Adalbert I, son of Conrad I, Duke of Zähringen, inherited his father's Swabian possessions around Teck Castle between Kirchheim and Owen.
Their son, excluded from succession to the throne of Württemberg, was born Count Francis von Hohenstein (1837–1900), sharing the title his mother was granted by Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria on 16 May 1835, two weeks after the couple married in Vienna.
[3] In 1863, King William I of Württemberg raised Francis in rank to "Prince (Fürst) of Teck" with the style Serene Highness (Durchlaucht), heritable by all his male-line descendants.
In 1866, Francis married Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a member of the British royal family and granddaughter of King George III.
In 1871, King Charles I of Württemberg granted Francis the new (and, within the German nobility, higher) title of "Duke (Herzog) of Teck",[4] heritable by male-line primogeniture.
Adolphus's younger brother, Alexander, who had married Princess Alice of Albany in 1904, was simultaneously created "Earl of Athlone" and "Viscount Trematon".