William MacLeish Alexander, Prime Minister of the Star Kingdom of Manticore and Baron Grantville, is a fictional character in the Honorverse, a series of military science fiction novels written by David Weber.
The younger brother of Admiral Hamish Alexander, the Earl of White Haven, William Alexander is a major political figure in the Star Kingdom of Manticore, and is one of the leaders of the Centrist Party. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under the Duke of Cromarty Allen Summervale's period as Prime Minister of the Star Kingdom, effectively becoming the second most important person in the Manticorian government.
After the assassination of the Duke of Cromarty, Queen Elizabeth III of Manticore tried to convince the leaders of the Opposition to support William Alexander as Prime Minister in a government of national unity until the war against Haven ended, but the Opposition refused. William Alexander was then forced to cede the office of Prime Minister to Baron High Ridge, who became Prime Minister with the support of the Conservative Association, Liberal, and Progressive Parties.
During Baron High Ridge's five year premiership, William Alexander was the leader of the Opposition and heavily criticized the government's foreign and military policies from the House of Lords. Following the return of hostilities with Haven (which resulted in an unprecedented military disaster for the Star Kingdom) the High Ridge government fell apart, and his coalition dissolved. The Queen asked William Alexander to take over as Prime Minister, a position which he accepted. She also granted him the title Baron Grantville.
The fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia is the principal town in Eric Flint's 1632 series and Weber coauthored two books in the series, (1633 and 1634: The Baltic War), with Flint. The baronial title is an allusion to the series.