Queen Alexandra Memorial opposite St James' Palace

Alexandra of Denmark was Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress 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 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 held that title.

She was extremely popular with the British public, and was Queen from 1901 to 1910 when Edward VII was King. She lived on as Queen Dowager until she died at Sandringham in 1925.

The Queen Alexandra Memorial by Alfred Gilbert - seen here - was unveiled on Alexandra Rose Day 8 June 1932 at Marlborough Gate, London.