Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone , was a British Army commander and major-general who served as the fourth Governor-General of the Union of South Africa and as Governor General of Canada, the 16th since the Canadian Confederation. Prince Alexander was born in London to the Duke and Duchess of Teck and was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1904, he married Princess Alice of Albany and rose in the military ranks through his service in African campaigns of the First World War, receiving numerous honours and decorations. A cousin and also brother-in-law of King George V, he in 1917 relinquished his German titles, including that of Prince of Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg, and was elevated to the peerage as the Earl of Athlone. He was in 1923 appointed as South Africa's governor-general by the King, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Stanley Baldwin, to replace Prince Arthur of Connaught, and he occupied the viceregal post until succeeded by the Earl of Clarendon in 1930. Athlone then served as Chancellor of the University of London until, in 1940, he was appointed as Canada's governor general by King George VI, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King, to replace the Lord Tweedsmuir, and he occupied the post until succeeded by Viscount Alexander of Tunis in 1946. Athlone helped galvanise the Canadian war effort and was a host to British and American statesmen during the Second World War. After returning to the United Kingdom, Athlone sat on the organising committee for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. He died at Kensington Palace in 1957 and was interred in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore.
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