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Queen Alexandra

The royal portraits in the Senate’s collection honour the Upper Chamber’s ties to the Crown and Canada’s heritage as a constitutional monarchy.

Princess Alexandra of Denmark married Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1863. She became queen in 1901 when her husband succeeded his mother, Queen Victoria. When King Edward VII died in 1910, Queen Alexandra’s second son became King George V.

As queen consort, Alexandra was an important symbol of the monarchy in Canada. Several schools across the country are named after her, as is the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health in Victoria, British Columbia.

The Senate’s portrait of Queen Alexandra is a copy of the work of Sir Luke Fildes, a popular and successful newspaper and magazine illustrator who pivoted to portraiture. It’s one of four reproductions of royal portraits that George V gifted to the Government of Canada in 1928 to celebrate the country’s Diamond Jubilee. The four works replaced royal portraits lost in the 1916 fire that destroyed the original Centre Block.

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