer and Elle Macpherson.

In a 2018 appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Alexandra revealed that despite her royal status, she was otherwise largely allowed by her parents to participate in most social activities with her friends as a teenager, including proms, parties, and the like. According to the princess, "For as long as I behave as usual and don't act too out of control, I get to basically do all the things normal girls get to do in their lives and just have fun while I still can". Therefore, the princess was often said to be the "star" of most parties or events that she attended, as long as they were not "intoxicating" or "embarrassing" in nature, for fear that any "compromising" photographs of her could potentially lead her to be labelled a "party girl" by the media. Moreover, for every single event that she attended, Alexandra, as a result of her inherent popularity, would often be asked by a male classmate of hers to become a romantic date for such events, an offer which she would sometimes reportedly accept and even deny on some occasions for her own particular reasons. In addition, Alexandra's parents were also said to have allowed the princess to join her friends on her school's field trips, provided that she would always be in the vicinity of special plainclothes agents, whom are tasked with ensuring the princess's safety on such occasions, all while remaining out of the princess's sight, as opposed to the aforementioned agents constantly being in the princess's presence as recommended by the British government, whom feared that Islamic terrorists might be targetting the princess for nefarious reasons, a fear which, although never fully proven, was nonetheless reinforced by the deadly 7 July 2005 London bombings, in which a group of Islamic terrorists carried out a series of suicide attacks damaging London's public transportation system. Later on, in a 2015 interview with the BBC on the tenth anniversary of the bombings, Alexandra personally described the bombings as "inexplicably surreal", stating, "For most people living in a fairly modern and stable country, the capital is often the place where a lot of people converge and socialise with one another, not the place for some indiscriminate terror attack by violent criminals".

Change In Succession Laws

The Hanoverian parliament building in King Frederick City, Hanover

In owing to the passage of the Succession to the Crown Act 1995 by the British parliament, and its corresponding laws passed 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, at the time of her birth, was simultaneously made the first Duchess of Cornwall, Princess of Orange, and the first Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg in her own right, therefore signifying 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. Then, 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 as one 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, whom 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 then-Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, and then-Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, both of whom echoed Blair's heralding of "gender equality" in society.

However, despite the overall positivity surrounding the proclamation, one notable incident would later prove to be a source of tragedy, when 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 whom 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 British SAS and Hanoverian SRU taskforce, resulting in him being one of the few casualties from the incident, consisting of himself and the building's security guards whom were on duty at the time of the attack. In its aftermath, both of Alexandra's parents and grandparents soon held a "semi-spontaneous" visit to the Hanoverian Parliament, where they met with legislators, thanked the operatives involved, and also paid 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". A similar rhetoric was also voiced by then-Minister-President of Hanover, Mark Bahr, whom 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". 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 afterwards arrest the leader and the seven remaining members of the aforementioned terror cell at a small house in Uelzen, a northeastern town in Hanover. A subsequent trial found all eight men guilty of "treason", resulting in each of them being sentenced to life imprisonment.

Some time afterwards, in an interview with the BBC, it was revealed by Alexandra that at one point, she was reportedly asked if she would prefer that the current absolute primogeniture succession system be theoretically reverted back to the previous male-preference primogeniture, therefore allowing her to enjoy a relatively normal adult life, while her brother, Richard would instead be the one to succeed their father in the near future. Ultimately, it was decided that such a reversal in the succession system would not be necessary, with Alexandra herself having become somewhat content with her future role as a future female British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish monarch, which she described as "something that is very personally important to me, given that it has been almost three centuries since this country has had a long-reigning queen regnant and I would also be the first woman to become head of state for the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which is definitely something that I'm looking forward to in the future".

Education

The Southbank International School in London, England, where Alexandra attended for her primary and secondary studies

After initially spending her kindergarten years at home with her family and close relatives, the princess, upon reaching the age of seven, was then enroled at the Southbank International School in London, which is located around two miles away from her family residence of Buckingham Palace. Initially, for the first few days so, the princess was faced with some setbacks, as photographers would often be waiting 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 whom was busy photographing the princess while the latter was getting back home from school was infamously run over by Alexandra's mother, whom was then attempting to force through her vehicle past the swarm of photographers outside of the school, an incident which briefly resulted in a criminal trial, in which the princess's mother was cleared of any wrongdoing, with Lord Woolf, the then-Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, ruling 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". Moreover, a related attempt at claiming financial compensation from the British royal family for the damages inflicted onto the photographer's camera also failed, although, a few days later, Queen Christy herself later personally gifted £100 to the photographer, which Buckingham Palace later described as a "gesture of goodwill". Nonetheless, the incident itself soon prompted nationwide outcry and debate over the ethics of paparazzi, with most members of the public criticising the photographer's "rude" and "invasive" behaviour when in the proximity of a member of the royal family, which, in turn, led to then-Prime Minister Tony Blair whom, with near-unanimous support in the House of Commons, successfully passed the Princess Alexandra Act 2004, thereby effectively prohibiting the paparazzi from photographing underage subjects under any possible circumstances, therefore giving the princess herself some much-needed privacy 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 afterwards.

Henry VIII, King of England from 1509 to 1547, and whom is best known for his six marriages and the English Reformation, which he personally initiated

As a student at her public primary school, for the first few months or so, as a result of her having never attended kindergarten beforehand, the princess was initially described by her teachers as an "extremely shy little girl", while some also noted her visibly close physical and emotional attachment to her mother, so much so that on her first day at school, it was said that both the princess's mother and teacher had to spend around ten minutes comforting the young Alexandra, whom was reportedly on the verge of crying soon after she was dropped off by her mother there for the day. Regardless, the next few months would see some gradual improvement in the princess's overall behaviour and academic performance, with most teachers being quick to notice her penchant for "talking a lot", as well as her apparent academic intelligence, which was quickly noticed and grabbed the attention of her teachers there. Then, at the age of thirteen, owing to a relatively positive experience there, Alexandra chose to further her secondary studies at that same school, where at this point, some of her teachers begin to note the princess's particular interest in the subjects of Physical Education and History, with one teacher of hers later remarking that "she (Alexandra) was never the more excited to learn about the lives of her past ancestors and beyond, such as the infamous King Henry VIII and the popular King Richard the Lionheart". However, following an initially positive academic performance in her first year at the school, it otherwise began to slightly falter in the following years or so as a result of her having to balance both her school and football commitments, causing her to achieve a number of both B and C grades on a number of occasions, a trend that initially became a cause for some concern, although this would ultimately prove temporary, with Alexandra being eventually able to gradually better her overall academic performance over the following months through what she later called "simply learning smarter, not harder", which culminated in her receiving approximately 7 A*s and 3 A's in total for her GCSE exams, with History, English, and Physical Education being her strongest subjects of them all, as evidenced by a perfect 100% score achieved by the princess in all three aforementioned subjects. In addition, Alexandra was also reportedly one of the best-performing students in regards to Physical Education, a subject which, given her early exposure to sports such as football and others at an early age, she excelled well in.

Upon graduating from secondary school, Alexandra decided to further her studies abroad, namely in the United States, where she attended the Central Connecticut State University, which was reportedly chosen due to the university being in the same state as one of the royal family's private residences in the United States, namely the former family home of the late actress, Katharine Hepburn in Fenwick, Connecticut. Meanwhile, so as to avoid drawing unwanted media attention, her arrival in the state was kept shut from any media coverage, while the residents of Fenwick themselves, whom amount to around sixty-five people in total, voluntarily agreed to not disclose the princess's presence in the town out of respect for the latter's privacy. 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. However, upon a successful recovery, she later resumed her studies at the University of London, from where she proceeded to graduate with a bachelor's degree in social work and afterwards, a master's degree in economics, and most recently, a PhD degree in 2022, which she earned through a thesis that she wrote titled The British & American media compared: A case for a truly fair and nonpartisan media, which primarily concerns the issue of media polarisation.

A scene from the 2012 United States presidential debates between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney

On the other hand, Alexandra was also known to have been a hugely active member of her schools' debate clubs, even going so far as to become the club president at each of the schools she attended, a feat that she attributed to her upper-class upbringing, which consequently exposed her to more "posh" and "fanciful" words, and to the popular television series, Gilmore Girls, in which the characters of the show are known for their fast-paced conversation style, which a young Alexandra gradually came to adopt and effectively employ during her debate sessions at school, with her debate performances often receiving much praise from her friends and teachers. Consequently, 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 British 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 whom otherwise believed that Romney had won the debate, while the remaining 14% did not favour either candidate. Regardless, 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 electoral victory against 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, Obama himself, in an interview later on with The Washington Post, praised the princess'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".

In March 2022, Alexandra received her third overall academic degree, that being a PhD 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 which largely centres around the issue of media polarisation. This makes her the first monarch in both British history and in the world to ever receive such a prestigious academic degree, a feat that was described by then-Prime Minister David Cameron as a "grand achievement to remember by all of Britain", a sentiment that was echoed by his Dutch and Luxembourgish counterparts, while American actress, Jodie Foster, the Queen's aunt-in-law, remarked, "Happy to be helping my beautiful and intelligent niece through all those sleepless nights just to see her reach such an amazing point in life!".

Football Career

Manchester United (2008 - 2010)

Personal information
Full name	Alexandra Katharine Nicole Lauren Elizabeth Francis Albert Thomas
Date of birth	(1996-05-11) 11 May 1996
Place of birth	Wales House, Albany, New York
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
2008 - 2010	Manchester United
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2013 - 2014	Central Connecticut State University	25	(21)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010 - 2013 2015 - 2019	Arsenal	84	(97)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

From an early age, her family's strong emphasis on sports and athleticism quickly proved to be an integral part of Alexandra's. It was said that upon reaching the age of seven, the princess was gifted by her father a miniature football field of her own, which she was expected to use for her own pleasure and training. Meanwhile, around that same time, the arrival of her older half-brother, William Smith, whom later went on to become one of the world's most highly-regarded and highly-skilled footballers, also facilitated the young princess's exposure to sports, particularly football, in which case she was often taught and coached by none other than her older brother, whom she later described as "an aggressive, but also caring and passionate teacher", and whom she also credited for her future development as a professional footballer herself.

Prior to beginning her career as a professional footballer, Alexandra, then a devoted fan of Manchester United, initially spent some time as a youth at Manchester United, with the eventual hopes that upon reaching adulthood, she, before having to one day ascend to the British throne as its heir, would be able to build a prestigious legacy much like that of her brother's, whom in the following years, was quickly building up a reputation as a highly-proficient striker for Manchester United under the management of Scottish-born manager, Alex Ferguson. However, despite an arguably promising start as a youth at Manchester United, the disbandment of its women's senior team in 2005 by owner and chairman, Malcolm Glazer, soon threw her future prospects at the club into uncertainty, coupled with the fact that an attempt at lobbying for the return of the women's senior team by her own father, King Thomas, also proved unsuccessful, with Alexandra later noting in an interview with Sky News, "When my father, perhaps for his own daughter's sake and for the rest of the girls affected by that cancellation, tried to get it restored, they (Glazer family) wouldn't budge, and that was it, for frankly, there was quite nothing he could do either way". Consequently, at the age of fourteen, an age at which point she was deemed "ready enough" to become a fully professional footballer, Alexandra's father subsequently had the princess transferred from Manchester United over to Arsenal whom, by that point, had been the most successful out of all of the English women's football club, a circumstance that was deemed ideal for the young princess. Later, in 2015, following intense public pressure urging for its return, the women's senior team for Manchester United was re-established by the Glazer brothers, although Alexandra herself, in her return to professional football in 2016, chose not to join the newly restored Manchester United women's senior team, having already built a somewhat moderately successful career at Arsenal already.

Arsenal (2010 - 2013)

However, the timing of Alexandra's entry into the club also coincided with Arsenal opting to take a temporary hiatus shortly after their victory in the 2009–10 season of the FA Women's National League, therefore effectively 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 whom, after initially being met with some scepticism due to her largely unknown talent in football, as well as the assumption that her entry into the club was solely possible due to her brother's otherwise extremely significant standing as a world-class footballer, was able to overcome these limits and soon earn a spot for herself among the club's senior ranks and new fellow players such as Steph Houghton and Jordan Nobbs, both of whom had joined the club at the same year as Alexandra had done. Then, in the following year, which was also the inaugural season of the newly-established Women's Super League, for its first match, that being against Chelsea, then-club manager, Laura Harvey, chose not to initially include the princess on 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 promptly left a positive impression on her new teammates when roughly nine minutes later, she successfully netted her first ever goal for Arsenal through a powerful 20-yard shot, which she followed up by another goal in the 83rd minute in which she netted the ball down the goalpost's lower right corner shortly after receiving the ball from a corner kick. Evidently, such a complimentary performance in her debut for the club easily allowed her to establish herself at the club, where after a few further matches or so, during which she displayed a consistently reliable and excellent performance on the pitch, Alexandra therefore gradually became a regular starter at Arsenal as opposed to initially being a "super substitute". Nonetheless, by the end of the season, in addition to winning the Women's Super League that year, as well as the FA Women's League Cup, Alexandra, with a total of 20 goals scored, won her first Women's Super League Golden Boot award that year, becoming both its youngest winner at fifteen years old and its inaugural winner.

Around that same time, given her familial ties to her half-brother, William Smith, by then a highly-regarded footballer in his own right, Alexandra would gradually come to be seen by some as her half-brother's "natural successor", a concept that William Smith himself openly embraced, having once announced to a crowd shortly after winning the 2011-12 Premier League season, "I will be gone from the pitch one day, but my spirit and the fear I instil in my opponents will live on through my beloved sister, who could not be more greater than who she is already at the moment, a very young and promising striker that will make every defenders' time on the pitch a living hell".

Arsenal (2015 - 2019)

However, despite an overwhelmingly promising start in the beginning, by the end of the following 2012-13 season, where she achieved a historic treble by winning the Women's Super League, the FA Women's League Cup, and the Women's FA Cup, having decided to pursue her university studies abroad, Alexandra abruptly left Arsenal for the United States abroad where, as part of her university's women's soccer team there, she also enjoyed moderate success, although this too was cut short after about a year or so by the passing of her grandmother, Lauren Bacall, whose death on 12 August 2014 eventually led the princess to return back to the United Kingdom, where, after avoiding an immediate return to professional football for a while as part of her recovery process from her depression, she soon rejoined Arsenal as a regular player in 2015, after which, amidst occasional injuries that prevented her from playing for the entirety of the following seasons, she nonetheless went on to win a further succession of titles with the club, namely the Women's Super League thrice, the Women's FA Cup twice, and both the FA Women's League Cup and the UEFA Women's Champions League once, with her last significant contribution to Arsenal being the two goals she scored at the 2019 UEFA Women's Champions League Final against Barcelona, whom Arsenal ultimately beat 3-1 to claim their second title ever in the competition. Meanwhile, it was also during this time that she became acquainted with future England captain, Leah Williamson, as well as her current romantic partner, Beth Mead, the latter having joined the club much later in 2017.

By the end of it, with 84 appearances in total, Alexandra had racked up a total of 97 goals, the highest ever in the league and in the club itself, with the second-highest as of current being 74 goals by Vivianne Miedema, her Arsenal teammate during her last two years at the club. Aside from that, upon her retirement, she also received the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year award, which was also recently won by Alexandra's romantic partner, Beth Mead, the award's 2022 winner.

