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Adolphus, Marquess of Cambridge
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Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge, GCB, GCVO, CMG (Adolphus Charles Alexander Albert Edward George Philip Louis Ladislaus), born Prince Adolphus of Teck and later 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.
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Prince Adolphus of Teck was born on 13 August 1868 at Kensington Palace, London. His father was Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, the eldest son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg and Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde (created the Countess von Hohenstein). His mother was the Duchess of Teck, (formerly Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge), the youngest daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, and a granddaughter of King George III. Adolphus was styled His Serene Highness Prince Adolphus of Teck at birth. With a string of nine Christian names, among his immediate family he was always known as "Dolly", a pet form of 'Adolphus'. He was educated at Wellington College in Berkshire.
Prince 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 College at Sandhurst. At the age of 19, he joined the 17th Lancers,[1] the regiment of his maternal uncle, HRH The Duke of Cambridge, who was the commander-in-chief of the British Army from 1856-1895. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1893[2] and transferred to the 1st Life Guards as a Captain in 1895.[3]
He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Post Office Rifles in 1912.[4]
On 12 December 1894, at Eaton Hall, he married Lady Margaret Evelyn Grosvenor (9 April 1873 – 27 March 1929), the daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster. The couple had 4 children:
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 the First World War, 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 Honourable 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 they revealed that he had spent much of the First World War facing a series of Army medical boards to request sick leave.
With an Order in Council dated 9 June 1911,[5] his brother-in-law King George V, as a gift to mark his own Coronation, granted his cousin the style His Highness, which echoed the gift of the King's Grandmother, Queen Victoria, to the Duke's father.
During World War I, anti-German feeling in the United Kingdom led Teck'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, Teck renounced, through a Royal Warrant from the King,[6] dated 14 July 1917, 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.[6]
He was subsequently created Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Eltham, and Viscount Northallerton all in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. His elder son took the title Earl of Eltham as a courtesy title. His younger children became Lord/Lady (Christian Name) Cambridge.[6]
Vera Bate Lombardi, Coco Chanel's muse and PR representative, was rumored to be Adolphus' illegitimate daughter.
Lord Cambridge died in 1927 at Shotton Hall, Shrewsbury. He was first buried at St George's Chapel and later transferred to the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore. His elder son, the Earl of Eltham, succeeded him as Marquess of Cambridge.
| German nobility | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Prince Francis of Teck |
Duke of Teck 1900–1917 |
Title relinquished |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Marquess of Cambridge 1917–1927 |
Succeeded by George Cambridge |