Presentation of CB (Companion of the Bath) to Major General Hoffmeister by His Excellency Viscount Alexander of Tunis during his visit to Vancouver, 1948. Field Marshal Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis KG GCB OM GCMG CSI DSO MC CD PC PC(Can) (10 December 1891 – 16 June 1969) was a British military commander and field marshal who served with distinction in both world wars and afterwards, as Governor-General of Canada. Alexander was born in London, England, to aristocratic parents and was educated at Harrow before moving on to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, for training as an army officer. He rose to prominence through his service in the First World War, receiving numerous honours and decorations, and continued his military career through various British campaigns across Europe and Asia. In the Second World War, Alexander oversaw the final stages of the Allied evacuation from Dunkirk and subsequently held high-ranking field commands in Burma, North Africa, and Italy, including serving as Commander-in-Chief Middle East and commanding the 18th Army Group in Tunisia. He then commanded the 15th Army Group for the capture of Sicily and again in Italy before receiving his field marshal's baton and being made Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean. He was in 1946 appointed as governor general by King George VI, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada William Lyon Mackenzie King. He occupied the post until succeeded by Vincent Massey in 1952. After the end of his viceregal tenure, Alexander was sworn into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and thereafter in order to serve as the British Minister of Defence in the Cabinet of Winston Churchill, into the Imperial Privy Council. Alexander retired in 1954 and died in 1969.