Retirement

Later on, in marking her 2019 coronation, Alexandra was personally gifted an England jersey by footballer and then-captain of the England women's national football team, Steph Houghton, which bore the name "Alex", a shortened version of her name, and the number 96, which alludes to her birth year, 1996, and which was also previously used by her while playing for Arsenal in the past. In addition, the Queen was also honoured with a statue of herself being erected in front of the St George's Park National Football Centre, which was described by the chairman, David Sheepshanks as a "fitting tribute to our beloved queen and captain". Since then, the statue has also stood alongside a statue of Alexandra's half-brother, William Smith, whose own statue was erected in 2014 shortly after England's victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, in which Smith had served as the team captain and had notably been the one who scored the three winning goals in the finals against Argentina to break the tense initial 3-3 deadlock.

Meanwhile, during an August 2022 segment on BBC Sport, English footballer and captain of the women's national team, Leah Williamson revealed that despite her abrupt retirement from football in 2019, the Queen has nonetheless continued to maintain an effectively strong bond with her former football teammates, especially those of the England women's team, whom Alexandra is said to have often met and even occasionally train with during her spare time, a habit that is said to have made her an overall favourite of the team, a circumstance which, in turn, is said to have eventually led to the start of a romantic relationship between the latter and England forward, Beth Mead, whom, along with Williamson, currently play for Arsenal, and are also said to be generally close friends with the British monarch. Evidently, Williamson further remarked, "To some, she is their queen, while to us, she is our best captain that we never had and an outstanding teammate all around". Similarly, while not exactly known for being equally close with players of the Netherlands women's national football team herself, given her history of having mostly grown up in the United Kingdom, Alexandra also generally maintains an otherwise friendly and cordial friendship with the female Dutch footballers, especially with midfielder, Vivianne Miedema, whom she befriended and struck a close partnership with after the latter joined Arsenal in 2017, and which the friendship has continued to remain so despite Alexandra later leaving Arsenal at the end of 2018.

Around April 2021, Alexandra, along with her father and members of the British public, together emerged as fierce and vocal opponents against the controversial European Super League, a proposed seasonal club football competition that would come to include approximately twenty football clubs from a select few European countries. Although the project was soon abandoned amidst intense backlash from fans and national governments, as well as the UEFA, Alexandra herself briefly appeared as one of the proposed competition's loudest critics, stating that the proposal was a "living example of human greed at its worst". In addition, she also criticised the fact that approximately fifteen out of the twenty participating clubs have their spot in the competition essentially guaranteed, which she argued, "is a slap in the face of meritocracy and egalitarianism in football, since no matter how bad you did at any given season, your place in such an elite and closed-off competition is virtually guaranteed just because some people in suits said so". Moreover, the Queen has also been publicly vocal on the issue of sports hooliganism, an issue which she raised particularly in light of the aftermath of the UEFA Euro 2020 Final, which was marred by crowd violence, as well as by the subjecting of racial abuse towards the England team's three black players, whom had unsuccessfully taken a penalty kick each in the match's deciding penalty shootout, thereby awarding the victory to Italy, whom ultimately won the penalty shootout 3-2. In a statement posted to Twitter around an hour after the match ended, the Queen remarked, "For every normal competition, there will always be a winner or a loser, but this fact alone could not, and would never be a justification for such horrific and abhorrent displays of hooliganism and racism from fans and supporters". A similarly condemning remark was also made by Alexandra's half-brother and former footballer, William Smith whom, having been president of The Football Association since 2017, said, "While I am not one to gloat over past successes or anything, to know or realise that this is how a portion of English fans would react had we lost a major tournament at such a crucial stage, is downright disgraceful and unrepresentative of the true and beautiful spirit of English football".

Heir Apparent

A sight of the 2012 Summer Olympics, which lasted from 27 July to 12 August 2012

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 January 1st 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. Nonetheless, the princess subsequently made her second public appearance in the following February, where she attended the funeral of her late grandfather, King Charles III, whom had died at the age of ninety-four. Then, in the following month of March, she, along with several of her family members, was spotted in public attending the funeral of the late British-American actress, Elizabeth Taylor, whom, along with other actresses of her generation, is known to have been somewhat close friends with the princess's grandparents, both of whom, throughout the 1940s, enjoyed brief but nonetheless relatively successful careers as actors in the Hollywood industry.

Meanwhile, in 2012, Alexandra was once more prominently featured alongside her family members at that year's Olympics event, which, in addition to having the capital, London, as its host city, also most notably saw the princess's father, King Thomas personally participate in a parachute stunt alongside English actor, Daniel Craig (best known for his role in the most recent James Bond films), as part of the event's opening gimmick. The stunt itself, especially when it was quickly revealed that the King himself had indeed participated in it, quickly received widespread media coverage, with many media outlets congratulating the monarch for his "bravery" and "undeniable talent for sportsmanship", with CNN journalist, Anderson Cooper even famously remarking, "It's not every day that you see a king in his fifties personally parachuting from high above and down below into a crowd of millions".

Upon completing her secondary level education at the Broughton High School, she briefly refocused her interests in assuming her official duties as heir apparent to her father. Prior to this, the princess had mostly been accompanying her parents on their many state visits abroad, before later being given the opportunity to do herself, when in March 2013, Alexandra personally went on a diplomatic visit to the United Arab Emirates, where upon arriving in the country, she was hosted by its then-president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, whom then took the princess on a nationwide tour to several of the country's landmarks, including the hugely famous Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo, and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the largest mosque in the country, where she became the first non-Muslim head of state to visit the mosque, which she later praised as an "architectural marvel". Meanwhile, it was also during this diplomatic visit that Alexandra briefly became romantically involved with the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, although the romance itself did not ultimately last long amidst intense backlash over the couple's age gap. Then, throughout the following months, despite her academic constraints, the princess nevertheless went on to embark on several further trips abroad, this time to the Scandinavian countries, where she met their respective heads of state. Moreover, in that same year, in a response to the political turmoil in Egypt, which resulted in the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi, Alexandra publicly issued a statement in which she urged for "absolute calm" and "immediate stability", before later issuing a subsequent condemnation of the Rabaa massacre that August, in which pro-Morsi protesters were brutally dispersed by Egyptian police and army forces under the command of General and later President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whose methods led to the deaths of around one thousand protesters while also leaving roughly four thousand civilians injured.

A picture of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, registered as 9M-MRD, which was fatally shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014

The following year also saw Alexandra undertake more 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, followed by a visit to neighbouring Canada, where she met then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In June, the princess went on a personal visit to Spain, where she attended the enthronement of King Felipe VI. The following July, Alexandra issued an emotional statement condemning the perpetrators, whom were later identified as pro-Russian separatists, of the shoot-down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, an airliner en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam that was shot down while flying over the tumultuous area of eastern Ukraine. Among the 298 total passengers on board, all of whom were killed upon impact, ten of them were identified as British nationals and one hundred ninety three of them as Dutch nationals.

The Maracanã Stadium, where the 2014 World Cup Final took place between England and Argentina

On 13 July 2014, Alexandra, along with members of the Royal Family, together travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they attended in person the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final between England and Argentina, which England decisively won 2-0 thanks to double goals by legendary forward, William Smith, and whom is also the Queen's older half-brother. The victory is significant for being the second ever international football title for England and their second ever World Cup title after 1966 World Cup, which was almost forty-eight years ago. Following this, in a tradition that would later be repeated afterwards following the England women's team's victory at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Final, and one that began precisely as a result of England's previous 1966 win, all of the team's players and staff members were then awarded a knighthood by King Thomas, whom in an interview with the BBC, later remarked, "Prior to this, at sixty-one years old now, I didn't really think at first that I'd live long enough to see England lifting the World Cup trophy ever again". On the other hand, the event itself would be the last public appearance of the queen dowager, Queen Lauren, whom later passed away around a month later on 12 August 2014 at the age of eighty-nine.

Queen Mother's Death

On 12 August 2014, while in her first year of university in the United States, Alexandra was confronted with a personal tragedy when her elderly grandmother and actress, Lauren Bacall 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 the time being, having found it difficult to continue amidst her beloved grandmother's passing. Soon, in anticipation of the upcoming funeral, Alexandra, along with her mother, whom had been accompanying her beforehand, left back for the United Kingdom, with the following days being filled with preparations as well as rehearsals for the late queen dowager's funeral, which eventually took place on August 23rd 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 by comparison, a change in tone that was reportedly requested by the late Queen Lauren herself prior to her passing.

The following days, as later described by Alexandra herself, proved to be "much more difficult" for the young princess, whom 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 September 12th, 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, whom soon afterwards had her daughter treated to by palace doctors. Around that same time, possibilities surrounding the princess's survival and health promptly led to staffers of the BBC and other British media outlets to don black outfits, as per the traditional customs, a decision that immediately proves to be a source for great concern and curiosity among the British public, whom in the hours that followed, began descending on the gates of Buckingham Palace, while news outlets, including the BBC, began reporting on the situation, with the BBC stating that the princess was facing a "serious illness" without providing any further details, a decision most likely influenced by the choice of the Royal Family to keep any major knowledge regarding the princess's decision a closely guarded secret. Meanwhile, throughout the next four days or so, Buckingham Palace itself remained largely silent on the princess's condition, but not before later issuing a statement by the fourth day that the princess was "making a promising recovery", which was later confirmed roughly two days later when Alexandra herself publicly appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, accompanied by her family members, thereby dispelling any further rumours surrounding her health.

Then, in the days following her recovery from her coma, under the recommendation of her doctors, Alexandra was to be kept mostly at home save for important purposes, as well as being strictly monitored by her mother, the family member that the princess herself is most close with, coupled with the fact that Queen Christy herself had beforehand acted as her daughter's main source of support following the passing of the latter's grandmother. Eventually, after around a month or so, once it was deemed that the princess had now possessed a stable state of mind, Alexandra, based on her own recommendation, was then sent along with her mother on a private trip to the US island state of 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 would often use false names for themselves so as to conceal their true identities, while also avoiding places that were said to have been frequented by high-profile individuals. Despite this, the two were said to have nonetheless met the state governor, David Ige, whom later described the pair as "unassuming, very charming and all-the-round polite individuals".

By the following year, Alexandra, having initially put her university studies on indefinite hold following her grandmother's death, decided to return back to committing herself once more to her academic studies. However, in doing so, she chose not to return to her old university, having instead opted 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", given that the university itself is only two miles away from Buckingham Palace, thereby making communications between herself and her family members much easier in general.

Investiture of the Princess of the Welsh

The Caernarfon Castle, where Alexandra's investiture was held

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, whom 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 was 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.

Ultimately, on 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 "go on as planned", and 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 whom was expected to deliver her speech in Welsh after the previous one in English.

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, whom 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 June 2019 coronation, which otherwise reported an estimated total amount of viewership at 32 million, almost surpassing that of the 1966 World Cup Final between England and West Germany which, in turn, is topped by the record-breaking 40 million viewers for the 2014 World Cup Final between England and Argentina.

2016 European Union referendum

Just a couple of weeks later, a nationwide referendum was held regarding the future of the United Kingdom's continued membership in the European Union, which eventually ended in a victory for the Remain vote at 57.6%. In response, 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 "very emotionally charged", along with containing "strong elements of overt xenophobia and anti-immigrant racism". Then, following reports of violent but isolated scuffles between the two sides in several towns and cities across England, security nationwide was quickly ramped up, with Prime Minister David Cameron stating, "Regardless if you're for Leave and Remain, a state of general disorder is never an option and will not be tolerated under any circumstances". Subsequent estimates done by the BBC later put the number of total casualties from the scuffles at roughly twenty-six people, while those injured are otherwise estimated to be at around eighty-five people in total. Meanwhile, Metropolitan Police also announced in the hours following the scuffles that they have arrested "fifteen to forty-five individuals believed to have engaged in public disorder and physical harm of other individuals". Later, the twenty-six people killed during the incidents were then honoured with a funeral attended by members of the British royal family and Prime Minister David Cameron, whom later remarked, "Regrettably speaking, for a modern and advanced liberal democracy such as ours, these things should not have happened at all, yet they did, and now, after all is said and done, the innocent lives lost her today shall serve as a sobering and dreadful reminder that under any circumstances, politically-motivated violence is never the way to go and should be rejected wholeheartedly by society".

British politician and UKIP leader, Nigel Farage at the opening of a UKIP office in Basingstoke in 2012, roughly four years prior to the 2016 referendum

Meanwhile, in a somewhat extremely rare moment of royal intervention in national politics, Alexandra, through the use of the social media platform, Twitter, pointedly criticised UK Independence Party leader, Nigel Farage for the ensuing public disorder, while also accusing the latter of "deliberately stoking the flames of anti-immigrant racism and overt xenophobia" through his post-referendum rallies. Then, in a couple of follow-up tweets, without publicly mentioning either Farage or the latter's right-wing political party by name, she first said, "As a proud great-granddaughter of a Romanian immigrant and a granddaughter of a Salvadoran immigrant, it is absolutely appalling to see such behaviour out in public display for the world to see". This was then followed by a second, albeit more controversial tweet, in which she said, "My father once told me that in his early years, his Jewish-born mother was often met with hostility and sometimes asked to leave the country for her own safety. Now, almost sixty years later, I'd dare to ask, is this the same United Kingdom that once shunned and looked upon my beloved late grandmother with suspicion and contempt simply because of her religion and ethnicity? Well, after today's scenes, the answer seems to be yes". Almost immediately, the scathing nature of the princess's remarks, coupled with her rare and unprecedented step into British national politics, thereby consequently breaking the long-held convention of impartiality on the part of the royals, quickly sparked considerable controversy amongst the British public, with London mayor, Boris Johnson whom, aside from criticising the princess's "unprecedented intervention" in national politics, chided the royal for "disingenuously implying that the Leave campaign is in any way anti-Semitic, which it absolutely is not". Moreover, veteran Scottish journalist, Andrew Neil, promptly echoed Johnson's remark, stating, "Never mind that the princess had already stepped foot into places that she shouldn't have in the first place, but accusing around seventeen million people of anti-Semitism without any evidence is absolutely way off the mark and should be reprimanded greatly. For God's sake, she's our future queen!".

Eventually, around a few days after she first made the controversial remarks, Alexandra publicly appeared on the BBC to "offer my sincerest apologies to those who might have been unfortunately caught in the crossfire", but otherwise stopped short of a full apology, with the royal strongly asserting that "despite my deepest and most sincere apologies, there is still undeniable proof that at least some elements of the campaign Are rather racist or particularly anti-immigrant in nature, something which I'll never apologise for having called out in the first place".

Abdication of King Thomas

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., the King suddenly collapsed after returning to his bedroom, although this was soon noticed by his wife, the Queen, whom promptly had her husband transferred by royal doctors to an operating room within the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, where he was then attended to for the next several days. Meanwhile, under the queen consort's own insistence, knowledge of the King's health was severely restricted, in that only his own family members and relatives, palace staff, and cabinet members of the British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish governments would be the only ones aware of the situation. However, Alexandra herself, despite being her father's daughter and heir, was notably kept away from immediately learning of the situation, with Queen Christy fearing that otherwise doing so would immediately bring massive emotional trauma for the young princess, whom just a few years prior, had suffered a mental breakdown herself following the death of her grandmother in 2014. Nonetheless, as per standard protocol, all British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish newscasters were silently ordered to don black-coloured outfits in anticipation of the possible death of the King which, in turn, quickly led to rumours among the public regarding the supposed death of a member of the British royal family, to which the BBC, along with other prominent media outlets in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, largely avoided directly commenting on, while members of the public, in conjunction with the rumours, began to descend on the outskirts of Royal Palace of Amsterdam in the days that followed, eagerly anticipating further updates.

