The Viscount Alexander
The last British Head of State to serve in Canada was Viscount Alexander. A military man with experience in both World Wars, he was appointed in 1946 and served until 1952.
Viscount Alexander was known as a heroic Field Marshall of World War II. His full handle was a monument to the British Empire: Sir Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, Viscount Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis and Baron Rideau of Ottawa, and of Castle Derg, county Tyrone.
According to Library and Archives Canada, he was a charismatic and popular man. In 1946, he kicked the opening ball for the Grey Cup game, and he travelled across Canada to meet people from all regions, covering 184,000 miles in his time as Governor General.
In 1946, he became the first white man to be installed as an Honorary Chief of the Kwakiutl, and was given a Mungo Martin totem pole to mark the occasion.
A lot happened on Alexander's watch. In 1947, King George VI gave Letters of Patent to the Governor General, handing over all the monarch's powers in respect to Canada. At the Commonwealth Conference in 1949, Canada became known an independent member of the Commonwealth, rather than a Dominion. Also in 1949, Newfoundland joined Confederation, the last province to do so.
In 1950, Canada got involved in the Korean War and fought on the side of South Korea against communist North Korea and the People's Republic of China.
In 1951, Princess Elizabeth, who would become the Queen two years later, came with Prince Philip for a Royal Tour of Canada.
Alexander twice had his term extended, but in 1952, King George VI died and the British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, asked Alexander to return to England at once as Minister of Defence.
During Alexander's tenure, Canada moved ever more strongly into independent nationhood. When he returned to England at Churchill's behest, the departing Governor General was temporarily replaced by an administrator, but the stage was set for giving the role to a Canadian. Vincent Massey was appointed shortly after.
Lord Alexander was a typical British upper class military man. He was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst and given a commission in the Irish Guards before World War I. During the war he was wounded while commanding a battalion of his regiment on the western front, and was awarded the Military Cross, the DSO and the Legion of Honour.
He married the daughter of an Earl, and they had three children and adopted another while living in Canada. When Lord Alexander died in 1969, his funeral was held at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, a burial place of kings. According to tradition, he was interred in a churchyard near his family seat in Hertfordshire.