When the British royal family abandoned all Germanic titles by Letters Patent issued by King George V in June 1917, Prince Alexander of Teck adopted the surname
Cambridge, became (briefly) Sir Alexander Cambridge, then the
Earl of Athlone, relinquishing the title "Prince of Teck" in the Kingdom of
Württemberg and the style
Serene Highness. As such, the two surviving children lost their Württemberg princely titles. Princess Alice relinquished her titles of Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess of Saxony, whilst her brother
Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who held a commission in the German army, was stripped of his British titles. Alice remained, however, a Princess of Great Britain and Ireland and a Royal Highness in her own right, as a male-line granddaughter of Queen Victoria. From June 1917 until her death, she was styled
Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.