Brigadier General Alexander Gore Arkwright Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, was a British Army officer who served as the 10th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1936 to 1945. He was previously Governor of South Australia (1928–1934) and Governor of New South Wales (1935–1936).

The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the monarch, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-general of Australia at the national level. In accordance with the conventions of the Westminster system of parliamentary government, the governor nearly always acts solely on the advice of the head of the elected government, the premier of South Australia. Nevertheless, the governor retains the reserve powers of the Crown, and has the right to dismiss the premier. As from June 2014, Queen Elizabeth II, upon the recommendation of the premier, accorded all current, future and living former governors the title 'The Honourable' for life. The first six governors oversaw the colony from proclamation in 1836, until self-government and an elected Parliament of South Australia was granted in the year prior to the inaugural 1857 election.