Antique Signed Downy Photo Queen Alexandra Royal Frame Crown Connaught Wedding
Bibelotslondon Ltd is a UK registered company based in London Bridge dealing in ephemera and curiosities from Britain and around the world. Our diverse inventory is carefully chosen and constantly evolving.
We work very hard to offer the highest quality works at competitive prices. Our inventory is listed online, and we strive to keep our website completely up to date, so our customers can easily check availability. We believe in offering clients items that are unique and rare for aficionados of the antique and collector's world. Bibelot is a late nineteenth century word derived from the French word bel beautiful, meaning a small item of beauty, curiosity or interest. The word ephemera is derived from the sixteenth century Greek word ephmera meaning a printed or hand written paper not meant to be retained for a long period of time.
Fine large antique photograph by W&D Downey of the Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra, wearing a royal crown for the wedding of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught to Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia in 1879, housed in a gilt royal presentation frame surmounted by a crown and wooden easel back. She was Queen consort of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress consort of India as the wife of King-Emperor Edward VII. Her family had been relatively obscure until her father, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was chosen with the consent of the great powers to succeed his distant cousin, Frederick VII, to the Danish throne. At the age of sixteen, she was chosen as the future wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the heir apparent of Queen Victoria.
They married eighteen months later in 1863, the same year her father became king of Denmark as Christian IX and her brother was appointed to the vacant Greek throne as George I. She was Princess of Wales from 1863 to 1901, the longest anyone has ever held that title, and became generally popular; her style of dress and bearing were copied by fashion-conscious women. Largely excluded from wielding any political power, she unsuccessfully attempted to sway the opinion of British ministers and her husband's family to favour Greek and Danish interests. On the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Albert Edward became king-emperor as Edward VII, with Alexandra as queen-empress consort. She held the status until Edward's death in 1910.
She greatly distrusted her nephew, German Emperor Wilhelm II, and supported her son during World War I, in which Britain and its allies fought Germany. From Edward's death, Alexandra was queen mother, being a dowager queen and the mother of the reigning monarch. She was styled "Her Majesty Queen Alexandra". She did not attend her son's coronation in 1911 since it was not customary for a crowned queen to attend the coronation of another king or queen, but otherwise continued the public side of her life, devoting time to her charitable causes. Towards the end of her life she suffered increasing ill health.
In 1920, a blood vessel in her eye burst, leaving her with temporary partial blindness. Towards the end of her life, her memory and speech became impaired. She died on 20 November 1925 at Sandringham after suffering a heart attack, and was buried in an elaborate tomb next to her husband in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Size of Photo: 30 x 43 cm approx.
Size of Frame: 47 x 32.5 cm approx. Photos form part of the description. The item "Antique Signed Downy Photo Queen Alexandra Royal Frame Crown Connaught Wedding" is in sale since Wednesday, March 27, 2019.This item is in the category "Collectables\Autographs\Uncertified Originals\Historical". The seller is "bibelotslondon" and is located in london. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Type: Historical
- Sub-Type: Royalty
- Object: Signed Royal Presentation Photos & Frame