ADOLPHUS CAMBRIDGE
1st Marquess of Cambridge
(born 1868 - died 1927)
picured above is a portrait of the Duke of Teck, painted by Fülöp of László in 1906
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ADOLPHUS CHARLES ALEXANDER ALBERT EDWARD GEORGE PHILIP LOUIS LADISLAUS was born in 1868, at the apartment of his family in Kensington Palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. At the time of his birth, his distant cousin Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was on the throne.
He was the eldest son of Franz, 1st Duke of Teck, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge. Thus, he was born a member of the TECK branch, a morganatic line of the House of Württemberg, and was from birth a PRINCE OF TECK.
Even though he was related to the Kings of Württemberg, as a morganatic branch, his family was not Royal they were only part of the nobility of the Kingdom of Württemberg. Which at the time of his birth was ruled by his distant relative Karl I, King of Württemberg.
His parents had decided to settle in the United Kingdom because of financial advantages, given that his mother was a member of the British Royal Family and a Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Though, during his childhood, his family had to leave the United Kingdom due to financial troubles. Between the 1870s and 1880s, his parents were absent, but it is believed that he did not accompany them the whole time because he continued his education in the United Kingdom.
Besides his German roots, he had been raised as a British and entered the service of the British Army in 1888, at the age of 19.
In 1894, aged 26, he married the 20-year-old LADY MARGARET EVELYN GROSVENOR. His wife was the youngest daughter of Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, and the late Lady Constance Sutherland-Leveson-Gower. With her, he had four children.
Check a list of his children at the end of this post!
When he lost his mother in 1897, he was 29 years old. And, when his father died in 1900, he, at the age of 31, succeeded as DUKE OF TECK in the Kingdom of Württemberg. At the time, another of his distant relatives was on the throne as King Wilhelm II.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had three Monarchs during the first decade of the 1900s: Queen Victoria who died in 1901; King Edward VII who died in 1910; and King George V, who was married to his sister Princess Mary of Teck.
Before World War I broke out, he was not on active service in the British Army. He returned to fight in the War in 1914, but his health forced him to retire again in 1916.
Because of strong anti-German feelings in the United Kingdom during the War, in July 1917, he as the HEAD OF THE TECK BRANCH, decided to relinquish the title of Duke of Teck and the Princely titles of his relatives in the Kingdom of Württemberg.
This decision had the support of his family and of his brother-in-law King George V, who also gave permission to change his family name from Teck to CAMBRIDGE. A name that was chosen in honour of his maternal grandfather, the late Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge.
Following these events, at the age of 48, he became an untitled man. Officially, as a knight, he became SIR ADOLPHUS CAMBRIDGE, but in private, he was most likely still regarded as a titled Royal.
It was only in November 1917 that King George V officially granted British titles to him. Having already reached the age of 49, he became MARQUESS OF CAMBRIDGE, EARL OF ELTHAM, and VISCOUNT NORTHALLERTON.
In 1918, the German Empire collapsed, World War I ended, and the many German sovereign states ceased to exist, including the Kingdom of Württemberg.
After the end of the War, he and his wife settled in the countryside, where the first Marquess of Cambridge died in 1927 at the age of 59, in the English town of Shrewsbury in the United Kingdom.
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ADOLPHUS and his wife, MARGARET, had four children.
George Cambridge, 2nd Marquess of Cambridge - married to Dorothy Hastings;
Lady Mary Cambridge - married to Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort;
Lady Helena Cambridge - married to John Evelyn Gibbs; and
Lord Frederick Cambridge - unmarried.
picured above is a portrait of the Prince of Teck with his wife, photograded on his wedding day in 1894
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COLLECTION: Descendants of the Monarchs of Ireland - #DotMoI
In a span of four generations, Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge, was related to the Monarchs of Ireland through the paternal family of his mother.
His mother was Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambrigde;
His grandfather was Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge; and
His great-grandfather was George III, 1st King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland - the King of Ireland between 1760 and 1801.











