On the sudden death of the very popular John Buchan in 1940 Canada was without a Governor General in time of war. For a long time Canadian governments had intended appointing only Canadians as governors general — Australia had long since done so with the appointment of Sir Isaac Isaacs as its governor general. But wartime did not seem the right time for such a move. As the Royal Family had got a lot of public support during the Royal Tour of 1939, Lord Athlone seemed a very good candidate. He was Queen Mary's brother (and thus the King's uncle) and a former governor general of another of His Majesty's Dominions and Mackenzie King advised the King to appoint him. 