Eventually, on October 8th, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam 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, although the King himself later openly thanked members of the public for their "show of support and love during my unfortunate days". Meanwhile, in the days that followed, as questions begin to rise over whether the now sixty-year-old King could continue to reign perfectly and normally 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 then agreed that for the next two years, the princess's mother, Christy Turlington, whom, being the current queen consort herself, would therefore serve as a temporary regent to her daughter, and therefore, the new British monarch, whom, on her part, would be allowed to theoretically pursue another academic degree during those next two years before later fully committing herself to her regnal duties.

Soon afterwards, 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, whom then contacted the princess's university in order to personally relay the news to the new queen. 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". Then, around thirty minutes after the news was finally broken to the new queen, Alexandra, in an impromptu and short ceremony held in front of the University of London building, famously declared, "From this point on, I am both the queen of a country and a student at a university, and that is something that I hope will be appreciated by many who look forward to not only a young and beautiful queen but also one who is academically inclined and well-rounded".

Voice Acting

Wyldstyle, a character voiced by Alexandra in the 2014 film, The Lego Movie and its 2019 sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

In 2011, in a somewhat unusual set of circumstances, a then-fifteen-year-old Alexandra would land her first voice acting gig when during the course of production for the animated film, Cars 2, the sequel to its 2006 predecessor, Cars, Alexandra, along with the rest of her family members, was asked by producer, Denise Ream, to voice an anthropomorphic version of themselves in the film, which would reportedly include a scene featuring the British royal family. Hence, with the intent of achieving a "sense of realism", each of the core members of the British royal family was therefore invited to participate in the film, with the role itself notably being the very last acting credit for Alexandra's grandfather, King Charles III, whom later passed away on that same year. Then, following a rather modest success for the film amidst mixed reviews, grossing around $559 million at the box office against a $200 million budget, Alexandra, bolstered by an experience which she later described as "eventful" and "fun all the way", opted to pursue several further voice acting roles in the coming years, a hope which subsequently became a reality when she was asked to voice the character Wyldstyle in the 2014 computer-animated film, The Lego Movie, and again in the film's 2019 sequel, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. Later, according to co-star, Chris Pratt, who voiced Emmet Brickowski in both films, "The princess was definitely a fun and memorable addition to the cast, for aside from her distinctive British accent which she brought into Wildstyle, you can easily tell that she's really committed into doing what she's supposed to do, while also being a very good sport at it". Moreover, fellow cast member, Will Arnett added that the princess was both a "spirited and dedicated voice actress" and at the same time, an "entertaining goofball, in a good way, for she would always know how to light up the mood around her at almost every instance".

In addition to those, Alexandra has also voiced a number of other characters, namely Vanellope von Schweetz in 2012's Wreck-It Ralph and its 2018 sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Penny Peterson in the 2014 film, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, and most recently, Tarantula in the 2022 film, The Bad Guys. Meanwhile, shortly after the film's release, in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, when asked about the future of her voice acting career, Alexandra said, "Realistically speaking, it is quite obvious that with my current job, I could never be a full-time actress or voice actress but, judging with the success I had so far in that regard, I'd say that it would be more of a side gig for me, something that I'd do once in a while or when offered to just to maybe forget all the usual daily stress and just have fun while I'm at it".

On the other hand, when asked whether she would seriously consider a career in live acting, even briefly so, Alexandra declined, stating that while she "absolutely loves the whole concept of acting itself", she otherwise found the workload that comes with it as "too much of a burden" for herself on a personal level. Nonetheless, she later declared in an interview with Vanity Fair that if given the chance, she would have liked taking on the role of Yelena Belova, a female assassin currently portrayed by American actress, Florence Pugh over the course of two films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Similarly, Alexandra also once joked during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show that if she was born "just a few years earlier", then she would have "really loved" to play the character Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter film series. However, given that she was only five years old when the first entry into the film franchise was released, the role ultimately went to English actress, Emma Watson, whom Alexandra herself later knighted as part of the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Reign

Ascension

On 13 October 2017, at precisely 12:00 P.M., King Thomas's abdication finally came into effect, and on that same day, Alexandra, having opted for her own given name as the new British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish sovereign, was therefore 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 traditionally being a grand duchy as opposed to a kingdom. Then, just a couple of hours later, in her very first speech to the nation since ascending to the throne, which was televised live and simultaneously from the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, Alexandra declared her intention to "serve the country, and ultimately, the people for all my life, as destiny has decided". In addition, it was also announced that the part "by the Grace of God" in the monarch's full style and title would be partially altered to a more "updated" version, that is "by the Grace of God and the Will of the People", a cosmetic change seen by many as the Queen mirroring her late great-grandfather's actions at making the monarchy a more "populist" institution.

With her ascension to the throne, Alexandra effectively became, and as of current, the only reigning queen in both Europe and in the world, with the most recent female monarch in Europe being Spain's Queen Isabella II, whom reigned from 1833 to 1868. As such, the gender-based significance of her ascension made her a subject of praise by a number of feminist groups in Europe and in the United States, with former United States Secretary of State and failed 2016 presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton remarking on Twitter, "After what must have been a century, Europe has finally seen a bright and great young woman finally come to the throne, ready to take on the challenges of her role ahead". Then, Clinton further said, "When the Queen was back then just a young little girl living in the United States, I had the privilege of briefly raising her from time to time, and it was at that point that I'm certain that this young little girl would absolutely grow to become an excellent young woman and a remarkable queen of her country in the future". Likewise, Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, whom assumed office around thirteen days later, expressed her hopes of "working together and closely with the Queen on a range of issues concerning women in reaching a single and common goal".

The HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën, a frigate currently in active service of the Royal Netherlands Navy

Later, as per a longstanding Dutch tradition where the new Dutch monarch would be inaugurated on the first day of the year after the year the monarch had ascended to the throne, on January 1st 2018, in what was described as an "unforgettable" and "memorable moment" by many, the Queen, along with Vice Admiral Rob Kramer, Commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy, set sail for the Netherlands onboard the Dutch frigate, HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën, which departed from the coastal English city of Dover to the major Dutch port city of Rotterdam, where shortly after setting foot, she was then received by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and subsequently driven by car, namely a white Bentley Continental GT, to the Nieuwe Kerk church in Amsterdam, where the following investiture ceremony took place, in which after taking her customary oath as the new Dutch monarch, she was then paid homage by members of the States General of the Netherlands, the country's legislative body. At the same time, in order to spare the Queen from needlessly travelling further south to Luxembourg and back to the Netherlands afterwards, the grand duchy's prime minister, Xavier Bettel, along with the leaders of all the country's political parties, were also present at the ceremony, after which, for matters of simplicity, the Queen simply repeats the previous process with the Luxembourgish entourage as the country's first grand duchess in history. Moreover, much like the Netherlands, Luxembourg itself has never held a formal coronation ceremony for any of its rulers, known as grand dukes or duchesses, and no crown or regalia has ever existed for the country's monarchs.

Uniquely speaking, despite being the unanimously recognised constitutional monarch of all three countries, it is only in the Netherlands where, officially, she is not the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces, with the role instead being vested upon the national government as a result of a 1983 constitutional overhaul, although members of the country's armed forces nonetheless still swear their allegiance to her as the Dutch monarch. Meanwhile, on administrative matters, due to the geographical distance between the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom, which is separated from mainland Europe by the English Channel, as is the case with the countries in the Commonwealth of Nations, some of which she presides over as its head of state, a representative, whom is formally titled Queen's Chancellor (Dutch: Kanselier van de Koningin) in the Netherlands, or Grand Duchess's Chancellor (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogin Kanzlerin) in Luxembourg, with the officeholder usually being a former and "well-respected" prime minister of the country, and whom would usually be tasked in performing the Queen's or the Grand Duchess's ceremonial duties in her absence from either of the two countries, whereas, if she is present in either the Netherlands or Luxembourg respectively, she would automatically assume her prescribed duties herself throughout the entirety of her stay there, thereby temporarily relieving the chancellor of his or her duties. Meanwhile, in the case of the United Kingdom itself, in the case of her temporary absence from the country, a senior and adult member of the British royal family would be temporarily appointed in her absence to exercise her ceremonial duties as monarch. Aside from that, upon ascending to the throne, Alexandra also automatically became the new head of the Commonwealth of Nations and the Amsterdam Commonwealth respectively, as well as the new president of the Hanoverian Union, replacing her father in those respective roles.

Furthermore, another uniqueness that the Queen enjoys is that she, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, is one of the only two leaders to serve as both a monarch of a state and a president of another, with Macron whom, in addition to being President of France, is also a co-prince of Andorra, while conversely, Alexandra, whom in addition to being Queen of the British, is also the current President of the Hanoverian Union, a politico-economic union comprising the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

Public Image

The Queen in an interview with an Access Hollywood reporter at the NYC amfAR Gala

From the beginning of her reign, Alexandra largely 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. However, this trend has also been met with some backlash and opposition, particularly from traditional monarchists, whom considered the Queen's many interviews to be "destructive towards the monarchy's traditionally secretive and reserved image". Nonetheless, supporters argue that the Queen's habit of doing many interviews has otherwise helped in "humanising" the monarchy, therefore making it more "approachable" and "populist" in nature. Meanwhile, a similar poll conducted in the Netherlands and Luxembourg recorded a slightly higher approval rating at 97%, a number which, according to Dutch historian, Lotje Kroepanne, can be attributed to the Queen's overwhelmingly liberal character and perceived easy-going attitude being more "in tune" with the Dutch population in general, while Luxembourgish political scientist, Paul Koltz, attributed the monarch's much higher approval rating in Luxembourg to the country's lack of exposure to a republican form of government, and its equally long history of being a monarchy since medieval times. Moreover, her usual habit of casually interacting with the relatively small Luxembourgish population, coupled with her interest in the country's diverse scenery, has made her a somewhat popular figure in the small grand duchy, which she once called "my little place of serenity and closeness".

Besides that, some observers have also attributed her high popularity to her predecessors themselves, with her late grandfather, Charles III being of a particular note, given the latter's overwhelming popularity among the public, especially 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 supermodel and a humanitarian has also helped in cementing a widely positive image and sentiment for the young Alexandra, whom 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 protests, as well as 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 VI and III was met with demands for removal from its site at Marlborough House, the late King's birthplace. 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.

Since her ascension to the throne, Alexandra has been photographed for various magazines, ranging from Vogue to Vanity Fair. Moreover, she was 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. Similarly, women's magazines have also rated her physical beauty in a largely favourable manner, with British Vogue once describing her as "the most beautiful royal in the world". Similarly, the American sports magazine, Sports Illustrated, even once dubbed her "the most beautiful footballer in the world".

In line with her being a relatively youthful monarch, Alexandra herself maintains a fairly active social media presence, with around 234 million followers on Instagram and 126 million followers on Twitter, the latter being just a few million short behind former US President Barack Obama. To that end, on both Twitter and Instagram, there exists an "official account" representing the monarchy, separate from the Queen's own personal account on both respective social media platforms, and one which is responsible for "documenting and promoting the works and efforts of Her Majesty The Queen and Grand Duchess". However, as of recent, following the takeover of Twitter by the American billionaire, Elon Musk, both the Queen's personal and official accounts on Twitter were reportedly deactivated, presumably in response to Musk's controversial policies, while the ones on Instagram have continued to function as usual.

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, was nonetheless allowed to further pursue her education 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 University of London, 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".

Woodrow Wilson, US President from 1913 to 1921, and the main proponent of the famous Fourteen Points

Even so, despite the preoccupation with her academic studies, Alexandra, throughout the following year, was nevertheless able to achieve a number of significant feats for herself, beginning with a speech she gave on 8 January 2018 commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Fourteen Points speech made by President Woodrow Wilson in the aftermath of the First World War, in which she proclaimed, "For exactly a hundred years since the late President Wilson made it known to the whole world the necessity and importance of self-determination, the struggle in achieving such an idea has never ceased to end, and thus it is our collective duty to ensure that the effort itself succeeds in the end". 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 this perceived criticism of hers of the United States, on November 30th that year, Alexandra, along with her father, the Duke of Hanover later travelled to the United States, where they attended the state funeral of former President George H. W. Bush alongside other global leaders, as well as then-President Donald Trump and former US presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Meanwhile, from April 19th to 20th of that year, Alexandra also attended her first CHOGM meeting as the British monarch. The meeting, which was the twenty-fifth iteration was held in the United Kingdom itself, and therefore, saw the attendance of most of the members of the British royal family, all of whom hosted and participated in various receptions and events being held as part of the meeting.

The logo for the 2018 Commonwealth Games

On that same December, she, along with other members of the Royal Family, together observed the 100th annual Remembrance Day event, which commemorates the end of the First World War on 11 November 1918. 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, with her second being the following 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, which notably saw the debut of the Queen's younger sister, the Duchess of Sussex, whom subsequently won two gold medals and two silver medals at the event, allowing England to clinch the top spot with just a few medals ahead of the runner-up, Australia.

In the midst of this, a rumour briefly circulated by a number of media outlets popularly claimed that in the days following the North Korea-United States Singapore Summit involving North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un and then-President Donald Trump, a supposedly similar summit meeting between the North Korean leader and Queen Alexandra herself was already in the works, although this rumour was soon denied by both the British and North Korean governments. Even so, had it actually been realised, it would have been the very first official diplomatic summit involving a North Korean leader and a British head of state. Irrespective of this, in November 2018, a state visit by Alexandra herself to South Korea did take place, during which she met then-President Moon Jae-in, government ministers, and a select number of KPOP idols, namely those from the popular boyband, BTS and girl group, Blackpink. In addition, she also toured the 250 kilometres long Korean Demilitarized Zone, a border created in 1953 that divides the two Koreas, which she described as "an unfortunate relic of division separating people of the same culture and religion apart", while also likening it to the infamous Berlin Wall that divided West and East Berlin during much of the Cold War. Moreover, in a separate statement, Alexandra also publicly criticised the North Korean leader's apparent role in the assassination of his half-brother, Kim Jong-nam on February 2017 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, stating, "The painful and obvious truth when it comes to authoritarian leaders is that, regardless of who you are or wherever you are, your life as a critic of these leaders will always be at risk no matter what and so far, the 2010s have proven us all correct at least thrice so far". Interestingly, the Queen's usage of the word "thrice" at the end quickly became a subject of great interest by media outlets, with The Guardian first speculating that she was referring to the 2015 assassination of Russian liberal politician, Boris Nemtsov, the 2017 assassination of Kim Jong-nam, and the then-recent October 2018 assassination of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, purportedly by government agents.

Coronation

On June 10 2019, Alexandra was coronated as Queen of the British at Westminster Abbey, becoming the youngest monarch in both Europe and the world as a whole at twenty-three years of age. Her coronation, which is the first ever coronation in British history to ever involve a female sovereign, also saw a major shift in both its overall tone and setting, with the discontinuing of the traditional act of homage from the ceremony, and perhaps most notably enough, the inclusion of other major religious faiths in the United Kingdom, namely Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and others. Meanwhile, a bill was also passed just a few days prior that officially altered her traditional Defender of the Faith moniker to a more contemporary and inclusive version, that being Defender of the Faiths, which currently remains in use since then. In doing so, Prime Minister David Cameron said, "While Her Majesty the Queen would continue to remain as the supreme governor of the Church of England, as the monarch has been for centuries, it is inevitable that in an always modernising and evolving Britain, Her Majesty should assume the nominal role of protector of all the religions British citizens are allowed to freely preach and practice without fear or discrimination". On the other hand, BBC journalist, Clara Holmes claimed that such an idea had been "long in the making", stating that during an unaired private interview with the late King Charles III sometime in the 1980s, the late British monarch then reportedly exclaimed, "I am not the British version of the Iranian Ayatollah, and when it comes to my future successor, they should definitely have a look at the matter and change it in some way, one way or the other".

