Alexandra quickly fell pregnant, and her sister Marie was writing about it as early as August 1896. “She is very quiet about it and seems pleased. Elli and I have concluded that Sandra will have a boy, I wonder if we will be right.”1 Alexandra’s mother travelled to Langenburg in March to be with her and found her daughter already in early labour. Her water broke the following morning, and her first son – named Gottfried – was born later that evening. Her mother wrote to Marie, “The little creature was beginning to open his eyes the moment his head was born, and he was hardly out, then he yelled quite tremendously, and Sandra said that she felt him even kicking at her. She looked most surprised, and when I exclaimed “a son” poor Erni quite broke down and sobbed violently.”2 Alexandra nursed him herself for a time, despite having hired a wetnurse.
In July, Marie wrote of Alexandra and her grandson, “I found her looking blooming and very gay in fact she really looks like 15, has a very good figure, wears her trousseau dresses (which is always a triumph) and is quite mad about her baby. It is a very sweet little thing, a pretty baby, not big, but most appetising and extremely good and amiable. One can quite enjoy it, as the little creature is always smiling and looks most placid.”3 Alexandra had been glad to get away from Langenburg for a little bit as she thought Langenburg dull with her parents-in-law. A daughter named Marie Melita was born on 18 January 1899. Three more children were born over the years; Alexandra (born 2 April 1901), Irma (born 4 July 1902) and the shortlived Alfred (born and died 1911).
Little Alfred was no doubt named for his grandfather and uncle, who died in 1900 and 1899 respectively. Alexandra’s brother Alfred died in unclear circumstances, with rumours ranging from suicide to illness on 6 February 1899. Her mother wrote to Marie in April of that year, “Our poor, poor Alfred! He gave us only pain and trouble and yet one was always hoping for his better future, one was working for him and had an object in life.”4 It also left the succession in doubt and this was eventually settled in favour of the young Charles Edward, Duke of Albany, the only son of Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold.
Alexandra’s father was suffering from cancer, and by early 1900 he was undergoing treatments. He died on 30 July 1900 and was succeeded by the underage Charles Edward. The regency was taken up by Alexandra’s husband until 1905. In 1913, Ernst’s father passed away, making Ernst and Alexandra the new Prince and Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. During the First World War, Alexandra worked as a nurse. Her eldest daughter Marie Melita was the first of her children to marry – to Wilhelm Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. She had only just turned 17 years old and gave birth to Alexandra’s first grandchild, Prince Hans, the following year.
Gottfried would marry Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark, the sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1931 but her two other children would remain unmarried. On 1 May 1937, Alexandra joined the Nazi party with her membership number being 4969451.5 Her husband had joined a year earlier and her son Gottfried, and daughters Irma, Maria Melita and Alexandra also joined.
Alexandra had been suffering from ill-health for some years before dying on 16 April 1942 at Schwäbisch Hall at the age of 63. Her husband would outlive her for eight years. She was buried at the Langenburg Familienfriedhof
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