Queen Alexandra - Dimond, Frances

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Résumé :
By kind permission of Her Majesty The Queen, this book has been based on extensive research over many years in the Royal Archives and elsewhere. The author was the first official Curator of the Royal Photograph Collection. Queen Alexandra was a private person who destroyed or left instructions to destroy, much of her archive, but nevertheless enough remains in the form of original documents, such as engagement diaries and letters and informal information, to chart her life more completely than ever before and to attempt to rectify the negative or dismissive attitude towards her which has gained credence in some previous works. This method, rather than drawing mainly from over-salted and peppered memoirs written much later, aims to show her character, enables readers to get to know her and to appreciate what an enormous amount a senior member of the royal family has to accomplish, while still remaining the loving daughter, sister, wife and mother, and keen supporter of the arts, welfare and education, that Alexandra was. During her life she met many famous, notable and intriguing people, while her own journey - from the young, modest Danish Princess who married the Prince of Wales in 1863, to the popular Queen Consort of King Edward VII, and the beloved Queen Mother - saw her personal development and courageous struggle against disability, especially deafness. She was a generous, thoughtful and caring woman, who maintained her sense of humour and interest in all kinds of things and under sometimes challenging circumstances. She could be a lively correspondent and her letters will help readers to understand her far better than has hitherto been possible. This book is long and detailed and readers may like to dip in and out of it, finding stories in all parts, rather than reading it straight through, but it might claim a place among the variety of entertainments which are comforting us in these difficult times....

Biographie:
Frances Dimond grew up in St Marylebone, London, and was educated formally at Hampden Gurney School, The Grey Coat Hospital and Bedford College, London University. Her informal education came from libraries, second-hand bookshops, relatives' memories, generous book-giving friends and anything that had any connection with historical royal persons, notably the Russian Imperial Family and Queen Alexandra. Having gained her BA degree and taken advice, she wrote to the Royal Librarian to enquire about jobs in the Royal Archives. During a temporary year in the Royal Library, she began cataloguing and identifying royal photographs. In 1970 she was appointed Assistant Registrar in the Royal Archives, working initially with documents as well as photographs, but later entirely with the latter. By 1977 she had become, officially, the first Curator of the Royal Photograph Collection. This involved cataloguing, answering enquiries, giving talks, compiling exhibitions, writing catalogues and, in 2004, Developing the Picture, Queen Alexandra and the Art of Photography. Since 2006 she has worked on the current book, giving her greater insight into a royal life than she would ever have believed possible. In a lighter vein, Frances Dimond also enjoys art, theatre, amateur acting, singing, and dancing, dressmaking and socialising with friends and relatives.