Much like that of her predecessors', Alexandra's coronation also saw the attendance of various foreign guests from many countries around the world, namely the presidents of France, Germany, Israel, and Indonesia, as well as the sovereigns of Spain, the three Scandinavian kingdoms, the United Arab Emirates, Bhutan, and Japan. However, the coronation itself would ultimately become much more prominent than ever when Alexandra, breaking with the longtime tradition of being carried over to the coronation site of Westminster Abbey by the antique Gold State Coach, opted to instead be driven to the site in her own personal Aston Martin DB5 vehicle with English actor, Daniel Craig sitting right beside her in the back of the Aston Martin. Soon after arriving at Westminster Abbey, the two, in an act of tribute to the long-running James Bond films, were joined by the surviving former James Bond actors, namely Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan, both of whom, along with Craig then briefly escorted the Queen down the coronation aisle before promptly settling into their seats afterwards. Later, in an interview with British Vogue, Craig revealed that in the months before the actual coronation took place, he, while out on a dinner with his wife, was suddenly contacted by his agent whom reportedly informed him that "Buckingham Palace was asking whether I could do them a very special favour", which was only revealed to him once he actually met the Queen in person, the latter having been the one whom had pitched the idea in the first place.

The four vocal groups headlining the event. Clockwise from upper left: Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Spice Girls, Blue.

Moreover, in line with its perceived modern nature, the coronation, unlike the previous ones, and by Alexandra's own behest, was then followed by an exclusive celebrity concert at Trafalgar Square, with the event consisting of approximately four musical acts that are said to be the Queen's personal favourites, namely Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Spice Girls and Blue. Lasting for roughly twenty-five minutes long, the event began with Backstreet Boys' performance of I Want It That Way and Incomplete, followed by Westlife's Uptown Girl (for which they were joined by the original singer, Billy Joel) and When You're Looking Like That, Spice Girls's popular 1996 debut single, Wannabe and Say You'll Be There, and lastly, Blue's One Love and Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word, the latter for which the group was joined by British singer, Elton John, whom sang the later parts of the song. By the end of it, the event was widely received by many, with British Vogue describing it as "one of 2019's most unforgettable moments", while Esmae Taylor of The Independent praised the Queen for her "unique new touch on a centuries-old tradition", stating, "As far as royal coronations go, this is certainly a unique spin on the whole thing, and not to mention, not even Donald Trump's own presidential inauguration ceremony has this level of grandiose and liveliness in just a single day".

However, perhaps the most significant of all, the coronation itself also saw the country's official national anthem, "Onwards, Britannia!", being sung for the first time in public, thereby officially replacing the longtime "God Save the Queen" as the United Kingdom's official national anthem, the latter having previously served as the country's de facto national anthem. Conceived sometime in 2018 during the lead-up to the Queen's coronation, the task of ultimately composing the song was given to the Master of the Queen's Music, Judith Weir whom, in doing so, was aided by a special committee comprised of two special representatives from each of the United Kingdom's five constituent countries, so as to ensure that the song itself is deemed "inclusive" of all five constituent countries. Eventually, so as to avoid utter confusion on the day it would later be sung for the first time in public, Buckingham Palace subsequently announced on Twitter that a "new tune will be heard at Her Majesty the Queen's coronation", which, given its general sense of vagueness, soon prompted rumours of a new national anthem, which Buckingham Palace avoided confirming until the very moment the song was first sung in public during the Queen's coronation, to which the palace soon confirmed the rumours by officially revealing the name of the song to be "Onwards, Britannia!" and that from that point on, it would henceforth serve as the United Kingdom's official national anthem. Reportedly, while immediate reception to the song was said to be "slightly negative" amongst traditionalists and monarchists, others conversely welcomed the new national anthem, with The Independent remarking that "the anthem perfectly captures the sense of Britishness felt by all", while The Guardian, in contrasting it with the more "sombre" and "melancholy" tone of "God Save the Queen", praised the song's "emotionalLy stirring" and "upbeat" nature.

Early Years

A sight of the annual Pink Dot SG event held at Hong Lim Park, Singapore

Starting from the following month of July, Alexandra would begin to undertake her first few series of state visits abroad as the reigning Queen, with the first instance being her state visit to Japan, where she met the newly ascended Emperor Naruhito, whom had then succeeded his father, the elderly Akihito, following the latter's abdication just a couple of months prior. This was then followed by a controversial state visit to Malaysia, where she met its also newly enthroned monarch, Sultan Abdullah of Pahang, amidst a backdrop of nationwide protests held against her visit to the country, and at least, one unsuccessful assassination attempt on her life. Despite this, a follow-up state visit to Singapore was held later that September, during which she became the first head of state to personally attend the country's annual Pink Dot SG event, held in support of the LGBT community in Singapore, where she addressed and publicly met with the event's organisers and attendees, with Prime Minister of Singapore, LeeLee Hsien Loong in attendance. Then, upon returning to Europe, Alexandra subsequently went on a series of successive state visits to a number of countries across the continent throughout the following October, which included her late paternal grandmother's ancestral home country of Romania, where she met with incumbent President Klaus Iohannis, whom afterwards eulogised the Queen as "Romania's national treasure", in a nod to her Romanian roots through her late grandmother, whose own mother had emigrated from Iași, the country's second-largest city in the early 20th century. Following this, it was initially planned for the Queen to also visit neighbouring Bulgaria, but this was abruptly cancelled after it was reported that she had gone down with a fever during her last day in Romania, causing her to otherwise be transported back to the United Kingdom so as to allow her to recuperate throughout the following days. Nonetheless, as soon as her recovery concluded a few days later, Alexandra subsequently followed up on her initial promise by visiting Bulgaria on October 25th, where she met the Bulgarian president, Rumen Radev.

A view of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa at a height of 5,895 metres above sea level

Separately, 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 current President Cyril Ramaphosa took office following the resignation of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma. Then, in June, she held a state visit to Tanzania, during which she received considerable attention and subsequent acclaim from both the Tanzanian and international media for successfully climbing the famous Mount Kilimanjaro, which she memorably did so alongside a select group of ten Tanzanian women, whom were later nicknamed by the local press "The Queen's Mountaineers". In an interview with the BBC, she later described the experience as a "rather challenging and difficult one, but nonetheless a rewarding one in the end". On the following July, she held a state visit to Madagascar, an island nation situated off the coast of East Africa. Considered by many to have largely been a success, Alexandra later said that a state visit to Madagascar, known for its extensive biodiversity, had been on her "bucket list for some time", while also stating that the 2005 animated adventure film, Madagascar, which depicts a group of animals from New York City whom find themselves stranded on real-life Madagascar, had been the main drive behind her desire to visit the island country. Then, in an interview held just a few days after her return from Madagascar, Alexandra jokingly remarked that she was "quite surprised" to learn that the majority of the animals featured in the film did not actually live en-masse on the island nation, with the notable exception of the lemurs, a type of wet-nosed mammals commonly found on the island, and with whom she was photographed on several occasions. Around a year later, Alexandra went on to hold a state visit to the North African nation of Morocco, where she met its ruling monarch, King Mohammed VI. While there, among other things, she personally visited the Museum of Moroccan Judaism in the coastal city of Casablanca, an act that was perceived by most observers to be the Queen personally emphasising her own Jewish roots. Around this time, Alexandra also met with the princess consort of Morocco, Lalla Salma, with whom she was said to have afterwards struck a partnership on mutual issues concerning women including women's rights, education, and others.

The Blue Room of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, where on February 2020, President Nayib Bukele controversially sent soldiers into in order to encourage the passing of a bill to further fund the country's military and police force

On the other hand, on 25 October 2019, Alexandra also held a controversial state visit to the Caribbean island nation of Cuba, where she met 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. Then, in her farewell address to the country, the Queen publicly and controversially expressed her wish that the "unnecessary burden imposed upon the Cuban people would be lifted in good conscience by the United States government”, a remark which, while met with praise by humanitarian groups and governments that have been long critical of the longstanding American embargo on Cuba, was otherwise met with sharp criticism by US President Donald Trump, whom in a posting on Twitter, subsequently accused the Queen of "treason" for her remarks on the American embargo, while also likening the latter to the self-proclaimed democratic socialist American senator, Bernie Sanders, a move that was met with immediate condemnation by various governments, as well as by American politicians, primarily those from the Democratic Party, with Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi criticising Trump for "reckless" and "bad faith diplomacy", while Elliot Engel, the then-Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, "Keeping the longstanding diplomatic relationship and important military alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom in mind, the last thing a President should do is calling the head of state of America's ally a so-called socialist without any basis or proof". Nonetheless, this would later be followed by a state visit to El Salvador, the country of origin for Alexandra's maternal grandmother, where she met with the country's newly-sworn president, Nayib Bukele, whose overseeing of the fall of the country's high murder rate during his first few months in office being a subject of particular praise by the Queen, whom then remarked, "When my grandmother fled El Salvador for the United States, the country at the time was, by all accounts, a brutal and horrific military dictatorship. Now, almost eighty years later, it is truly enjoyable and pleasant to see that, having come such a long way since then, El Salvador is seemingly on the right path to becoming a stable and relatively prosperous country in a region that isn't necessarily best known for such conditions".

However, in recent years, despite reportedly maintaining a consistently high approval rating amongst the Salvadoran people, Bukele's presidency has since come under criticism for, among others, accusations of having negotiated with criminal gangs in order to achieve the country's historically low murder rate, as well as those relating to his government's authoritarianism, most exemplified by his controversial and widely criticised decision to send soldiers into the country's legislative assembly in order to encourage the passage of a bill that would fund additional purchases of equipment for the country's police and armed forces. In addition, his firing of the country's attorney general and five of its supreme court judges, has also come under considerable criticism, with the Queen herself later remarking on Twitter, "Given the initially high hopes and aspirations I personally had for Mr. Bukele's administration, the President's recent acts and controversies have certainly done much to diminish them, and it is my hope once more, one that I have previously made clear, that the El Salvador of today will never be like the El Salvador that my grandmother had fled from almost eighty years ago". Then, on September 3rd 2019, Alexandra became the most recent British monarch to visit the island country of Puerto Rico, which, since 1977, has been a fully independent country while also, much like its neighbours, Belize and Jamaica, maintaining the British monarch as head of state, whom is otherwise represented in the country by a governor-general. While there, in addition to meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Pierluisi, the Queen also met with famous Puerto Rican artists, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, both of whom, in 2017, achieved international fame with the release of the positively-acclaimed song, "Despacito", which topped the charts of around forty-seven countries as well as reaching the top ten of six other countries.

Meanwhile, 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 which she further described as "personally close to my heart" and "greatly appalling to hear about every single day". Moreover, in a remark believed to be a subtle form of criticism towards the hardline immigration policies of US President Donald Trump, the Queen also said, "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". Uniquely enough, her speech, which was first delivered in English and lasted for roughly five minutes long, ultimately became a fifteen-minute-long speech, as the speech itself was then redelivered in German, and later, in Dutch, a move that was said to have been deliberate and intended to emphasise her status as the head of state of the Dutch-speaking Netherlands, and also of the small nation of Luxembourg, which includes German, in addition to French and Luxembourgish, as its official language. Meanwhile, the Queen herself later said, "Given that I was to repeat what I've said earlier in a different language in front of a hundred important people gathered together on the world stage, it was definitely quite a nerve-wracking challenge but in the end, once it's all said and done, you just can't stop knowing that you've just done something very remarkable at that very moment, all while being watched by perhaps the most powerful leaders of the world".

Sanna Marin, whom is currently the incumbent Prime Minister of Finland since 10 December 2019

In December of that year, following the confirmation of Finnish politician, Sanna Marin as the new Prime Minister of Finland, Alexandra herself became the first world leader to personally congratulate Marin on her new premiership role, which she did so on through a statement on Twitter, in which 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, this meeting became a reality when on December 17th, exactly a week into Marin's tenure as prime minister, Alexandra herself then paid an official state visit to the country, which began with her participating in a Q&A session with the Finnish press at the Kesäranta alongside Marin, followed by a boat ride along the Finnish coast of the Gulf of Finland, before later attending an official state dinner that night at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, where she met the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, whom in his commemorative speech that night, praised the Queen as a "bright, young woman", before later jokingly expressing his dismay at the fact that Alexandra herself is to serve in a mostly ceremonial role as the queen of her country, and not in a more executive role such as a prime minister, a role which Niinistö claimed would "truly fit such a fine lady". Overall, throughout much of its four-day long duration, the state visit itself was met with overwhelmingly positive media coverage from both the British and the Finnish press, with the leading Finnish news outlet, Helsingin Sanomat particularly praising the "undeniably wholesome and genuine friendship" between the two women, while the BBC referred to it as "the summit of the decade involving two promising and inspiring female leaders of the world". Later, on December 28th, the Queen's state visit to Finland was then reciprocated with a state visit to the United Kingdom by President Niinistö himself, with whom Alexandra later jointly observed nationwide Happy New Year celebrations on January 1st the following year, with representatives from both the British and Finnish governments in attendance as well.

A picture of infamous Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden and his then-adviser, Ayman al-Zawahiri in an interview with a Pakistani journalist, dated November 2001

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 "joint American, Iraqi, and Kurdish effort into successfully eliminating a known tyrant and murderer responsible for the deaths of countless of innocent civillians", 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. Upon his death, al-Baghdadi was succeeded in his position by Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, whom on February 3rd 2022 died by suicide as well in order to avoid capture by US forces, thereby causing him to be succeeded in his position as "caliph" by Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, the third overall leader of the Islamic State militant group, whom, on 26 May 2022, was allegedly arrested in Istanbul by Turkish authorities. Meanwhile, on July 31st 2022, the Egyptian-born leader of Al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a US drone strike while apparently residing at a safe house in Kabul, Afghanistan, making him the second Al-Qaeda leader to be assassinated by the United States after his infamous predecessor, Osama bin Laden. In a subsequent response to the terrorist leader's death, Alexandra, through a short video posted on Twitter, stated that given al-Zawahiri's role alongside that of the late Osama bin Laden in planning the September 11 attacks, it was hoped that his death would "provide the fullest closure to the victims of such an unfortunate and deadly tragedy". In addition, the Queen also applauded the "utmost precision" employed by the United States military in assassinating al-Zawahiri, noting that no other casualties, especially those of civilians, were ever reported as a result of the incident, with al-Zawahiri himself being the sole casualty of the attack.

COVID-19 Pandemic

On January 31st 2020, following the emergence of the COVID-19 virus in the United Kingdom, Alexandra privately moved to Highgrove House, located westward in Gloucestershire for safety measures. Consequently, all planned public engagements were promptly cancelled. On March 5th, following the first COVID-related death in the country, she promptly addressed the public through a televised broadcast from Highgrove House, in which she declared, "Eighty years ago, the British people have both calmly and vigilantly endured the gruelling troubles and deathly hardships of the Blitz. Today, it is time that we repeat the very same calmness and vigilance that have propelled us forward and past our misery before. Success is what we cherish and what we shall fight for together". On May 8th of that year, in commemorating the 75th VE Day anniversary, she once more addressed the nation, in which she spoke of the importance of "perseverance, vigilance, and rationality" in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, just three days later, which coincided with the date of her 24th birthday (for which traditional celebrations were personally cancelled by her own decree), she 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, during which she met with a number of Hanoverian government officials and medical experts. In conjunction with that, the Queen then continued westward into neighbouring Netherlands, and later, down south to Luxembourg, where on both occasions, the Queen met with government ministers as well as healthcare workers in both respective countries, whom she praised and likened to the "undisputably brave men of the World Wars who fought valiantly against anyone or anything that wishes harm upon the nation and the people".

