The British field marshal Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis (1891-1969), was the supreme Allied commander of the Mediterranean theater in World War II. He was governor general of Canada from 1946 to 1952 and British minister of defense from 1952 to 1954.

Harold Alexander was born in Northern Ireland on December 10, 1891, the third son of the 4th Earl of Caledon and of Lady Elizabeth Graham Toler, daughter of the 3d Earl of Norbury. Educated at Harrow and Sandhurst, Alexander served in the British army with distinction in France during World War I. Wounded three times and mentioned in dispatches five times for gallantry in action, he received the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross.

Following graduation from the Staff College and the Imperial Defence College, he saw combat in India in 1935 and was again mentioned in dispatches. He served in various staff and command positions, and...