A Royal Wardrobe Unlocked: Queen Alexandra, 1863 – 1910

Alexandra Princess of Wales and later Queen Consort, was one of the most photographed women of her generation. Feted for her style she used clothes to negotiate her way through a fifty year royal career, dressing appropriately but also powerfully for her role. She recognised early on that clothes could influence the public perception of her and she dressed diplomatically throughout her period of influence. This project takes an object led approach to Alexandra’s life through the study of her surviving garments, alongside archival collections, underscoring the valuable addition material culture makes to biographical analysis.

The ROM holds the third-largest collection of these garments in the world.. As a Gervers fellow, Dr. Strasdin was able to continue her research on the extant garments associated with Queen Alexandra, and paint a fuller view of her life through the clothes that she wore.