Sandra Mason, the first and current President of Barbados. Prior to assuming the presidency, she was the eighth and final governor-general of Barbados prior to the country's transition to a republic on November 2021

In the early days of the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination program in the United Kingdom, 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, developed by a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company. Meanwhile, the BBC reported that her own father, the former King Thomas, was said to have made a private donation of roughly $1.3 billion (£1.05 billion) in favour of further vaccine developments, which the former king described as "crucial to both the nation and the people's future", whilst stating that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic would "absolutely not be the last in human history", but otherwise asserted that it is "not undefeatable either", which he further argued, "could only be true if every single member of society unites in favour of making that a reality themselves". Meanwhile, on 5 March 2020, it was announced by Buckingham Palace that the Queen would have her annual salary of roughly £90.6 million be voluntarily cut by 50% in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic plaguing the country, thereby bringing it down to around £45.3 million, thereby only costing roughly £0.60 cents per person in the United Kingdom, down from the previous amount of £1.20, a move which was received positively by the public, with then-Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn expressing "much relief knowing that the Queen, to some extent, is sympathetic to the people's woes, especially during such challenging times". A similar move also came into effect in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, countries where she also reigns over as monarch.

In June 2020, as part of a series of reforms made in light of the Black Lives Matter protests held across the country that year, Alexandra markedly introduced a notable reform of the British chivalric order system, whereby the chivalry order known as the Order of the British Empire was renamed to the Order of the British Excellence, thereby supposedly removing its "militaristic ring", an initiative that had been proposed for years beforehand. Meanwhile, on 30 November 2021, Barbados formally became a republic, with Alexandra being replaced as the country's head of state by the country's sitting and last governor-general, Sandra Mason, whom was subsequently elected as the country's first president, thereby abolishing the gubernatorial role forever. Nonetheless, despite the transition to a republican form of government, Barbados has since continued to remain a member of the Commonwealth of Nations alongside other republics such as India, Cyprus, and Singapore.

In the midst of this, in the United Kingdom, a nationwide campaign of statue toppling took place, with the most prominent instance being that of the 17th-century English slave trader, Edward Colston, whose statue was toppled and pushed into Bristol Harbour, while statues of other historical figures, including former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, were subjected to some degree of vandalism, which was also the case for the statue of Alexandra's ancestor, the late King William VI and III, located in front of Marlborough House, the late King's own birthplace, which was met with unsuccessful attempts at vandalism as well as demands for its removal. In response, authorities ultimately had the statue in question transferred to the nearby British Museum, where the statue is currently housed, amidst calls to entirely topple the statue itself, which protesters argued, is a "symbol of past British imperialism that the country must fully abandon and move past from". Meanwhile, amidst minor and sporadic clashes between police and protesters in major cities across the country, the Queen herself took to personally address the situation through a posting on Twitter, in which she called for police officers to "exercise reasonable restraint", while also urging protesters to "mind one's health at all times", in light of the developing COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom at the time. Meanwhile, in Canada, security for the William and Sophia Memorial in the capital, Ottawa, was promptly reinforced so as to prevent any potential malicious attempts directed against the memorial, which since its foundation in the early 20th-century, has served as the burial place for the late King William VII and IV and his consort, Queen Sophie, both of whom were influential and widely respected figures in the early history of contemporary Canada, but whom have since come under some scrutiny and criticism by contemporary historians.

Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Netherlands, where she also reigns over as a constitutional monarch, Alexandra, in conjunction with Prime Minister Mark Rutte, actively worked on promoting vaccination and a range of safety measures against the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, on 15 January 2021, following a Dutch parliamentary inquiry into the country's childcare benefits scandal, Mark Rutte subsequently tendered his resignation as the country's prime minister, whilst accepting full responsibility for the scandal. Nonetheless, in the following 2021 Dutch general election, Rutte's party, along with its coalition partners, successfully won the election, allowing Rutte to serve his fourth consecutive term as prime minister. Similarly, in Luxembourg, Alexandra also worked extensively in conjunction with the Luxembourgish government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, which she once described in a televised speech to the Luxembourgish public as "an existential threat that the collective community of Luxembourg should strive to face together in a united spirit".

Post-COVID-19

The main entrence to Mount Herzl, Israel's national cemetery site

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, the Queen, on the grounds of "personal health" and "safety issues", temporarily ceased conducting any further state visits abroad for the time being. However, in September of that year, Alexandra began resuming her usual state visits abroad, with her first country of choice being Israel, where she met with then-President Reuven Rivlin, as well as visited the country's national cemetery site of Mount Herzl, that, among others, contains a particular empty grave with a curtana ceremonial sword planted on top of it in recognition of her late grandfather's "lifelong service to the Jewish people". At the same time, due to it being the first to be carried out in an official capacity by a sovereign of either three countries to such a controversial country, with previous instances being described by the British government as "private visits", the visit immediately sparked considerable controversy among some sectors of the British public, with some seeing it as the British royal family's apparent recognition of Israel, while British Labour leader, Keir Starmer argued that it was "nothing more than a simple gesture of celebrating one's ancestry, given Her Majesty's Jewish roots through her late grandmother". Moreover, the visit itself was met with a strong reaction from the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, which called the state visit "unnecessary" and "needlessly provocative". However, despite the pushbacks, coupled with reported threats of assassination attempts against her, Alexandra's state visit in the rather tumultuous region proved to be a success, during which she held a three-way dialogue with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, which she then followed-up by a separate meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, with whom she strongly associated on mutual issues concerning women and children.

A scene from the 2021 United States Capitol attack

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 whom launched the attack and his own personal response to the attack were "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. Meanwhile, in response to the ban, Trump himself subsequently labelled it "dangerously unprecedented", before proceeding to accuse the Queen, a fervent critic of him, of "getting the government to serve her wicked personal agenda". In response, Atkins called the accusation "baseless" and "a typical Donald Trump conspiracy", before then asserting that her decision had been "fully approved" by Prime Minister David Cameron, an assertion that Cameron promptly reinforced in a brief statement to reporters.

Meanwhile, in June of that same year, Alexandra herself went on to host sitting US President Joe Biden in a scaled-down ceremony at Buckingham Palace, after which she, along with her siblings attended that year's G7 summit held in Cornwall, England alongside Prime Minister David Cameron and the other leaders of the organisation, including Biden. Then, in an apparent sign of close relations between the two, which stood in stark contrast to that between the Queen and Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, just two weeks later, Alexandra herself paid a state visit to the United States where she was then welcomed by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, whose appointment as the first female vice president was noted by the Queen as an "undeniably significant step for American women". Throughout the next five days, the Queen, along with Vice President Harris, together toured several historical sites in the United States. In the midst of this, while the five-day-long tour went relatively smoothly with no serious incidents, it was nonetheless marred by isolated but frequent protests by supporters of former President Donald Trump, whom Alexandra herself had been personally critical of. At one point, the Queen's trip was nearly cut short if not for the Queen's own intervention, after a heavily-armed convoy carrying the Queen and the Vice President became the target of an assassination attempt, in which a pair of gunmen drove onto the convoy's path in a white sedan and fired several rounds from their AR-15 assault rifles at the frontmost vehicles before subsequently fleeing the scene. However, neither the Queen nor Vice President Harris were later reported injured, while the two gunmen, later identified as brothers, Taylor and Joel Parry, were otherwise killed in an accident while attempting to flee from the pursuing authorities. Soon afterwards, in an impromptu speech she gave at the Yellowstone National Park, Alexandra publicly thanked the "brave and dedicated officers who risked their lives to protect me, Vice President Harris, and others, even in the face of danger", before later stating, "Despite what happened to me recently, know that under any circumstances, I will not, and absolutely never back down from threats or unruly and terroristic behaviour from any individual, be it a man or a woman", which was then met with roaring applause by listeners, with President Joe Biden himself later heralding the Queen as a "brave and tough young woman".

In addition, much like her father whom addressed the United States Congress during his first state visit to the United States in 2010, the Queen herself also did the same, although, on this occasion, her speech was momentarily interrupted by the controversial congresswomen, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert (both of whom are fervent Trump supporters), causing Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi to temporarily evict the two congresswomen out of the chamber, thereby allowing the Queen to give the rest of her speech without any interruption, save for a few groans and other small signs of contempt by a number of Republican lawmakers present at the joint session. Later on, during the final day of her state visit to the country, in what was deemed by many to be an "unprecedented" and "historic moment", Alexandra was subsequently awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden, whom then said, "Beneath her current identity as Queen of the United Kingdom, Queen Alexandra is, and forever will be, an American in our hearts, and one that we are absolutely proud of". However, as opposed to the tradition of the award ceremony being usually done at the East Room of the White House, it was otherwise done in the living room of Alexandra's birthplace, the Wales House estate in Albany, New York. Beforehand, in 2014, a similar reception was held for Alexandra's American-born half-brother, whom was given the award by then-President Barack Obama, in recognition of his victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

A US Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter departing Kabul, Afghanistan, as the city falls to advancing Taliban forces

On August 2021, not long after the fall of Kabul to Taliban forces, Alexandra herself personally addressed 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" at the Army Headquarters in Hampshire, where the BBC later reported that the Queen had a "very serious but at the same time heartfelt discussion with returning British troops over the ongoing chaotic situation in Afghanistan". Since then, Alexandra has also actively called for the returned 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 "regressive administration of the Taliban regime". In an interview with the BBC just a day after the Taliban decreed that female television anchors are to cover themselves up, she 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", while in a separate interview, she remarked, "Frankly, even with what's at stake for them, coupled with their stated promise to turn over a new leaf and start anew as the new administrators of Afghanistan, it is quite clear to everyone already that authoritarian militants will forever be authoritarian militants, with little to no change in the process". Meanwhile, in December of that year, Alexandra, as the current President of the Hanoverian Union, attended the Sixth Brussels Summit in Brussels, Netherlands, which was her first summit meeting since becoming the organisation's president in 2017. As President, she chaired and presided over the quindecennial tripartite meeting between the deputy prime ministers of the organisation's three members states, namely George Osbourne of the United Kingdom (Chairman), Wopke Hoekstra of the Netherlands (Deputy Chairman), and François Bausch and Dan Kersch of Luxembourg. Eventually, after a three-day long period, the summit later concluded with all three parties unanimously agreeing on the proposal and subsequent implementation of the "Sixth Trinational Plan", officially named the "Post-COVID-19 Economic and Social Recovery Plan", meant to address both the economical and social effects from the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The Moskva, a Russian guided missile cruiser and the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which was reportedly sunk on 14 April 2022 by Ukrainian missile fires

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Alexandra, in a televised address to the public the next day, promptly expressed her "strong and stern condemnation of the Russian aggression towards another sovereign country", while also stressing that "the last time a major European power decided to egregiously violate the independence of a fellow European nation, the whole world paid the price for it, particularly with deaths in the millions worldwide", a remark believed to be referring to the joint Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland, which subsequently sparked the Second World War. Then, on 6 April 2022, Reuters reported that a "high-level delegation" consisting of the Queen, along with the British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish prime ministers are en route to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where they are expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom subsequently thanked the delegation for their visit to the capital, while also stating that the two sides are in "unilateral opposition towards Russia's unjust war of aggression". Despite this, on 30 August 2022, Alexandra, along with other world leaders, together paid tributes to the former Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, whom d passed away from an illness at the age of ninety-one. In a statement posted to Twitter, the Queen eulogised the late Gorbachev as a "consequential peacemaker who helped bring to an end an era where a nuclear holocaust is always seemingly close by", which she contrasted with the policies of the current Russian president, whom she accused of "dismantling every last post-Cold War effort towards reconciliation between Russia and the rest of the world". Then, on September 21st 2022, following an announcement by Putin enforcing a partial military mobilisation for eligible Russian men, Alexandra subsequently tweeted, "As much as this is a clear sign of escalation concerning Russia's invasion, this is also a subtle sign of defeat for the Putin regime as a whole, given that all this while, the whole invasion has been portrayed as a so-called "special military operation", one that wouldn't necessarily require any sort of mobilisation for the military", before further urging Western governments to "provide more both humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine", in response to Putin's mobilisation. Afterwards, the Queen also openly condemned the accession referendums held by Russia in several occupied regions of Ukraine, calling them "downright farcical" and "another clear-cut example of Russia mocking and abusing democratic norms in order to achieve their own personal goals".

On 25 May 2022, shortly after the release of the Sue Gray report, which further implicated longtime Prime Minister David Cameron (whom has been in power since 2010) and the ruling Conservative Party over the issue of lockdown parties held during the ongoing pandemic, Cameron, by way of a press conference held roughly ten minutes after the report's release, announced his decision to "effectively resign" as prime minister, thereby triggering a subsequent leadership election for the Conservative Party, which on June 5th saw Justine Greening, formerly the Minister of State for Development under Cameron, being elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party. The following day, at 8:15 A.M., shortly after Cameron tendered his resignation to the Queen, Greening, the victor of the party leadership election was soon afterwards sworn in as the new prime minister, becoming the first woman and the first openly gay politician in British history to hold the office. Meanwhile, sitting Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Gauke, was sworn in as the new deputy prime minister, replacing veteran Conservative politician, George Osbourne in the position.

The England women's national football team celebrating their 2-1 victory over Germany at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022

On 31 July 2022, shortly after a historic victory for the England women's national football team over their German rival in the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 championship, in which they won 2-1 thanks to a late score by forward, Chloe Kelly at the 110th minute in extra time, the Queen issued a public announcement whereby all the players and staff members of the team would each be awarded an Order of the Bath with the grade of Knight or Dame Grand Cross for male and female recipients, which therefore carries the honorific title of sir and dame respectively, in recognition of their "undeniably historic achievement". In conjunction with that, the Queen also publicly urged the British government to "ensure that women's football is just as popular and widely covered as the men's", before later stating, "If there is supposedly a certain threshold for female footballers in the country to reach, then they have clearly done so with this undeniably historic victory". The following night, all the players and staff members of the England women's national football team, including Dutch-born coach, Sarina Wiegman (whom would otherwise be made an honorary dame), were then invited to a celebratory dinner at Buckingham Palace, courtesy of the Queen herself, whose father, the Duke of Hanover, had previously done so himself for the winning England football team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and again for the Netherlands women's national football team on August 2017 following the women's team's victory at the UEFA Women's Euro 2017, in one of his last few acts as the Dutch monarch at the time

On 15 August 2022, in her capacity as the Dutch monarch, Alexandra held a state visit to Indonesia, becoming the second Dutch monarch to do so after her father. In her visit to the huge Southeast Asian country, the Queen was received by President Joko Widodo, with whom she later held a dialogue at the presidential residence of Merdeka Palace in the capital, Jakarta. Then, following up on her state visit to Indonesia, the Queen proceeded eastwards over the Pacific Ocean to the South American nation of Suriname, a former Dutch colony like Indonesia, where she met its incumbent president, Chan Santokhi, before later returning to the Netherlands after a week-long stay.

