Duke of Teck was, in medieval times, a title borne by the head of a principality named Teck in the Holy Roman Empire, centered around Teck castle in Germany. That territory was held by a branch line of the Zähringen dynasty from 1187 to 1439, known historically as the first House of Teck. The title was recreated in 1871 in the Kingdom of Württemberg for a cousin of its king, Charles.
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Adalbert, son of Conrad of Zähringen, inherited his father's possessions around the castle Teck between Kirchheim and Owen. After the death of his brother Berthold IV, Duke of Zähringen in 1186, Adalbert adopted the title of "Duke of Teck".
In the 13th century, the family divided into the lines of Teck-Oberndorf and Teck-Owen. The Dukes of Teck-Oberndorf died out in 1363 and Frederick of Teck-Owen sold their possessions to the Count of Hohenberg. In 1365, the Dukes of Teck-Owen came into the possession of Mindelheim but had to sell their lands around the castle Teck to the Counts of Württemberg in 1381 (see Kirchheim unter Teck). The last member of that line, Louis of Teck, Patriarch of Aquileia from 1412, died in 1439.
In 1495 Emperor Maximilian I elevated Count Eberhard von Württemberg to the status of reigning Duke of Würrtemberg, also granting him the defunct title, "Duke of Teck". However, the title was not borne independently by any member or branch of that dynasty.
In 1871, the now kings of Württemberg created the title for Prince Francis of Teck, the son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg who had married into the British Royal Family. The title existed until 1917, when the British monarch, George V relinquished all Germanic titles on behalf of himself and his family members living in the British Empire. When the Kingdom of Württemberg collapsed in 1918, the title became extinct.
Duke Alexander of Württemberg married Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde in a morganatic marriage. Thus their eldest son Francis had no succession rights in the Kingdom of Württemberg. William I of Württemberg created Francis, Prince of Teck in 1863. In 1871, Charles I of Württemberg awarded him the higher title Duke of Teck.
Prince Francis, 1st Duke of Teck married Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of King George III in 1866. As the couple had to live off Mary Adelaide's Parliamentary annuity, since the Duke of Teck had little income, the Duke and Duchess of Teck lived in London. In 1887, Queen Victoria, the Duchess of Teck's cousin, granted the Duke of Teck the style His Highness.
In 1892, the Duke of Teck's daughter, Princess Victoria Mary of Teck married Prince George, Duke of York who later reigned as King George V.
When the 1st Duke of Teck died in 1900, the dukedom passed to his eldest son, HSH Prince Adolphus of Teck. King George V granted the 2nd Duke of Teck the style His Highness in 1911.
During World War I, anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom led 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 renounced the use of all Germanic titles for himself and for all members of the British Royal Family who were domiciled in his realms.
In response to this, the Duke of Teck renounced his title of a Prince of Teck and Duke of Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg and the style His Highness. Adolphus, along with his other Teck relation, Prince Alexander of Teck, adopted the name Cambridge, after their grandfather, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge.
Adolphus 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 courtesy title. His younger children became Lord/Lady (Christian Name) Cambridge. Alexander was created Earl of Athlone. His children became the Hon./Lady (Christian Name) Cambridge.
After the end of World War I, the Kingdom of Württemberg became a state within the Weimar Republic. Subsequently no further creations of the title Duke of Teck occurred. The last male line descendant of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck was George Cambridge, 2nd Marquess of Cambridge, the son of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Teck who died in 1981, and no legal claim to the title now exists.
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