The Family of Countess Alexandra - The Manleys

[flirtmooni]

has alexandra sisters or brothers?

 

[flying]

has two sisters

another

with her partents

 

[flirtmooni]

her names and birthdays?

 

[paulette]

They are 3 in all. I think the eldest is Princess Alexandra then followed by Martina and then Nicola.

 

[sky]

where did everyone find these pixs?

 

[paulette]

During a circus performance with her sister Martina and their sons.

Her mother is really gorgeous! Of all the three sisters, I think the girl to her left is the tallest!
I like their pics! They are really very close.

 

[paulette]

One of her sisters live in Denmark. I think its Martina while Nicola lives in UK. Not so sure.

 

[bramair]

Does anyone know anything about Alexandra's paternal grandparents? I had read somewhere that she had visited family in Shanghai before. I'd be interested in knowing how they met and whether Alex's grandmother gave her dad a Chinese name. Or if Alex has a Chinese name? Do either her dad or her speak Chinese at all?

 

[Alexandria]

I think Chinese is one of the languages Alexandra speaks, though I'm not sure if it Mandarin or Cantonese. Maybe both since she worked in Hong Kong for a while before marrying Joachim?

 

[moosey60]

Alexandra's dad, Nigel, is partially from Hong Kong. I'm pretty sure they speak Mandarin. I know that Alexandra has visited Hong Kong a few times with Joachim, Nikolai and once with Felix.

 

[Alisa]

Alexandra and her sisters attended an international school in Hong Kong, she speaks the language...and does have relatives there.

 

[Alexandria]

Originally posted by Alisa@Dec 2nd, 2003 - 9:25 pm
Alexandra and her sisters attended an international school in Hong Kong, she speaks the language...and does have relatives there.

But which dialect (is that the right word?) of Chinese does Alexandra speak? Mandarin or Cantonese or both?

 

[moosey60]

Well, Hong Kongese people generally speak odd-sounding Mandarin and some speak Cantonese. However, I'm pretty sure Alexandra speaks Mandarin...

 

[beebee]

Originally posted by moosey60@Dec 2nd, 2003 - 10:12 pm
Well, Hong Kongese people generally speak odd-sounding Mandarin and some speak Cantonese. However, I'm pretty sure Alexandra speaks Mandarin...

This might be off-topic, but people in Hong Kong primarily speak Cantonese, not Mandarin. Cantonese and English are its official languages, and very few of the people I know from that country have a good speaking ability of Mandarin (or so they tell me).

I don't know whether Alexandra can read or speak any Chinese. I'd assume she has at least an elementary grasp of the language if she was raised in Hong Kong, but it looks as though she was educated in foreign schools, so who knows?

 

[Jasl]

I'm not Chinese so I'm not 100% sure, but my friend who was originally from Hong Kong found it difficult to get a job in Hong Kong because she wasn't fluent in Cantonese and couldn't write Chinese characters very well.

So since Alex worked in Hong Kong (even though she worked for an international company), she would know at least Cantonese and very likely know how to write Chinese. Her Cantonese is likely to be fluent - it would be hard for her not to know Cantonese growing up in Hong Kong.

 

[pepperann]

Originally posted by moosey60@Dec 2nd, 2003 - 9:08 pm
Alexandra's dad, Nigel, is partially from Hong Kong. I'm pretty sure they speak Mandarin. I know that Alexandra has visited Hong Kong a few times with Joachim, Nikolai and once with Felix.

I'm sorry, but what do you mean when you said her dad was partially from Hong Kong? Her dad is half Chinese and half British and from Hong Kong and being so they would speak Cantonese and English. Also, she visits in Hong Kong for a month every year since she's moved to Denmark. This is all from an article, where they interviewed her, that I read a while back! =)

 

[Sean.~]

Originally posted by moosey60@Dec 2nd, 2003 - 9:08 pm
Alexandra's dad, Nigel, is partially from Hong Kong. I'm pretty sure they speak Mandarin. I know that Alexandra has visited Hong Kong a few times with Joachim, Nikolai and once with Felix.

Actually, his name is Richard Manely. Nigel is his middle name (although it may also behis usual name). His mother's family is originally from China (I read a biography somewhere).

And people in HK tend to speak Cantonese.

 

[moosey60]

Hmm...well I'm just stupid then. Yea...I meant to say that Richard was half Chinese so there we go then. I'm having fun...Don't Alexandra's parents live on a house on the Shackenborg grounds now?

Yea...I was thinking Cantonese...said Mandarin. Yep...hmm...I heard that Alexandra speaks Mandarin but I guess it's just as likely that she speaks Cantonese too.

 

[Alisa]

I believe she speaks Cantonese fluently. I remember reading that Prince Henrik speaks some Mandarin but couldn't converse with Princess Alexandra as she speaks Cantonese and not Mandarin.

 

[paulette]

Richard Nigel Manley, Alex's father is from Hongkong. He is half-Chinese and half-British. He was raised in Hongkong. I think his parents when he was young migrated to Hongkong from another country.

Princess Alexandra was born in Hongkong. As what I have observed in various news captions, it always says British-born Princess Alexandra of Denmark. That's because Great Britain only returned Hongkong to China last 1997. So, Honglong was like a British protectorate before 1997. So, it's citizens were British. Martina and Nicola, Alex's sisters, were born in Hongkong.