2022 Royal Titles Reform

On 10 October 2022, in a press statement released by Buckingham Palace, Alexandra declared that "any children that are not of the Sovereign's and the heir to the throne will no longer automatically be prescribed with the princely titles of His/Her Royal Highnesses unless otherwise requested, and would instead simply use the title of Mr/Mrs along with the relevant surname". The announcement, which had come as an absolute surprise to many, quickly aroused immense media interest, given that the Queen herself, minus her two half-siblings, has approximately four other full siblings, whose children, as per the declaration, would not be immediately guaranteed a royal title upon birth. Soon enough, several media outlets, including the Daily Mail, begin to popularise rumours of a supposed rift between the Queen and her siblings over the decision before such rumours were later put to rest by Alexandra's younger brother, the Duke of Cleveland, whom explained that the decision was "unanimously approved by all of us involved, and on our part, we see it as somewhat of a step of liberating our future children from the usual pressure of being part of the royal family".

In addition, the Queen's father, the Duke of Hanover, also pointed out how his own three siblings have all chosen not to have their respective children be given a royal title, and it is, therefore, according to the Duke, "something that has been happening for a while already in the family, and as of current, it's being passed down to the next generation".

Personal Life

A Jaguar E-Type and an Aston Martin DB5, two vehicles that are personally owned by the Queen

Much like her predecessors, Alexandra herself is personally well-trained in the arts of flying, with her common choice of aircraft being her family's vintage de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane, which was originally built for and owned by her late grandfather, King Charles III, and which has since been passed down to the latest generation in the family, all while remaining under generally excellent condition. On the other hand, Alexandra personally owns a white Jaguar E-Type sports car, one which was specially made for her 18th birthday by Jaguar Cars, after the company reportedly won a contest involving itself and several other major British car manufacturers, including the likes of Aston Martin, Vauxhall Motors, and MINI. According to Alexandra herself, she had initially opted on acquiring a more modern Jaguar F-Type vehicle of her own but ultimately changed her mind to the more classical Jaguar E-Type after being "very mesmerised" by the car's overall design and build, stating, "As mainstream as this opinion might sound, it (Jaguar F-Type) is undoubtedly a beauty and one hell of a car for the ages". Then, in commemorating her 2019 coronation, fellow British car manufacturer, Aston Martin, was subsequently commissioned to build an exclusive model of the iconic Aston Martin DB5, which gained fame as the most iconic vehicle in the James Bond cinematic franchise. In addition to this, Alexandra also occasionally rides a white thoroughbred horse, which she personally named "Monty", and which she could sometimes be seen riding around the palace grounds or when she was touring the Scottish Highlands, a region that is said to be at times frequented by the royal family for year-end picnics.

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, French, and Hebrew, a feat which she attributed to her diverse background, with her father being born to a long line of English monarchs, while her mother is otherwise born to an immigrant mother from the Spanish-speaking country of 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".

The course map for the annual London Marathon event

Since and even before her ascension to the throne, Alexandra has, among other things, come to be well-known for her considerably health-centric lifestyle. Evidently, beginning in 2010, she has been a regular participant in the annual London Marathon event, which she would often participate in alongside her family members, especially her mother, a frequenter of marathons herself. In addition, at times when she was not conducting her official state duties, Alexandra could usually be seen frequenting sports facilities around London, where she was said to have been a near-frequent guest. Consequently, at times, Alexandra could be seen sporting her usual gym outfit, which typically consists of a sports bra and a pair of spandex pants, choices which have occasionally landed her in some controversy with the general public, with some accusing the Queen of "immodest public behaviour", a remark once echoed by Conservative Party politician, Jacob Rees-Mogg, whom once remarked on Twitter, "No self-respecting Queen would ever stoop so low to dress in such an improper manner such as we have seen recently", referring to a photograph of the Queen sporting her usual gym outfit while leaving a sports facility in London. In response, during an interview with The Guardian around a few days later, Alexandra famously retorted, "I don't know what would exactly cause more outrage or controversy, me wearing a typical sports outfit to a gym or me wearing some big, oversized black suit straight from the 18th century?". The remark quickly gained much widespread media coverage, with Leah Hunt of The Guardian particularly praising the Queen for "pointing out the clear cut ridiculous choice of attire for a man whom, as many would attest to, belongs better in the 18th century than in the 21st century".

In addition, on issues relating to health, Alexandra, especially along with her mother, has been a public and outspoken advocate against smoking, stating that such a habit had led to the early death of her maternal grandfather, Dwain Turlington, whom passed away around a year after she was born, an experience she described as "personally tragic" and "regrettable". Separately, together with her half-brother and former professional footballer, William Smith, Alexandra has also sponsored or advocated for further research into the treatment of cancer, given that her half-brother's mother, the actress, Jaclyn Smith, was once treated for breast cancer in 2003.

A self-described "superfan" of Hollywood films, Alexandra is well known for her personal affinity towards one particular film, that being the 2001 comedy film, Legally Blonde, starring actress, Reese Witherspoon. Similarly, she is also said to have developed a "strong obsession" with films in the romantic comedy genre, with her favourite reportedly being the widely acclaimed 1999 film, Notting Hill, starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in the main roles. On the other hand, when it comes to television series, Alexandra is known to have personally favoured the American comedy-drama series, Gilmore Girls, which, according to the Queen herself in one interview, she would often watch on repeat even after the show concluded, stating, "For whatever reason, the setting and the overall premise of the show just gets me, and I absolutely love watching every single part of it from A to Z". Incidentally, Alexandra herself was later briefly featured in the series's 2016 sequel, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, in which she played herself as someone whom ends up befriending the main character, Rory Gilmore, played by American actress, Alexis Bledel.

Relations & Friendships

English singer and songwriter, Ellie Goulding at the Global Citizen Festival 2017

Much like her immediate predecessors, Alexandra herself has also been personally associated with a number of celebrities, with the most notable instance being that of her close and public friendship with English singer, Ellie Goulding, whom she had first met at one of the latter's concerts sometime in June 2017. Almost immediately, the two were said to have quickly struck up a close friendship afterwards, with Goulding herself even said to have sung at Alexandra's annual private birthday celebrations ever since. Meanwhile, in an interview with the BBC, Alexandra was quoted as saying, "When I and Ellie started to know each other better, among the things that we are quick to find common ground on is definitely what we have both respectively went through regarding mental health. While Ellie has her stage fright when it comes to being a singer herself, I have got my own share of mental issues myself, especially when my grandmother passed away in 2014 which almost led me to take my own life back then". The song, Against Everything, released in June 2019 to largely positive reviews, notably featured Alexandra herself singing alongside Goulding. In a later interview discussing the song, she described the song as "the grand culmination of our friendship so far", while referring to the song's lyrics as "a way of retelling a beautiful story of how our friendship came to be and survived to this very day".

Following the birth of Goulding's son with husband, Caspar Jopling in April 2021, Alexandra herself was included as one of the few select godmothers of the singer's firstborn child. In addition to that, both Alexandra and Goulding have together been passionate and strong advocates on the issue of mental health.

The American actress and filmmaker, Jodie Foster, whom became the Queen's aunt-in-law through her marriage to Catherine, Princess Royal in 2011

Following the marriage of her aunt, Catherine, Princess Royal to American actress, Jodie Foster in 2011, which was the first same-sex wedding involving a member of the British royal family, Alexandra, in the years that followed, is said to have quickly become close with her new aunt, whose intelligence trait, in particular, was said to have greatly attracted the young princess to the American actress, whom, as Alexandra herself later revealed during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, 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's own academic pursuit (which saw her graduating magna cum laude in 1985), along with that of Alexandra's mother, was also credited by Alexandra herself as her "greatest inspirations" behind her decision to pursue an academic degree while simultaneously maintaining an active career in professional football.

Ironically enough, following the news of her achievement of a PhD degree in 2022, the American magazine, Newsweek famously nicknamed her "the new Jodie Foster", noting her academic prowess along with her well-recognised physical beauty, to which she then responded by saying, "Personally, I'm very flattered that someone would even go so far to call me the new Jodie Foster, but ultimately, at the end of the day, as my aunt, the actual Jodie Foster does deserve some credit and recognition herself for being a part in some way of my teenage life, and whom, along with my mother and all the other great people in my life, has helped me get this far in life". Separately, in another interview, Alexandra revealed that throughout the entire period of writing her Phd thesis, which she estimated to be around "seventy days or so", the actress herself was her "constant companion late at night, selflessly helping me with my thesis nearly every single night".

Romances

Jane Digby, an English aristocrat known for her beauty and her six marriages, with the last being to an Arab sheik until her death in 1881

Since and prior to ascending to the throne, Alexandra has also come to be well known for her rather publicised and controversial love life, which began with her controversial relationship with Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, an affair which, despite its brief period, earned her some notoriety in the public sphere, with one media outlet infamously dubbing her "the Jane Digby of the 21st century", a reference to the infamous English aristocrat, best known for her six marriages (the last one was to an Arab sheikh twenty years her junior) and controversial romantic history. Despite this, not long after her eighteenth birthday celebrations, one local British magazine famously called her "the world's most eligible bachelorette", referring to both the princess's physical beauty and her status as heir apparent to her father, the King.

In a 2018 interview with Vogue, Alexandra revealed that for a "very short time" in high school, she had once dated a fellow classmate of hers, whom she claimed to have appeared "very nice and into me at first". However, despite an "encouraging" start, the relationship itself ultimately lasted no longer than a week, after Alexandra chose to abruptly terminate the relationship, reportedly after learning that the said classmate of hers had only dated her as a "challenge" suggested by his peers, a revelation that Alexandra subsequently claimed to have discouraged her from pursuing another romantic relationship with any of her classmates afterwards, out of fear of her being "used as some sort of a trophy for high school boys to brag about" for a second time. Consequently, throughout the rest of her high school years, Alexandra was said to have maintained strictly platonic relationships with those she considers herself to be close with as a friend, but never to the point of a romantic partner. This, according to Alexandra herself, also proved to be the case during her university years, during which she constantly turned down offers of a romantic relationship. However, Alexandra also revealed that during her brief time at the Central Connecticut State University, the deliberate choice to maintain her anonymity there unexpectedly led her to almost nearly begin a relationship with an undisclosed university mate of hers there, whom she claimed, "definitely had no idea of who I really am when he asked me out".

Much like her father, Alexandra herself also personally prefer 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 the American lawyer and grandson of the late John F. Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg, existed throughout the entire time the couple was together, and that their relationship only became known after both Alexandra and Schlossberg opted to disclose it publicly for the first time ever, which they only did so a few months after their relationship ended and at a time where Alexandra herself was already in a new relationship with her current partner and English footballer, Beth Mead.

In an interview with The Guardian, Alexandra revealed that she first became aware of her bisexuality shortly after watching the 2017 film, Baby Driver, during which, she explained, she appeared to have developed some feelings for the film's lead actress, Lily James, whom she said, "exudes the classical and appealing English beauty". However, the feelings themselves were said to have been initially "unconfirmed" and "hazy at best", before Alexandra herself eventually confronted those feelings afterwards, at which point she was said to have subsequently revealed her newfound sexual orientation to her family, a move that proved to be much of a success and a welcomed one, given her family's overwhelmingly liberal leanings. To that end, she later told in another interview, "My father was definitely a little bit surprised at the beginning but in the end, his philosophy is that as long as I'm happy with either a man or a woman, then he would be in full support of it, and that is something I can definitely live by and truly appreciated, especially when it comes from my own beloved family".

Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum

Around March 2013, Alexandra would enter into her first official romantic relationship when upon arriving at the Dubai International Airport to begin her visit to the United Arab Emirates that year, she was first introduced to the Crown Prince of Dubai, Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, whom along with several armed security personnel had been tasked in overseeing the princess and her entourage's arrival. Almost immediately, rumours of an apparent romantic relationship between the two began surfacing when throughout the duration of her visit to the country, she was pictured on several occasions being physically close to the crown prince. As a result, the apparent nature of the two's friendship quickly attracted interest from various media outlets back home in England, with the Daily Mail being the first to speculate a romantic relationship between the two royals, whom the tabloid first described as being "very friendly and talkative with one another".

Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai since 1 February 2008

Then, not long after the conclusion of her visit to the United Arab Emirates, rumours of her being in a relationship with the Crown Prince of Dubai were further strengthened when it was revealed that as a parting gift, the British princess was gifted a luxurious second generation Bentley Flying Spur by the Crown Prince of Dubai himself. However, this revelation was immediately met with a mixed response from both the British public and media, with some praising the supposedly romantic and also unique nature of the relationship, since Alexandra herself was the first British royal to have ever been in a relationship with a Muslim royal of Middle Eastern ancestry, while others, particularly The Daily Telegraph otherwise reacted rather negatively to the aforementioned revelation, which it described as "a deeply troubling revelation", given the couple's fourteen-year age gap, with the crown prince being thirty-one years old, and the princess at only seventeen years old at the time. However, amidst the ensuing backlash, the couple initially adopted a largely non-confrontational response to critics until around nine days later when Daily Mail first claimed that according to an anonymous source close to the two, the couple had officially broken up, albeit with no exact reason provided behind such an abrupt decision. Nonetheless, critics of the relationship promptly welcomed the decision, with host, Piers Morgan remarking, "Thankfully, this whole embarrassing and borderline predatory episode is over".

Later, in an August 2019 interview with the BBC, the first and only instance to date where Alexandra had openly discussed her brief affair with the Crown Prince of Dubai, she said, "At first, the sheer pomposity of Dubai and his (Hamdan) personal generosity really got me attracted to the whole thing, but then I started to learn about a certain amount of stuff (slavery, human rights, freedom of speech), and how it is just blatantly wrong for us to even be a couple in the first place, it kind of helped me in realising just the sheer amount of mess that I had created because of that relationship". Moreover, Alexandra also revealed that news and subsequent baseless rumours about her brief and controversial relationship with the crown prince "made my life somewhat difficult, especially with all the teases and rumours people are just dreaming up about you", adding that "if given the chance, I will definitely not do something like that ever again". Meanwhile, on May 2019, Hamdan himself would marry his cousin, Sheikha Shaikha bint Saeed bin Thani Al Maktoum, with whom he later welcomed a pair of twins, Rashid and Shaikha on May 2021.

Jack Schlossberg

Jack Schlossberg, grandson of former President John F. Kennedy through his mother, Caroline Kennedy, and whom is rumoured to be the Queen's secret love interest

Beginning around 2017, Alexandra has been romantically linked to the American lawyer, Jack Schlossberg. Rumours of a relationship involving the two begin to emerge following a number of instances in which Alexandra and Schlossberg have been seen talking to one another, instances which 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 magazine, 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 Jack Schlossberg, grandson of the late President John F. Kennedy, in picking her desired university of choice, for which she was first recommended the well-known Yale University, where Schlossberg himself is an alumni. However, although Alexandra herself opted to ultimately attend the more modest Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut, the two continued to remain friends somewhat before subsequently beginning a romantic relationship a few months afterwards, a development that was said to have been welcomed by both of their families. Interestingly, the couple's relationship was not exactly the first of its kind, given that Alexandra's father, King Thomas, was once rumoured to have briefly courted Schlossberg's mother, Caroline Kennedy, although this itself did not exactly develop into a serious relationship, presumably due to the implications arising from their contrasting Christian denominations, as well as Kennedy's own growing public career at the time.

However, by August 2022, it was believed that the couple have ended their secret romantic relationship while nonetheless continuing to remain close friends afterwards. This was later confirmed by Schlossberg himself in an interview with the Daily Mail, in which he confirmed that from May 2014 to November 2021, the two were indeed a romantic couple, before Alexandra herself eventually called the relationship off around the same time she began a new romantic relationship with English footballer, Beth Mead. At the same time, Schlossberg also asserted that despite the two having already called off their relationship beforehand, they have since continued to remain friends, with Schlossberg himself even reacting positively afterwards on Instagram to a picture of Alexandra and Mead sharing a brief kiss shortly after the end of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Final, which he likened to the iconic 1973 Burst of Joy photograph dating back to the later years of the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, Alexandra herself later revealed in a separate interview that the two had broken up due to "time and physical constraints", stating, "People have always told me before that a long-distance relationship is definitely a challenge for any couple, and honestly, given that we are both basically in two different countries for most of the time, I'd say that those words ring quite true today".

