Monday, October 27, 2008

Legend Maker: Rev. Alexander MacKenzie

In 2005-2006, starting with a speech before the NZ Pioneers & Descendants, I spoke to about 8 different groups on the "Danish Princess" legend. Jessie MacKenzie's grave is arguably the most famous in West Auckland -- many have come across the stories of royalty making unofficial visits to Avondale's St Ninians cemetery. In 1986 the Danish consul, when approached by some folk and advised that the 99th anniversary of Jessie's death was coming up, was unfortunately not aware of the decades of letter from Denmark (and Wales, and Scotland ...) denying all knowledge of a princess in the grave. He came out with staff dressed in Danish national costume to a service at the gravesite. As I said during the speeches, when I found this out, if he'd only waited for the 100th anniversary, he'd have found out all about the legend ...

The Legend Maker: Rev. Alexander MacKenzie (1842-1920)

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