When you have your health, you have--if not everything--then quite a lot. After a good night's sleep and the knowledge that an entire nation is not judging me or creating expectations around me, I feel reasonably okay. . . but Alexandra, for all of her priviledges, didn't have it nearly so easy. Moreover, sleepless nights and poor health were only the half of it. Imagine living your life in a fishbowl--not the fishbowl of current times, certainly, but nonetheless in fishbowl around which numerous family members, courtiers, politicos, society types and even the folks watching you ride by in your carriage are all too willing to pass judgment on you.
I agree very much with the previous postings. And here goes the "if" game again, but if the Russian infrastructure--on all levels: political, economic, social, etc.--had been stronger and Nicholas had not been deposed and he and his beautiful family not met such a horrible fate . . . well, you and I might be discussing Alexandra, but certainly with not such fervor. Among Queen Victoria's grandchildren and indeed any of the other royal families of the time were personalities that also could be held up to close and equally critical scrutiny. Beginning with the announcement of her engagement, however, Alexandra has been singled and put on display and review by anyone who could wield a pen/keyboard.
Yes, she did "nag." But she was a strong woman, and she wanted to preserve the throne for her son. She loved her husband without reservation while at the same time understanding that her strengths were not necessarily his. Nicholas, in turn, relied upon her strength much of the time, but was also quite capable of listening to his wife and then making his own decisions. It is a credit to Nicholas and Alexandra, separately and as a unit, that in spite of those who tried to lure Nicholas into relationships with other women, he remained steadfastly faithful to his wife.
