Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone

Alexander was born on 14 April 1874 at Kensington Palace, the fourth child and third son of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, and Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. Although his mother was a granddaughter of King George III and a first cousin of Queen Victoria, Athlone, as the son of a prince of Teck in Württemberg, was styled from birth as His Serene Highness and held the title Prince Alexander of Teck. He was known, however, to his family and friends as Alge, derived from the first two letters of Alexander and George, and was characterised as a meticulous individual with a quick, but short-lived, temper and an ability to be cautious and tactful. and shortly after served in the Second Matabele War. Alexander was mentioned in despatches during the conflict and, after its cessation, was appointed on 8 December 1898 by Queen Victoria as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. He received a promotion to lieutenant in June 1899 and to captain the following April. For his actions in the Second Boer War, Alexander was, in April 1901, appointed by King Edward VII as a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. The announcement came on 16 November 1903 that Alexander had become engaged to his second cousin once removed, Princess Alice of Albany, daughter of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and thus a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and niece of the then soon-to-be Governor General of Canada, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. They were married at St. George's Chapel, in Windsor Castle, on 10 February 1904 and, The couple thereafter had three children: Princess May of Teck, born 1906; Prince Rupert of Teck, born 1907; and Prince Maurice Francis George of Teck. Maurice, however, lived only for less than six months between 29 March and 14 September 1910. That same year, Alexander was appointed Chairman of Middlesex Hospital. ==First World War==

Prior to the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Alexander, who had been promoted to major in January 1911 and was a brevet lieutenant-colonel commanding the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards, was nominated by the British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith to serve as Governor General of Canada. However, Alexander was called up for active service with his regiment. taking him to battle in France and Flanders. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel, with the temporary rank of brigadier-general, in December 1915. For his service on the battlefields, in June 1917 Alexander was appointed by his brother in law, King George V, as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. During the war, anti-German sentiment throughout the British Empire led the King to change the name of the royal house from the Germanic House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the more English House of Windsor, while simultaneously renouncing all Germanic titles for himself and all members of the Royal Family. Through a royal warrant issued on 14 July 1917, Alexander, along with his brother, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Teck, similarly relinquished all of his German titles, styles, and honours, choosing instead the name of Cambridge, after his grandfather, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. Alexander was then known simply as Sir Alexander Cambridge (being entitled to the honorific Sir through his knighthoods in the Royal Victorian Order and the Order of the Bath), until, on 7 November 1917, the King created him Earl of Athlone and Viscount Trematon, in the County of Cambridge. Athlone had declined a marquessate, as he thought the title did not sound British enough. Athlone's wife retained her royal style and title, while their surviving children became the Lady May Cambridge and Rupert Cambridge, Viscount Trematon. Rupert was the heir apparent to the title of Earl of Athlone, but he died on 15 April 1928 following a car crash, ten days shy of his twenty-first birthday, and the third creation of the earldom later became extinct with the death of the first earl. ==Post-war career and Governor-General of the Union of South Africa==

Following the cessation of hostilities in Europe in 1918, Athlone was promoted to the brevet rank of colonel in June 1919, and retired from the army that November, with the honorary rank of brigadier-general. He took up posts in the civilian world, continuing at Middlesex Hospital. Because of his experience there, he was appointed in 1921 to chair an investigative committee on the needs of doctors. Known as the Athlone Committee, its work resulted in the creation of post-graduate schools for medical education and research, and, in 1937, was appointed chair of a committee of inquiry into the arrangements for "recruitment, training and registration and terms and conditions of service" for nurses. For their London residence, the Athlones used the grace and favour apartments of Princess Alice's mother, the late Duchess of Albany, in the Clock House at Kensington Palace and, in 1923, they acquired a country residence, Brantridge Park, in West Sussex. In December of the same year, Athlone was appointed by the King as both an honorary major-general and as the Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, He arrived in Pretoria in January 1924 and was immediately at work with his viceregal duties, opening the newly finished parliament building, just weeks before his South African prime minister, Jan Smuts, suddenly advised him to prorogue the legislature. In the ensuing election—the running of which forced Athlone to cancel the planned tour of Prince Edward, Prince of Wales For his service to the Crown in South Africa, Athlone was appointed by George V as a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter, on 17 April 1928, and, upon his return to the UK, was made on 4 August 1931 the Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle. The following year, he was also selected as the Chancellor of the University of London, which post he held until 1955. In May 1936 he succeeded Field Marshal Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby as colonel of The Life Guards, an appointment he held until his death. In 1937 he led the Ministry of Health and Board of Education Interim Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on Nursing Services, also known as The Athlone Report. It looked at nursing recruitment, retention and skills and included Dame Ellen Musson In January 1939, Athlone was appointed president of The Football Association. The move represented the first time the FA had appointed someone that was not a football administrator to the position. ==Governor General of Canada==