Nonetheless, despite the end of the couple's relationship, the revelation of the matter itself momentarily brought both sides into the media spotlight, with Newsweek dubbing them "the new John Jr. and Carolyn that we will never have", referring to Schlossberg's ill-fated uncle and aunt, both of whom were killed in a 1999 plane crash.

Beth Mead

Beth Mead, an English professional footballer whom currently plays for Arsenal and the England national team

On July 31st 2022, rumours of the Queen being in a new romantic relationship quickly gained pace when in the midst of celebrating England's historic 2-1 victory over Germany at the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Final, Alexandra, whom promptly ran on to the pitch to celebrate with the England team, was then momentarily photographed embracing and afterwards kissing England forward, Beth Mead. The photograph, despite being largely overshadowed by the celebrations marking England's historic victory, the third in history after the men's 1966 and 2014 World Cup victories, was nonetheless picked up and later circulated intensely by a number of media outlets, most of which began speculating that the two were indeed in a relationship, a theory that was quickly supported by various previous instances of the two exchanging flirtatious and romantic comments on one another's Instagram posts, although initially, these exchanges did not attract much attention given the extremely secretive nature of the couple's relationship.

Eventually, on 7 August 2022, in an interview with BBC Sport, Mead finally confirmed that she and the Queen are indeed a romantic couple. According to the English footballer, the two have actually begun dating sometime in November 2021, when during a break from her usual football training session, Mead, having been initially beset by some doubts and concerns over potentially dating none other than the British queen herself, opted to confess her romantic feelings for the Queen, which were then reciprocated, as the two soon briefly exchanged a series of romantic gestures with one another, thereby officially beginning their relationship, which, despite receiving a unanimously positive response from their close friends and families, including Mead's England teammates, was otherwise kept a closely guarded secret for the first few months, so as to not bring any unwanted attention towards themselves at a time they were just beginning their romance. Moreover, Mead also revealed that in the years prior, the two, as joint strikers for Arsenal, had already forged a strong and close friendship with one another, although this did not initially develop into a romantic relationship, since both Alexandra and Mead were then in a relationship with their respective partners, with Alexandra's being American lawyer, Jack Schlossberg, while in the case of Mead's, her Dutch-born Arsenal teammate, Daniëlle van de Donk, whom later moved to French club, Olympique Lyon in 2021, thereby ending their relationship.

Beth Mead scoring the opening goal against Austria during the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Group A match at Old Trafford, Manchester

Eventually, after the next few months or so, the couple's relationship finally became public knowledge when on July 31st 2022, the two were briefly photographed embracing and kissing one another in the aftermath of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 Final, which, in the following days, intensified longstanding rumours surrounding the two, which would later be confirmed by Mead herself during an interview with BBC Sport, in which she spoke of the two being a couple for "quite some time already". Moreover, Mead also credited fellow England teammate, Leah Williamson, whom she thanked for "giving me the necessary courage and encouraging me to make the first move, something that I was initially wary of doing at first". She further added, "Undoubtedly, if it wasn't for Leah, I would've definitely not been the one currently in love with such a gorgeous and fantastic woman and footballer right now", before further revealing that since the beginning of their relationship back in November 2021, the two have been living together at Alexandra's residence of Buckingham Palace, an experience which she described as "a dream come true", but added that it "would not change me at all as a person", stating, "Even if I were to get married one day and be known as Queen Beth, deep down, I'm still Beth Mead, and absolutely nothing, not even a marriage, could ever change that". Furthermore, Mead has also publicly thanked her partner's family, that being the British royal family, for their "openness and support for us as a couple", while also additionally praising former legendary footballer and her partner's older half-brother, William Smith, whom she praised for his "absolute humility" and "genuine willingness to help me out when necessary as both a mentor in football and a brother-like figure".

Since the couple's relationship became public knowledge, the couple has since been dubbed "Bethalex" by fans and the media, while the US magazine, Newsweek dubbed them "the year most iconic LGBT couple", a term that was previously used to refer to Alexandra's aunt, Catherine, Princess Royal, and the latter's wife, the American actress, Jodie Foster. Then, on 14 August 2022, Alexandra and Mead together took to Instagram to display matching tattoos they have got for one another on their respective collarbones, with Alexandra's tattoo bearing the name Beth Mead while Mead's otherwise bore the name Alexandra Turlington, a name Alexandra herself has previously used in the occasions requiring her to have a proper surname for herself, which she officially lacks. While positively received by fans of the couple, Alexandra, in particular, was met with some criticism by critics, whom called the Queen's decision to have a tattoo on her body "unprecedented" and "unbecoming of a queen," while supporters contend that given its location on her collarbone, the Queen's tattoo would be barely noticeable and therefore not that distracting to the public eye.

Statistically, with 97 goals across 84 total appearances, Alexandra is largely considered to be a "superior" footballer to her romantic partner, whom currently has 65 goals to her name across a total of 143 appearances. Nonetheless, both Alexandra and Mead each have a sizable number of individual honours for themselves, with both women having received at least one Golden Boot award, and were both once named Arsenal Women Supporters Club Player of the Season at a certain point in their time with the club. Most recently, in 2022, Mead herself came close to winning her first Ballon d'Or Féminin award that year, which she narrowly lost to the two-time winner and Spanish-born midfielder, Alexia Putellas by a single point. However, this was soon compensated when she won the BBC Women's Footballer of the Year award in that same year, which Alexandra herself had previously received back in 2019.

Modelling

The American supermodel and Alexandra's mother, Christy Turlington, pictured at the premiere of the 1991 film, Bugsy in Los Angeles, California

Despite early exposure to the modelling industry through the likes of her mother, aunts, namely the Princess Royal and Tatjana Patitz, and her later sister-in-law, the French supermodel, Laetitia Casta, Alexandra, prior to her ascension to the throne, has otherwise mostly refrained from ever actively dabbling in the industry. In an interview with 60 Minutes, she attributed her decision to not pursue a career in modelling to a "very important talk" she had with her mother, the American supermodel, Christy Turlington, whom in a separate interview with Women's Wear Daily, had spoken of the modelling industry being "surrounded by predators", a claim Alexandra later reiterated in her aforementioned interview as one of her reasons against actively becoming a model prior to ascending to the throne. In addition, Alexandra also claimed, "Judging by how the media usually likes to do these fun and seemingly innocent comparisons between two people working the same exact job, I don't doubt that regardless of what I would achieve as a model myself, they would always be there calling me that daughter of Christy Turlington, which is something I don't really like to deal with, especially since I respect and love my mother so much". Ultimately, her growing football career at the time also led her to fully concentrate on being a full-time professional footballer, a profession in which she would quickly gain nationwide prominence, as opposed to being a fashion model like her mother.

On the other hand, she also revealed that in the days immediately following her May 2019 coronation, she was then reportedly offered by the editor of the popular American magazine, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue to appear on the magazine's annual cover that year wearing a Union Jack bikini in commemorating her coronation, an offer that she promptly rejected, stating jokingly that "unless I'm some Aquawoman queen, I'd definitely not be celebrating my coronation in a bikini", while in another instance, she jokingly suggested that "if people want to see a beautiful half-naked woman wearing something with a Union Jack theme on it, I believe that my aunt Kate had done it already", referring to her aunt, Catherine, Princess Royal's infamous and controversial 2003 racy photoshoot, in which she appeared fully nude resting on a British Challenger 1 tank whilst strategically covered by a Union Jack flag draped over her body, in protest against the British involvement in the American-led invasion of Iraq that year.

Moreover, Alexandra also asserted that a "physically attractive woman should ideally be defined by more than just her looks, such as by who she is as a person, or perhaps by what she has achieved so far as a human being other than simply winning the genetic lottery". This would later seemingly prove to be the case, as perceived by many when in that same year, Alexandra rejected an offer by Maxim to pose for the magazine's cover in honour of being named "Sexiest Woman Alive", even after the magazine reportedly offered to have Alexandra pose in a much less racy manner. Nonetheless, in the years since, Alexandra has, on several occasions, posed for magazine covers, in which 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.

Interests

Anti-Semitism

Participants at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia carrying Neo-Confederate flags, Confederate battle flags, Gadsden flags, a Nazi flag, and a flag depicting Mjölnir

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.

Beginning in 2017, Alexandra has come to be a strong critic of the United States's then-president and real estate mogul, Donald Trump, whom 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, whom was later revealed to have promoted articles from white nationalist publications, as well as the far-right political movement, QAnon, that would later become infamously involved in the attack on the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021.

Meanwhile, back in the United Kingdom, Alexandra'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 whom has been the subject of various accusations and allegations concerning anti-Semitism. Ultimately, her requirement to remain necessarily neutral and non-partisan in regards to national politics effectively prevented her from doing so, although, on 29 October 2020, shortly after Corbyn publicly dismissed the findings of a report on anti-Semitism within the Labour Party by the EHRC, which he said was "dramatically overstated for political reasons", the Queen herself otherwise wrote a lengthy message on Twitter, calling for "all members and leaders" of the Labour Party to "join together and collectively address such troubling revelations", before later stating, "In an era where bigotry and racism have become more commonplace and troubling, complacency is never an option", a statement seen by many as a subtle but sharp rebuke of the Labour leader's largely dismissive rhetoric towards the issue.

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, Ollie 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, whom perhaps are all too happy to tie her to any bogus anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that you would often hear from the extreme right". On the other hand, during a 2021 online interview with The New York Times, Alexandra herself said, "Honestly speaking, I'd be absolutely lying if I said that I've never sometimes got these typical anti-Semitic taunts and threats, including some death threats as well, but obviously, I can't really just let it get to my head and make me succumb to all the pressure and hate". She further added, "Regardless if you're Jewish or not, I don't think there's anything wrong with an interfaith campaign against anti-Semitism, or any form of discrimination because, at the end of the day, you're fighting against and banishing hate, which is something I believe most people could easily agree and do something about it in the process as well".

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". Incidentally, the Queen herself had been involved in a number of legal disputes with several British media outlets, most notably the Daily Mail, whom was once ordered to pay the former a total of £500 million as settlement to a lawsuit launched by Alexandra herself, in response to an article which she claimed to have "erroneously" framed her as Islamophobic in response to a leak of alleged comments she had made in private calling a group of Islamist politicians in the Southeast Asian country of Malaysia a "cadre of Taliban terrorists", a remark she strongly denied having uttered herself.

Aside from that, 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 PhD 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, whilst particularly criticising the perceived "dangerous levels of media polarisation" in the United States, which she likened to a "warzone between the liberal-leaning CNN and the conservative-leaning Fox News, which is owned by a man who's not even an American citizen".

Humanitarianism

A lifelong humanitarian since her childhood years, Alexandra has, on many occasions, actively partnered with her mother, Christy Turlington, whom was said to have initially exposed her eldest 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 afterwards, 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's 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, whom 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".

LGBT Rights

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, whom 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 controversially asked about her personal opinion towards her aunt's lesbian marriage, Alexandra famously replied, "Frankly speaking, absolutely not, for I see it as nothing else 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, but rather because 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 by this word woke by some angry and depressed television men". Moreover, her most recent decision to abstain from attending the controversial 2024 FIFA World Cup tournament which, given the controversies surrounding the treatment of labourers and the Qatari government's controversial record on the LGBT community, was seen by some as the Queen subtly rebuking the Qatari government while simultaneously sticking to her own personal values.

Style of Play

Much like her half-brother, William Smith, Alexandra, in her capacity as a traditional striker for Arsenal, also exhibits considerable speed on the pitch which, coupled with promising dribbling abilities, made her an exceptional forward for her team, and one that is often expected to score most goals for her team in every single match. Evidently, in an interview with Sky News sports journalist, Luis Stevens, Alexandra revealed that on most occasions, that being the day prior to an upcoming match, she would often "obsessively" watch and study video clips of her brother's own performance in matches as a means to "really understand what definitively made him such a unique and powerful striker on the field". In addition, Alexandra has also credited much of her playing style to her half-brother, whom even served as her own football coach and mentor to a young Alexandra.

Throughout much of her first stint with Arsenal, Alexandra was often played as a traditional striker, in which capacity she performed rather well early on, scoring sixty-three goals in total over the course of fifty-four appearances in total, with one BBC article in 2011 even notably nicknaming her "the definite heir to William Smith's unrivalled football prowess". However, while her second stint with Arsenal saw her rack up a grand total of eighty-six goals over the course of one hundred and three appearances, with her total number of goals scored being somewhat lower compared to her total number of appearances, Alexandra was said to have nonetheless retained her traditional capabilities as a reliable and effective striker for her team. Moreover, it was also during her second stint with Arsenal that for a brief while, then-manager, Pedro Martínez Losa attempted a short-lived and ultimately unsuccessful experiment in "making the female Lionel Messi", specifically by deploying Alexandra in the much different role of a false nine in several matches, before the "experiment" itself was soon terminated due to unsatisfactory results, thereby allowing Alexandra to return to her traditional role as a striker, in which she exceptionally excels.

In addition to her style of play, Alexandra's athleticism, as well as her "pristine sense of discipline", has also been the subject of praise by her teammates and managers, with Arsenal forward, Beth Mead later stating during an appearance on Good Morning Britain, "As someone who had been living for some time with both Alexandra and her absolute legend of a brother, I could confidently say that her brother's football spirit exists strong and deep inside her, and which really shows itself when you see her playing just any normal ninety minutes of football", a sentiment echoed by her fellow teammate, Vivianne Miedema, whom once remarked, "Just like her brother, she was an absolute beast on the field". Moreover, Laura Harvey, whom managed Arsenal from 2010 to 2013, also said, "Throughout my entire time at Arsenal, I've arguably never seen anyone so passionate, disciplined, and dedicated to football than she (Alexandra) was", whilst further stating that then-Princess Alexandra was "far from being an entitled and unruly young teenager as some might have thought, given her background, but otherwise a very good and promising player all the way".

Much like her half-brother's famous football partnership with former England and Manchester United striker, Wayne Rooney, Alexandra, especially in her later years at Arsenal, also established a strong and formidable partnership with Dutch-born striker, Vivianne Miedema, whom she was occasionally rumoured by the media to have had a personal rivalry with in becoming the club's, and ultimately, the Women's Super League's top goalscorer. However, both Alexandra and Miedema have strongly dispelled such a rumour, with Miedema herself stating, "Honestly, on a general level, there will always be some sort of a friendly rivalry between us to be the best striker of all time, but above all that, and without a doubt, we are both ultimately part of the Arsenal Women family, and I value her presence in the family very much".

Media Depiction

Since ascending to the British throne, Alexandra has been the subject of a number of media depictions, which include two films to date, with the first being Captain Alex: Football Princess, a 2021 film depicting an alternate reality where the royal succession laws have not been changed, thereby allowing Alexandra to become a world-renowned footballer, with the titular character being played by actress, Daisy Ridley, and the second being an upcoming biographical film titled Alexandra: The Footballer & The Genius, which depicts the Queen's life from teenagehood up until her ascension to the throne, with actress, Jodie Comer being announced to portray an adult version of the Queen. Meanwhile, in an episode of the miniseries, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, she otherwise momentarily appeared in a cameo role as herself, whom happens to befriend Rory Gilmore, played by actress, Alexis Bledel. Other instances include an appearance on the reality television series, Running Wild with Bear Grylls, the 2017 sports documentary, The King of English Football, and most recently, in the 2020 sports documentary, Alexandra: Football Royal.

