Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge

Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge(Adolphus Charles Alexander Albert Edward George Philip Louis Landislaus), neè His Serene Highness Prince Adolphus of Teck and later His Highness The Duke of Teck (13 August 1868-23 October 1927), was a member of the British Royal Family and a younger brother of Queen Mary, the consort of King George V. In 1900, he succeeded his father as Duke of Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg. He relinquished his German titles in 1917 to become Marquess of Cambridge.

Contents

1 Early Life 2 Army 3 Marriage 4 Duke of Teck 5 Marquess of Cambridge 6 Titles

Early Life

Adolphus was born on August 13, 1868 at Kensington Palace, London. His father was His Serene Highness Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, the eldest son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg and the Countess von Hohenstein. His mother was Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Teck (nee Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge), the youngest daughter of HRH Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and a granddaughter of King George III. Adolphus was styled His Serene Highness Prince Adolphus of Teck at birth. Due to his unwieldy string of nine Christian names, he was always known as "Dolly" among his family.

He received his education at Wellington College,

Army

Adolphus was a cavalry officer, following in the footsteps of his father, both of his grandfathers, and his maternal uncle. He received his education at Wellington College, before entering the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. At the age of 19, he joined the 17th Lancers, the regiment of his maternal uncle, HRH The Duke of Cambridge, who was the commander-in-chief of the British Army from 1856-1895. In 1894, he transferred to the 1st Life Guards.

Marriage

In October of that year, he married Lady Margaret Evelyn Grosvenor (9 April 1873-27 March 1929), the daughter of Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster

• His Serene Highness Prince George of Teck, later 2nd Marquess of Cambridge, (11 October 1895-16 April 1981), married 1923 Dorothy Hastings (18 May 1899-1 April 1988);
• Her Serene Highness Princess Mary of Teck, later Lady Mary Cambridge (12 June 1897-23 June 1987, married 1923 Henry Hugh Arthur FitzRoy Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort (4 April 1900-4 February1984)
• Her Serene Highness Princess Helena of Teck, later styled Lady Helena Cambridge (23 October 1899-22 December 1969), married 1919 Colonel John Evelyn Gibbs (22 December 1879-11 October 1932
• His Serene Highness Prince Frederick of Teck, later styled Lord Frederick Cambridge (23 September 1907-30 May1940)

Duke of Teck

In January 1900, Adolphus succeeded his father as Duke of Teck. The new Duke served with his regiment during the Boer War and at one time was a transport officer in the Household Cavalry. He then served as the British military attaché in Vienna from 1904 to 1910, retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel. With the outbreak of World War I, he returned to active duty, serving first as temporary military secretary at the War Office and later as military secretary to the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Forces (B.E.F.) in France, with the rank of brigadier general. He was created Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (K.C.V.O.)in 1897, promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (G.C.V.O.) in 1900, and made a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath (G.C.B.), in 1911. Though lionized during his lifetime as a "soldier-prince", papers released in 1998 undermined this assessment, as he seemed to have spent the First World War facing a series of Army medical boards to request sick leave.

In 1911, his brother-in-law King George V granted him the style His Highness, a gift on his coronation.

Marquess of Cambridge

During World War I, anti-German feeling in the United Kingdom led Adolphus's brother in law, King George V to change the name of the royal house from the Germanic House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the more English sounding, House of Windsor. The King also renounced all his Germanic titles for himself and all members of the British Royal Family who were British subjects.

In response to this, Adolphus renounced his title of Duke of Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg and the style His Highness. Adolphus, along with his brother, Prince Alexander of Teck, adopted the name Cambridge, after their grandfather, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge.

He was subsequently created Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Eltham, and Viscount Northallerton in the peerage of the United Kingdom. His elder son took the title Earl of Eltham as a courtsey title. His younger children became Lord/Lady (Christian Name) Cambridge.

The Marquess of Cambridge died in 1927 at Shatton Hall, Shrewsbury, England. His elder son, the Earl of Eltham, succeeded him as Marquess of Cambridge.

Titles

• His Serene Highness Prince Adolphus of Teck
• His Serene Highness The Duke of Teck
• His Highness The Duke of Teck
• The Most Honourable The Marquess of Cambridge