Background

Alice was born at Windsor Castle, the daughter of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, youngest son of Queen Victoria, and Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont. She was named for her father’s elder sister, Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt, who had died of diphtheria in 1878. Alice’s godparents included Queen Victoria, King Willem III of the Netherlands and the German Empress Augusta. The first of several tragedies in Alice's life struck little more than a year after her birth when her father died of hemophilia.

Education

Alice grew up at Claremont House in Surrey, England, which Queen Victoria had bought as a wedding present for Leopold and Helen in 1882. Leopold suffered from hemophilia and died at the age of thirty in 1884. His son, Prince Charles Edward, was born later that year. In 1899, Charles became Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Alice traveled with her mother and brother to Germany, where she lived until 1903.

Athlone and Alice received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Queen’s University.

Career

In February 1940, less than six months after the outbreak of the Second World War, the governor-general of Canada, Lord Tweedsmuir, died after sustaining a severe head injury following a stroke. Prime Minister Mackenzie King recommended Athlone’s appointment as governor-general. Following a circuitous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to avoid German U-Boats, the Athlones arrived in Halifax on 20 June and Ottawa on 21 June. The viceregal couple’s three grandchildren, Richard, Anne, and Elizabeth Abel Smith, resided with them in Canada for the duration of the war.

Athlone’s term as governor-general was dominated by the Second World War. In 1941, the couple undertook cross-country tours in support of the Canadian war effort, visiting Western Canada in the spring and the Maritimes in the summer. Alice became honorary commandant of the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service, honorary air commandant of the Royal Canadian Air Force (Women’s Division) and president of the nursing divisions of the St. John Ambulance Brigade.

As a parting gift to Canadians, Alice established the Princess Alice Foundation Fund to promote youth leadership with funds presented to her by Canadian women. The fund’s president was Canada’s first female senator, Cairine Wilson, who launched a campaign to raise $50,000 for scholarships for promising youth leaders.

In 1943 and 1944, the Athlones hosted the Quebec conferences between the Allied Leaders at La Citadelle in Quebec City.

Alice continued to have a close relationship with Canada after the end of Athlone’s term. In 1947, Alice advised Mackenzie King concerning the selection of antique silver as a wedding gift for the future Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

In 1959, Alice spent nearly two months in Canada, traveling across the country by train, visiting friends and fishing near Kamloops. In Ottawa, she visited Rideau Hall as a guest of Governor-General Georges Vanier and Pauline Vanier. In Montreal, Alice spoke in support of the Princess Alice Foundation Fund, which had been established in 1945 by Cairine Wilson and awarded scholarships to youth leaders. In 1963, Alice visited Ottawa to present regimental colors to the Princess Louise Dragoon Guards in her capacity as an honorary colonel.

In 1966, princess Alice published her memoirs, "For My Grandchildren".

Alice was the chancellor of the University of the West Indies from 1950 to 1971 and frequently visited Jamaica, fundraising for the university.

Achievements

• Princess Alice promoted Canadian culture and women’s contributions to the Second World War. She was the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria and the last member of the royal family to serve as the viceregal consort of Canada.
  
  After World War I, Alice became one of the most widely traveled members of The Royal Family visiting Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Malaya, Singapore, Siam (now Thailand), South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Uganda, Egypt, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, the West Indies, Canada, and the United States.
  
  She was also the Colonel-in-chief of two British Army units and one Rhodesian Army unit. During the Second World War, she was honorary air commandant of the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division.
  
  At the time of her death, she was the longest-lived member of the royal family.

Works

More photos

• book

  • For my grandchildren: Some reminiscences of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone 1967

Religion

Alice was baptized in the private chapel of Windsor Castle on March 26, 1883. Each Sunday Princess Alice walked to the St. Mary Abbots Church.

Views

Alice encouraged royal visits to South Africa, writing that a visit from the King and Queen, "would have done so much to eliminate the absurd racial differences" which she believed "were entirely due to political rivalries and party expediency."

Princess Alice, countess of Athlone was also the first member of the royal family to publicly support access to contraceptives and family planning. In 1933, she was the patron of the Malthusian Ball organized by the International Birth Control Movement to raise funds for disseminating information about family planning methods. The International Birth Control Movement was concerned that wealthier families had the best access to birth control and that population growth was highest among the poor, who were unable to give their children "the necessaries of civilized life."

