The 1st Earl of Athlone’s Royal presentation silver cigarette case marked for London 1928, in its original box with a crest and the motto ‘HONI SOIT QUI MAL PENSE’ which translates as “Shame on anyone who thinks evil of it” to the Earl of Athlone by Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co.
This was probably to commemorate his appointment by King George V as Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter, on the 17th of April 1928, for his service to the Crown as Governor-General of South Africa.
Dimensions: 8.7 cm high by 9.8 cm wide by 2.6 cm deep.
Weight: 164 grams.
The Earl of Athlone-
Major General Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS. (born Prince Alexander of Teck 14 April 1874 – 16 January 1957). He was a British Army commander and Major-General who served as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa from 1924-1930 and as Governor General of Canada from 1940-1946. In 1904, he married Princess Alice of Albany and in 1917 he relinquished his German titles, including that of Prince of Teck in the Kingdom of Württemberg and was elevated to the peerage as the Earl of Athlone. A cousin and brother-in-law of King George V, he was appointed as South Africa’s governor-general by the King on the 21st of January 1924. For his service to the Crown in South Africa, Athlone was appointed by George V as a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter on the 17th of April 1928 (The Most Noble Order of the Garter (KG) is an order of chivalry). The suburb of Athlone in Cape Town is named after him. On his return to England, he was made on the 4th of August 1931 the Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle and the following year was also selected as the Chancellor of the University of London, a post he held until 1955. On the 21st of June 1940 he became the 16th Governor General of Canada and held this post until the 12th of April 1946. He was appointed to the committee charged with organising the coronation in 1953, of his great-niece, Queen Elizabeth II. He died at Kensington on the 16th of January 1957, at the age of 82, and was interred in the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore. He was the last surviving great-grandchild of George III.
The Earl of Athlone- courtesy of Wikipedia
The Earl of Athlone seated right with left to right Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, US President Roosevelt, and UK Prime Minister Churchill, at La Citadelle, August 1943. British official photographer, Imperial War Museum Catalogue number TR1347.