On the other hand, a satirised depiction of her in the long-running American sitcom, Family Guy sparked considerable controversy, with critics blasting the show for "ridiculing" the Queen's depressive episode, which, in turn, led to a high-profile lawsuit against the show's producers by Alexandra herself, although the effort ultimately failed, with the United States Supreme Court ruling that the show's satirical depiction of the latter is not liable for any lawsuit and is instead protected by the country's First Amendment.

Controversies

2019 Daily Mail controversy

File:AbdulHadiAwang.png

Abdul Hadi Awang, a Malaysian politician and leader of the Islamist Malaysian Islamic Party

On 13 August 2019, around a month after her equally controversial state visit to Malaysia, controversy arose when the Daily Mail reported on the leak by an "unnamed royal staff member" of a voice recording, purportedly that of the Queen's, in which she supposedly referred to members of the Malaysian Islamist political party, PAS, and its president, Abdul Hadi Awang as "a cadre of Taliban terrorists", a remark that soon provoked an overwhelmingly negative response and outcry from the top ranks of the Islamist political party and from the Malaysian government as well, with then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad calling on the Queen to "immediately apologise for her clearly Islamophobic remark", while British Prime Minister David Cameron otherwise expressed a slightly more cautious response, as he warned the public not to "trust anything that comes out of the Daily Mail's mouth". Eventually, an investigation by an independent group of experts alongside the Metropolitan Police found that the voice recording was "most likely fabricated, perhaps out of malicious intentions". Consequently, Alexandra herself soon filed a lawsuit against the British tabloid on the grounds of defamation, thereby sparking one of the most infamous legal trials in modern British history, which ended on July 30th with the Supreme Court finding the Daily Mail guilty of defamation, which resulted in the tabloid magazine being ordered to pay a grand total of £500 million, the largest amount of settlement money in the history of lawsuits against the tabloid newspaper. Meanwhile, just two days later, on August 1st 2022, Buckingham Palace announced that the aforementioned "unnamed royal staff", whom the palace claimed was a male staffer working for the British royal family, has been fired from all of his duties in conjunction with the ruling by the court.

In the weeks since, rumours begin to flout claiming that the longtime British tabloid was supposedly nearing a state of bankruptcy as a result of the hefty sum paid during the trial, although this was denied by the 4th Viscount Rothermere, owner and shareholding controller of the Daily Mail and General Trust, the media company that, includes, among others, the Daily Mail newspaper itself. Nonetheless, the trial has since been referred to in the media as "the trial that shook the Daily Mail" while some have also described it as "the trial of the 21st century". Meanwhile, the Queen herself, in a posting on Instagram made not long after the ruling was issued, hailed it as "a landmark victory for all the unfortunate victims of the tabloid cartel", while critics otherwise framed it as a "tragic defeat for the cause of press freedom", a sentiment that was subsequently echoed by The Sun owner and Australian billionaire, Rupert Murdoch, whom accused the Queen in an op-ed of "dragging the United Kingdom back to the ages of absolutism where rights and freedom of the people and the press barely existed", to which the Queen herself memorably responded in a Twitter post stating, "With freedom of the press, comes also the freedom of the people, especially from phone hackings by a certain group of people", a reference to the infamous News International phone hacking scandal involving a number of media outlets owned by Murdoch himself, which, among others, were accused of a series of phone hackings, some of which affected those belonging to Alexandra's family members, including the former King Thomas.

Ironically, following the fall of Kabul on August 2021 to Taliban militants, the story briefly regained some media attention when the independent Malaysian media, Free Malaysia Today reported that Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi, son of Abdul Hadi Awang and the PAS international affairs and external relations committee chairman, publicly praised the Islamist militant group's success in re-capturing the Afghan capital, a move which sparked considerable controversy in Malaysia, where many of the country's social media users condemned Muhammad Khalil's stance. In response, then-Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, said on Twitter, "It was only a few years ago that certain people were condemning and blasting the Queen for allegedly calling these Islamist politicians in Malaysia a "cadre of Taliban terrorists", which they claimed was Islamophobic, among others. However, with what the news has been saying so far, perhaps Her Majesty was right all along?". Similarly, outspoken Malaysian politician, Syed Saddiq, whom had previously criticised PAS's celebratory stance towards the Taliban takeover of Kabul, remarked, "While I will always be against Islamophobia or any prejudice against Muslims of any kind, it is ironic that the actions of a few people from a particular political party right here in Malaysia exactly confirmed the supposed controversial statement made by the British queen just a few years ago".

Royalgate conspiracy theory

Sometime in December 2020, outgoing President Donald Trump, whom had then lost that year's presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden, first claimed in a speech to supporters in Dayton, Ohio that among other supposed reasons, the presidential election had supposedly been "stolen" by Queen Alexandra herself, a fervent critic of Trump's, which promptly gave rise to a conspiracy theory known in media circles as Royalgate, with the far-right political movement, QAnon being one of the rumour's most ardent amplifiers. According to Trump, the British queen had supposedly used her father's multi-billion dollar wealth to allegedly influence the outcome of the presidential election in favour of Democrat Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris. At the same time, due to the Queen herself being of Jewish ancestry on her father's side, the conspiracy theory was quickly muddled with anti-Semitic elements, with a large number of Trump supporters likening the theory to that of another conspiracy theory claiming that the Jewish Hungarian-American billionaire, George Soros had supposedly orchestrated the caravan migrant coming into the United States from Central and South America. Meanwhile, the then-United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, Woody Johnson, a longtime supporter of Trump, otherwise criticised the rumour through a posting on Twitter, in which he stated that "such a dangerous and shocking theory could greatly and perhaps even irreparably harm this country's treasured longtime alliance with the United Kingdom, who remains one of our most trusted allies for decades in the European continent", while the Anti-Defamation League framed Trump's remark as a "time-tested repetition of the stereotypical trope concerning Jews and money".

Almost immediately, much like the other conspiracy theories popularised by Trump, Royalgate was immediately dismissed by many as "yet another baseless and crazy rumour" spread by the real estate mogul and his supporters. Despite this, neither the Queen nor her father has yet chosen to respond to the aforementioned rumour, while Trump has continued to propagate the baseless rumour, despite it being repeatedly debunked by most government and election officials, as well as members of his own family, including daughter, Ivanka Trump, whom refuted the validity of the rumour in a recorded testimony to the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

Meanwhile, in an otherwise separate but slightly related instance, a similarly anti-Semitic rumour spread by pro-Trump supporters later claimed that the decision to ban the former Republican president, as well as a number of his own close allies from entering the United Kingdom for the time being, was allegedly proposed by none other than Queen Alexandra herself, an outspoken critic of Trump's, and whom had allegedly lobbied the British government to ban the controversial American president from further entering the United Kingdom in order to supposedly settle a personal vendetta against the latter. Separately, according to the infamous American far-right conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, the ban on further entry by the British government against Trump and his allies was a "clear attempt to subdue those rebelling against the deep state and the global Jewish order", the latter being a reference to the Jewish roots of the reigning Queen Alexandra, whose late grandmother and actress, Lauren Bacall was born to Jewish parents.

Family Guy controversy

On 22 April 2017, controversy ensued when the long-running American adult animated sitcom, Family Guy released an episode which, for its cutaway gag, depicted a scene where an intoxicated Queen Alexandra consumed a number of drugs while resting in her bedroom in order to deal with her depression, which ultimately resulted in her unexpected death. Almost immediately, the premiere of the episode quickly sparked considerable controversy, particularly among royal fans as well as mental health groups, all of which slammed the show for its apparent ridicule of the Queen's real-life depressive episode back in 2014, which began shortly after the passing of her late grandmother, the actress, Lauren Bacall. Moreover, Alexandra's mother, the American supermodel, Christy Turlington, also took to criticise the episode, stating, "As much as it is apparently a comedy to some, such a moment reminded me of the very moment where had I probably been a few seconds late to respond, my beloved daughter would have probably not even be alive anymore today".

Then, a day after the episode first aired on television, several media outlets reported "hundreds or even thousands" of complaints being made against the show's company, Fox, while posters or other merchandise relating to the show were reportedly destroyed and burned in public by supporters of the monarchy, whom had deemed the scene "offensive". Meanwhile, around that same time, Karen Bradley, the then-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, otherwise threatened to prohibit further airing of the show in the United Kingdom unless the show's creator, Seth MacFarlane, as well as Lachlan Murdoch, the executive chairman of Fox Corporation, the company that owns Fox Broadcasting Company, apologise for the aforementioned controversial episode. However, perhaps the most crucial response came when Buckingham Palace, in representing the Queen, filed a lawsuit against Fox Corporation, demanding a public apology from the company, as well as $250 million in reparations. On 29 April 2017, Fox announced that it was pulling the episode off, but at the same time stopped short of issuing a public apology, with MacFarlane claiming that the scene was "nothing different than the other pieces of satire shown on the show", thereby subsequently prompting the lawsuit by Buckingham Palace to go forward, which would then be heard by the Supreme Court of the United States. Eventually, after a two-week-long trial, the Supreme Court later ruled in favour of Fox Corporation, with Chief Justice John Roberts quoting the holding judgement from the Hustler Magazine v. Falwell case, which stated that "parodies of public figures which could not reasonably be taken as true are protected against civil liability by the First Amendment, even if intended to cause emotional distress". In response, Buckingham Palace issued a statement expressing their "disappointment" with the court's ruling, but one that they would "fully respect", while Fox Corporation chairman, Rupert Murdoch, hailed it as a "monumental victory for free speech".

2020 Peterhead incident

A picture of the town of Peterhead, Scotland

In May 2020, controversy arose when The Sun, a leading British tabloid newspaper published a series of photographs depicting the Queen swimming nude from the waist up at a beach located near the coastal town of Peterhead, Scotland. The photographs, which were soon made available to the public proved quick to garner nationwide controversy, with the Queen herself, in response to the publication of the photographs, filing a lawsuit against the tabloid newspaper, demanding that any circulation of the photograph "cease immediately", while also demanding an undisclosed amount of financial settlement as a result of the aforementioned photograph being circulated online. Soon enough, around a day later, the Scottish government under First Minister Nicola Sturgeon issued an order prohibiting the further circulation of the photograph, be it in printing or online, arguing that the photograph was "representative of pornography", which would therefore violate the Indecent Displays (Control) Act 1981, and that it had, according to the Queen herself, violated her "personal privacy" which she had expected by choosing a rather insignificant place (therefore constituting apparent "harassment"). In response, The Sun argued that the Queen being in a public area, such as a public beach itself, allegedly meant that any photographs of her are expected and therefore permissible, to which Alexandra herself replied, stating, "If there exists any thought in The Sun's wicked mind that I'm somehow doing this for publicity or for the male eye, then that particular thought is absolutely incorrect, for perhaps they (The Sun) could learn a thing or two about the health benefits of swimming in such a manner, which I explicitly had in mind while doing so". Eventually, the Court of Session, Scotland's supreme civil court, ruled in favour of the Queen and the Scottish government, stating that such a photograph "reasonably constitutes a form of harassment against and a violation of the plaintiff's personal privacy when the plaintiff was least expecting it".

A subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, in which the tabloid put forth an additional argument claiming that the government's prohibition had "violated the core tenets of a free press", also failed, with the supreme court's president, The Lord Reed of Allermuir echoing Lord Carloway, Scotland's Lord President of the Court of Session's opinion that the photograph "reasonably constituted a form of harassment and violation of the plaintiff's personal privacy". Moreover, the The Lord Reed of Allermuir also stated, "If it had not been for the plaintiff's personal standing as the country's own head of state, this case would not have definitely been a rather unusual one, for which the Supreme Court believes that the publication and subsequent circulation of such obscene photographs of the plaintiff should cease immediately". In conjunction with the ruling, most tabloid newspapers, including The Sun subsequently ceased further publications of the photograph overnight, while the latter itself later paid a total amount of £100 million in financial settlements in line with an earlier lawsuit. Meanwhile, the tabloid newspaper's editor, Tony Gallagher, subsequently stepped down from his position and was afterwards replaced by Victoria Newton, whom in her first public statement since assuming the role, declared, "It is absolutely regrettable that such an esteemed newspaper like the The Sun had to resort to publishing such lewd and inappropriate images of Her Majesty the Queen, an action that we are deeply sorry for and will strive to avoid in the future. As a fellow woman myself, I can deeply understand Her Majesty's concern and outrage when such a thing happens out of the blue".

Meanwhile, in an interview held a few days after the Supreme Court ruled on the case, the Queen snarkily thanked the "kind and unassuming people of Peterhead for not giving a damn about what I'm doing at the beach and respecting my personal privacy as an individual", before later chiding The Sun for "taking such extreme measures just to get a photograph of a woman not wearing a bikini in public, especially in a place that you would not normally go to for such a thing".

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

Honours

National & Commonwealth

• United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter
• United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Royal Williamite 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
• 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 British Excellence
• United Kingdom - Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order
• 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 - Honorary Commander of the Order of Saint John in the Netherlands
• Netherlands - Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Ark
• 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
• Barbados - Sovereign of the Order of Barbados
• Saint Lucia - Sovereign of the Order of St Lucia
• Solomon Islands - Sovereign of the Order of Solomon Islands
• Belize - Sovereign of the Order of Belize
• Antigua and Barbuda - Sovereign of the Order of Antigua and Barbuda
• St Christopher and Nevis - Sovereign of the Order of St Christopher and Nevis
• Grenada - Sovereign of the Order of Grenada
• Tuvalu - Sovereign of the Order of Tuvalu
• Puerto Rico - Sovereign of the Order of Puerto Rico

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
• United Arab Emirates - Collar of the Order of Zayed
• 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
• 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
• South Korea - Member of the Order of Mugunghwa
• Italy - Dame of the Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Republic
• 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
• 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
• Romania - Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Star of Romania
• Chile - Sash of the Order of Stara Planina
• Bulgaria - Grand Collar of the Order of Merit
• Indonesia - 1st class Recipient of the Star of the Republic of Indonesia

Professional Football

Arsenal

• Women's Super League: 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017-18, 2018-19
• Women's FA Cup: 2012–13, 2015–16
• FA Women's League Cup: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017–18
• UEFA Women's Champions League: 2018-2019

Individual

• FA WSL Continental Cup Player of the Year: 2019
• PFA Women's Players' Player of the Year: 2019
• BBC Women's Footballer of the Year: 2019
• FA WSL: Player of the Season: 2011
• PFA Young Player of the Year: 2018-19
• Arsenal Player of the Season: 2011-12, 2018-19
• Arsenal Women Supporters Club Player of the Season: 2011-12, 2018-19
• Women's Super League Golden Boot: 2011, 2012, 2015, Spring Series

Arms

Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Princess of the Welsh (1997 - 2017)	Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Queen of the British (2017 - Present)

Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Princess of Orange (1997 - 2017)	Coat of Arms of Alexandra, Queen of the Dutch (2017 - Present)

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
8. Frederick of the United Kingdom and of the Netherlands 4. Charles III of the United Kingdom and of the Netherlands 9. Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia 2. Thomas of the United Kingdom and of the Netherlands 10. William Perske 5. Lauren Bacall 11. Natalie Bacall 1. Alexandra of the United Kingdom and of the Netherlands 6. Dwain Turlington 3. Christy Turlington 7. Elizabeth Turlington