Quotations: "I had my own charitable work to occupy me. First and foremost was the National Children’s Adoption Association, which I had joined after its foundation in 1917."

"The war factories started and that was our chief preoccupation - visiting endless, endless war factories... Suggestions I had made which had at first been pooh-poohed were adopted... The whole country threw itself into the war work and it was very inspiring to be there at that time. Then they decided that they would need women in the services."

"It was wonderful to meet all the leading men directing the war effort, and the President and Winston and their ladies were delightful guests when we were just en famille, and we enjoyed many thrilling conversations, off the record, as they say."

Membership

Alice was involved in a number of charities and philanthropic activities. She chaired the finance committee and case committee of The Athlone Trust, which provides financial assistance for adopted children and their families.

Alice was also involved in the Deptford Fund (now the Albany performing arts center in London) and the Royal School of Needlework, "besides many times attending functions for good works."

Personality

Throughout her long life, Princess Alice retained a strong independent personality. From her earliest days, she rarely minced words. Physically, too, she was quite fearless; in her early years, she developed an intense interest in hunting big game, and once shot a tiger as it sprang at her.

Alice was frequently consulted on matters of the royal protocol as she was the oldest surviving member of the royal family. There is a story at the time of Princess Anne’s first marriage in 1973 when Alice refused to ride in the carriage procession to Westminster Abbey saying it was not fitting for a princess of her rank. She traveled by car instead. Alice was a familiar sight in the neighborhood around Kensington Palace. Each Sunday she would walk to the local church, St. Mary Abbots Church, and could frequently be seen at the local shops. Alice also could be seen riding on London buses. During Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, Princess Alice proudly wore her Silver Jubilee Medal on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

Alice was a familiar sight in the neighborhood around Kensington Palace. She could frequently be seen at the local shops. Alice also could be seen riding on London buses.

In 1978, Princess Alice had a fall, hurt her shoulder, and had to be hospitalized for several days. Although she did recover, this marked the beginning of the deterioration of her health. Members of the royal family visited her regularly including the Queen, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Princess Alice the Duchess of Gloucester, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, and various Dutch, Swedish, and German princesses. The Queen Mother once remarked that she had been kept waiting while Princess Alice "put a little powder on her face and had her hair attended to."

Quotes from others about the person

• "Unlike most royal brides, this bride looked the picture of happiness." - Lady Violet Greville
  
  "She rode in the carriage procession for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 and in the Silver Jubilee procession of Queen Elizabeth in 1977." - the New York Times

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  Hunting

Connections

In November of 1903, Alice became engaged to Prince Alexander of Teck, called Alge by his family and friends. Alge was the youngest of four children of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of King George III and first cousin of Queen Victoria. At the time of his marriage, Alge’s sister Mary was the Princess of Wales, having married the future King George V in 1893. Alice and Alge were married at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on February 10, 1904. Many royal relations attended including Alice’s cousin Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. Alice’s brother escorted her down the aisle where her uncle, King Edward VII, waited to give her away.

The Athlones had three children, May Helen Emma, later Lady May Abel Smith; Rupert, Viscount Trematon; and Maurice. In 1910, her second son died at the age of six months, leaving a daughter born in 1906 and a son born in 1907. In 1928, Princess Alice and Prince Alexander lost their remaining son, Rupert, Viscount Trematon. Due to hemophilia inherited from his grandfather, Prince Leopold Albert, Rupert died as the result of injuries suffered in an automobile accident.

Father:

Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany

Mother:

Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont

grandmother:

Queen Victoria

Brother:

Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany

husband:

Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone

Daughter:

Lady May Abel Smith

Son:

Rupert Cambridge

Son:

Prince Maurice Francis George of Teck

granddaughter :

Anne Liddell-Grainger

Grandson:

Richard Abel Smith

Grand-niece:

Elizabeth II

Uncle:

Edward VII

colleague:

Eleanor Roosevelt

colleague:

Clementine Churchill

References

• Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A Biographical Dictionary of Military Women
  2003
• Princess Alice: Countess of Athlone
  1981
• Royal Tours 1786-2010: Home to Canada
  2010