Princess Alex was raised in Hongkong. It was there that she studied her early education but she also studied in foreign schools outside Hongkong.
HRH Princess Alexandra attended :
Quarry Bay Junior School, Hong Kong (1969-71)
Glenealy Junior School, Hong Kong (1971-74)
Island School, Hong Kong (1974-82)
Wirtschaftsuniversität, Vienna, Austria (1983-84)
and studied in Tokyo, Japan (1984-86) and London (1989-90).

She speaks Cantonese. It was also in Hongkong that she worked for a number of years and then she met Prince Joachim.

Princess Alex doesn't visit Hongkong monthly for she is very busy in Denmark with all her royal functions but she does visits there with Joachim, Nikolai and Felix. Usually she goes there during summer or winter.

 

[Times2222]

I saw an TV interview with Alexandra. She speaks some cantonese but does not speak it fluently. I lived in Hong Kong for a number of years. You do not need to speak chinese in Hong Kong b/c most people can speak english

 

[bramair]

I see I started a lively discussion here. But I have a feeling that what I really want to know is information that cannot be easily obtained, such as who was Alex's grandmother? Does Alex have any Chinese relatives in Asia who know about her? How strongly does Alex identify with her Asian side? Have the Danish, whether personally or publicly, had to get used to some of Alex's Asian traits/behaviors, etc.? I guess I'm just interested in any Asian issue that could possibly be related to Alex. Sigh...the things I think of when I'm awake at night!

 

[moosey60]

Don't Alexandra's parents live in Denmark now? Somewhere on the grounds of Shackenburg? 'Cause Richard was there with Nikolai and Felix when Margarethe announced Frederik's engagement. He's also been seen walking with Nikolai...he was with Nikolai and Joachim at some festival?

 

[sky]

I think that alex was born in HK, but hk was under british control so the citizens were born british.

 

[moosey60]

http://kongehuset.dk/artikel.php?dogtag=kh_en_rf_pa

Alexandra Christina, Princess of Denmark
Born: 30 June 1964 in Hong Kong
Daughter of Richard Nigel Manley and Christa Maria Manley
Married: 18 November 1995, in the Chapel of Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød to His Royal Highness Prince Joachim of Denmark
Children: HH Prince Nikolai, born 28 August 1999 and HH Prince Felix, born 22 July 2002

 

[moosey60]

While we're on the topic of Alexandra being from Hong Kong...

"I miss living in Hong Kong..."

COPENHAGEN, Sept 1 (AFP) - Princess Alexandra, who left her native Hong Kong to marry Denmark's Prince Joachim in 1995, likes her new life in Scandinavia but still misses home terribly, she said in an interview published on Monday.

"When I see a sequence on television showing the Hong Kong waterfront, my heart beats faster. It's a good thing I don't see that too often," she told the free daily MetroXpress on the sidelines of the "Images of Asia" festival currently underway in several Danish cities.

The 39-year-old princess, born Alexandra Manley to a Chinese father and Austrian mother, said the things she misses most about Hong Kong are "the smells, the sounds, the sites, the food and the people", as well as Chinese New Year celebrations.

"I miss the cuisine a lot, even if Asian food is, thank goodness, very popular in Europe, especially in Denmark. But I love black eggs, which you never see in Europe," she said.

A mother of two boys, four-year-old Prince Nikolai and one-year-old Prince Felix, the princess said she hopes her background would somehow be a part of their education.

She would like to see them "learn to appreciate the multicultural life in Asia, the energy and rhythm that characterizes Hong Kong," she said.

"A large part of the Asian population is under the age of 25, which gives young people a lot of influence on music, fashion, trends, almost all areas. And our children must be inspired by this dynamism," she said.

While she enjoys her visits to Hong Kong immensely, the princess, who now speaks Danish fluently, said she has made Denmark her new home.

"Denmark is my life now, my future."

"It is however difficult to never live in Hong Kong again. It was a big decision to leave, but I made that decision and it was my choice," she stressed, adding that "Danes have welcomed me with open arms from the start".

"I can only return their kindness and generosity by saying that I like being in this country, I feel Danish now," she said.

 

[paulette]

Princess Alex's parents live in Denmark. In Schackenborg Palace. They have a place for themselves. His father was even ill during the past months. I forgot when was that but I think he is now fine.

 

[sky]

Well, I was bored on day and so i decded to up Alex's family tree. I, knew I could'nt it, but I found out her grandfather's name was william even through, alot of people kno that because it's Nilkio's middle name. And I also found that there might be another Richard, that her father, might of been named after. This would be alot more easier if I lived in China or the U.K.

 

[ingenue]

can someone recap how she and the prince met and fell in love? also notice how different she looks now. when she just got married, she looked so chinese. but now she looks real eurasian!

 

[agisele]

i was reading an article about alex in hong kong's local paper, where she gave an interview when she visited hong kong i think during november. she had mentioned that she didn't know how to speak neither chinese or mandarin, and that she had regretted it as she had always spoken english with her parents, and that her nanny as a child, though who was a local chinese, spoke excellent english. therefore she never got the chance to learn any chinese.