Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone

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Princess Alice
Countess of Athlone

As Viceregal consort of Canada
Spouse	Alexander, Earl of Athlone
Issue
Lady May Abel Smith Rupert, Viscount Trematon Prince Maurice of Teck
Full name
Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline
Detail Titles
HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone HRH Princess Alice, Lady Cambridge HRH Princess Alexander of Teck HRH Princess Alice of Albany
Royal house	House of Windsor House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Father	Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
Mother	Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Born	25 February 1883 Windsor Castle, Berkshire
Baptised	26 March 1883 St George's Chapel, Windsor
Died	3 January 1981 Kensington Palace, London
Burial	Frogmore, Windsor

Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline; née Princess Alice of Albany; 25 February 1883 – 3 January 1981) was a member of the British Royal Family, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She has the distinction of having been the longest living, and last surviving, grandchild of Queen Victoria and the third longest living member of the British Royal Family. She also held the titles of Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess in Saxony from birth until 1917, as well as the title Princess of Teck by marriage.

1 Early life
2 Marriage & Issue
3 1917
4 Canada and South Africa
5 Royal duties
6 Later life
7 Titles, styles, honours and arms
8 Trivia
9 External link

[edit] Early life

Princess Alice was born on 25 February 1883 at Windsor Castle. Her father was Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, the youngest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her mother was Princess Helena of Waldeck. She had one brother, Prince Charles, Duke of Albany, and later reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1884-1954). As the granddaughter of the sovereign, through the male line, she was a princess of the United Kingdom and a Royal Highness. As the daughter of the Duke of Albany, she was, therefore, styled Her Royal Highness Princess Alice of Albany. She was baptised in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle on 26 March 1883 and her godparents were Queen Victoria, the Empress and Crown Princess of Germany, the Princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Hereditary Princess of Bentheim, the Prince of Wales, the King of the Netherlands, the Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Prince Wilhelm of Württemberg.

[edit] Marriage & Issue

On 10 February 1904, Princess Alice of Albany married her second cousin once removed, Prince Alexander of Teck, the brother of Queen Mary, in St George's Chapel, Windsor. Upon marriage Princess Alice was styled HRH Princess Alexander of Teck.

Prince and Princess Alexander of Teck had three children:

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Lady May Cambridge	23 January 1906	29 May 1994	Married 1931 to Henry Abel Smith; had issue
Rupert Cambridge, Viscount Trematon	24 April 1907	15 April 1928	Died in a car crash
Prince Maurice of Teck	29 March 1910	14 September 1910

Like her grandmother Queen Victoria, Princess Alice was also a carrier of haemophilia, which she had inherited from her father who himself was a sufferer. Her eldest son Rupert inherited the disease from her and this led to his early death in a car accident.

[edit] 1917

When the British royal family dropped all Germanic titles in June 1917, Prince Alexander of Teck adopted the surname Cambridge, became (briefly) Sir Alexander Cambridge, then the Earl of Athlone, relinquishing the title "Prince of Teck" in the Kingdom of Württemberg and the style Serene Highness. As such, the two surviving children lost their Württemberg princely titles. Princess Alice relinquished her titles of Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess of Saxony, whilst her brother Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who held a commission in the German army, was stripped of his British titles. Alice remained, however, a Princess of Great Britain and Ireland and a Royal Highness in her own right, as a male-line granddaughter of Queen Victoria. From June 1917 until her death, she was styled Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.

British Royalty
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Descendants of Prince Albert
Grandchildren
Alfred of Edinburgh
Marie of Edinburgh
Victoria of Edinburgh
Alexandra of Edinburgh
Beatrice of Edinburgh
Margaret of Connaught
Arthur of Connaught
Patricia of Connaught
Alice of Albany
Carl, Duke of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha

[edit] Canada and South Africa

Princess Alice accompanied her husband to Canada where he served as Governor General from 1940-1946. He had also served as Governor-General of South Africa from 1924-1931. During their time in South Africa, Lord and Lady Athlone had a coastal beach house constructed at Muizenberg, which still stands today and is one of South Africa's national monuments. The Cape Town Suburb of Athlone was named in honour of the Governor, and together with the beach house, it is also the only physical reminder of the Athlones' residence at the Cape.

[edit] Royal duties

In her lifetime, Princess Alice carried out many royal duties. She attended the coronations of four monarchs: Edward VII, George V, George VI, and Elizabeth II. She was also the Colonel in Chief of two British army units and one Rhodesian army unit. In 1950, she became the first Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (then the University College of the West Indies).

[edit] Later life

Lord Athlone died in 1957 at Kensington Palace in London. Princess Alice lived on there until 1981, when she herself died. She died at age 97 years and 312 days, making her the longest-lived member of the British Royal Family until the Queen Mother broke the record on 20 June 1998. Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone remains the longest-lived British princess of royal blood and the oldest surviving granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Her funeral took place in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle attended by all members of the Royal Family. She is buried alongside her husband in Frogmore at Windsor.