Queen Elizabeth’s cousin, Princess Alexandra, celebrates her 84th birthday on Christmas Day, 25 December 2020.

Princess Alexandra was born on 25 December 1936 at her parents’ London home, 3 Belgrave Square.

She is the second child and only daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and his wife, Princess Marina of Greece, and the sister of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Prince Michael of Kent.

Her father, who was King George VI’s younger brother, was killed in a plane crash in 1942, during World War II, when Princess Alexandra was only five years old.

Princess Alexandra began attending Heathfield School near Ascot in 1947 – the first British Princess to go to an ordinary school, then attended a finishing school in Paris.

She has been a royal bridesmaid three times.

Firstly, when her cousin The Honorable Patricia Mountbatten married Captain Lord Brabourne in 1946, and, secondly, at Princess Elizabeth’s wedding to Philip Mountbatten on 20 November 1947.

Princess Alexandra was also a bridesmaid when another royal cousin, Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark, married Prince (later King) Juan Carlos of Spain in 1962.

Marriage

Princess Alexandra married Angus Ogilvy, second son of David Ogilvy, the 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Coke, on 24 April 1963 in a grand service at Westminster Abbey with the Royal Family present.

Princess Anne, aged 13, was Princess Alexandra’s chief bridesmaid.

They have two sons, James, born in 1964, and Marina, born in 1966, but they do not carry out any offical Royal duties.

Princess Alexandra and Sir Angus carried out numerous Royal engagements and official overseas visits on the Queen’s behalf, including Australia in 1959 – for Queensland’s Centenary.

Queen Elizabeth knighted Sir Angus Ogilvy in 1989.

Sir Angus Ogilvy died on 26 December 2004, after several years of illness.

Working Royal

Princess Alexandra remains a working member of the Royal Family, and either patron or president over 100 organisations from the arts to health care.

She still supports Queen Elizabeth and attends ceremonial occasions with other members of the Royal Family.