, US President Roosevelt, and UK Prime Minister Churchill, at La Citadelle, August 1943 , followed by Prime Minister Mackenzie King at the State Opening of Parliament, 6 September 1945 In Canada in the late 1930s, there had been calls from government circles and the media alike for the King to appoint a Canadian-born individual as governor general. However, with the rush to fill the post after the unexpected death (on February 11, 1940) of the incumbent viceroy, Lord Tweedsmuir, and with the country embroiled in the Second World War, Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King advised King George VI that the time was not right for such a change in viceregal tradition. and her family c. 1880; Prince Alexander sits centre with his arm around the Duchess, Princess Mary (later Queen Mary) is seated at far rightInstead, it was George's uncle, the Earl of Athlone, whose name Mackenzie King put forward and the Earl accepted. Subsequently, Athlone, along with his wife and his aide-de-camp, Alastair Windsor, Earl of Macduff, voyaged to Canada to take up his position, their liner using a submarine-evading zig-zag pattern across the Atlantic Ocean to Halifax, Nova Scotia. After travelling on to Ottawa by train, Athlone was sworn in during a ceremony in the Senate chamber on 21 June 1940. The Athlones' three grandchildren, Anne, Richard, and Elizabeth (children of their daughter May), lived with them in Canada for the duration of the war. Athlone immediately made himself active in the support of the war effort, travelling across the country and focusing much of his attention on the troops, either those training at military facilities or those injured and in hospital. Viewing his position as governor general as a link between Canadians and their monarch, Athlone also communicated in speeches that the King stood with them in their fight against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. Further, in December 1941, British prime minister Winston Churchill arrived at the residence, where he presided over British Cabinet meetings via telephone from his bed. It was Athlone's duty to play host at Quebec City to his prime minister, still Mackenzie King, as well as Churchill and President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, who all gathered to take part in what would become known as the Quebec Conferences, with the first taking place between 17 and 24 August 1943 at the viceregal residence in La Citadelle, and the second occurring from 12 to 16 September 1944 at the Château Frontenac. It was at these meetings that the four men discussed the Allied strategies that would eventually lead to victory over Nazi Germany and Japan. When Germany fell on 8 May 1945 and Japan on 15 August of the same year, Athlone led the national celebrations held on Parliament Hill and elsewhere. He thereafter spoke in speeches about Canada's future being marked not by war but by a strong role in reconstruction and reconciliation. During his time as the Canadian viceroy, Athlone also lent his status to various charitable and other social events, and mounted a number of activities of his own, such as tobogganing parties and skating lessons on the grounds of Rideau Hall, as well as skiing in Gatineau Park. When he departed Canada at the end of his time as the King's representative, Athlone left as a legacy the Athlone Fellowship, awarded by the Engineering Institute of Canada. ==Post-viceregal life==

After Lord Athlone's replacement as governor general was appointed on 21 March 1946, he returned to the United Kingdom to retirement, taking up residence again in a grace and favour apartment at Kensington Palace and, on 1 September of that year, resigning as colonel of the 7th Queen's Own Hussars. He did not completely remove himself from public activity, however, and was, along with his Canadian viceregal successor, Lord Alexander of Tunis, appointed to the committee charged with organising the coronation in 1953 of Athlone's great-niece, Queen Elizabeth II, and continued to sit as Chancellor of the University of London until 1955. He was the last surviving great-grandchild of George III. ==Titles and honours==

Military ranks • 23 October 1894; Second Lieutenant • GCB: Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (civil division), 19 June 1911 • CMG: Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, 4 June 1917''' • Grand Master of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, 24 June 1936 Decorations • Royal Victorian Chain, 28 December 1934 Campaign medals • British South Africa Company Medal with Mention in Despatches, 1897 • Queen's South Africa Medal, 1901 • 1914–15 Star, 1919 • British War Medal, 1919 • Victory Medal with two Mentions in Despatches, 1919 • 1939–45 Star, 1945 • War Medal 1939–1945, 1945 • Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, 1947 Coronation/jubilee medals: • 1897: Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Medal, 20 June 1897 • 1902: King Edward VII Coronation Medal, 9 August 1902 • 1911: King George V Coronation Medal, 22 June 1911 • 1935: King George V Silver Jubilee Medal, 6 May 1935 • 1937: King George VI Coronation Medal, 12 May 1937 • 1953: Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, 2 June 1953 Foreign Appointments • Grand Cross of the Order of the Württemberg Crown, 1888 – 14 July 1917 • Knight of the Order of the Rue Crown , 1904 – 14 July 1917 • Grand Cross with Crown in Ore of the House Order of the Wendish Crown, 22 July 1904 – 17 July 1917 • ' KmstkNO:' Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Polar Star, 1909 • Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, 24 October 1915 • Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, 9 December 1916 • Knight First Class with Swords of the Imperial Order of Saint Anna, 14 January 1918 Decorations • Military Cross, second class, 24 February 1916 • Croix de Guerre with palm, 16 April 1918 Undress ribbons The undress ribbons worn by Lord Athlone in undress uniform were as follows: Honorary appointments ==== Personal Aide-de-Camp (ADC) ==== • King George V, 3 June 1910 • King Edward VIII, 23 June 1936 • King George VI, 5 February 1937 • Queen Elizabeth II, 6 March 1953 • Honorary military appointments • Colonel-in-Chief of the Duke of Edinburgh's Own Rifles, 1930 • Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle, 4 August 1931 • Colonel of the Life Guards, 1936 • Colonel of the Governor General's Horse Guards, 21 June 1940 – 12 April 1946 • Colonel of the Governor General's Foot Guards, 21 June 1940 – 12 April 1946 • FRS: Fellow of the Royal Society, 1937 • Chief Scout for Canada, 21 June 1940 Honorific eponyms Awards • : Athlone Institute Bursary Project Fund, Paarl Geographic locations • : Athlone, Edmonton • : Athlone • : Athlone, Cape Town Buildings • : Athlone Power Station, Cape Town • : Athlone Stadium, Cape Town Schools • : Athlone Elementary School, Edmonton • : Athlone School, Winnipeg • : Athlone House, Queen's College, Queenstown • : Athlone Boys High School, Johannesburg • : Athlone Institute, Paarl ==Arms==