Princess Alexandra of Denmark and Princess of Wales from 1863, following her marriage to Queen Victoria’s son Albert Edward, gave her name to two early New Zealand settlements. Lower Dunstan or Manuherikia in Central Otago was renamed Alexandra in 1863. Just a year later, in a meander of the Waipa River, about 30km south of where it flows into the Waikato River at Ngaruawahia, another settlement was named Alexandra. This was a strategic military settlement: a short way to the south, the Punui River joined the Waipa and formed part of the demarcation line of the area that is known as the ‘King Country,’ following the decisive battle of Orakau. The 2 nd Waikato Regiment built redoubts in Alexandra from which to defend the demarcation or confiscation line, and settlers who had fought in the regiment were granted land. The Waipa was navigable as far as Alexandra so in the mid-1860s the settlement was seen as a potentially thriving future communication and supply link between Auckland (f...