Lord Mountbatten
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG GCB OM GCSI GCIE GCVO DSO PC FRS (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), known informally as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman and naval officer, an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and second cousin once removed to Elizabeth II.
The Earl Mountbatten of Burma | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Allan Warren, 1976 | |
| Chief of the Defence Staff | |
| In office 13 July 1959 – 15 July 1965 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Sir William Dickson |
| Succeeded by | Sir Richard Hull |
| First Sea Lord | |
| In office 18 April 1955 – 19 October 1959 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Sir Rhoderick McGrigor |
| Succeeded by | Sir Charles Lambe |
| Governor-General of India | |
| In office 15 August 1947 – 21 June 1948 | |
| Monarch | George VI |
| Prime Minister | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Preceded by | Himself (As Viceroy and Governor-General of India) |
| Succeeded by | C. Rajagopalachari |
| Viceroy and Governor-General of India | |
| In office 21 February 1947 – 15 August 1947 | |
| Monarch | George VI |
| Prime Minister | Clement Attlee |
| Preceded by | The Viscount Wavell |
| Succeeded by |
|
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Hereditary peerage 13 June 1946 – 27 August 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Peerage established |
| Succeeded by | The 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Prince Louis of Battenberg 25 June 1900 Frogmore House, Windsor, Berkshire, England |
| Died | 27 August 1979 (aged 79) Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Resting place | Romsey Abbey |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Alma mater | Christ's College, Cambridge |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1913–1965 |
| Rank | Admiral of the Fleet |
| Commands | See list
|
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | See list |
Early life
Mountbatten, then named Prince Louis of Battenberg, was born on 25 June 1900 in the Home Park, Windsor, Berkshire.[1] He was the youngest child and the second son of Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine.
Mountbatten's maternal grandparents were Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, who was a daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His paternal grandparents were Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julia, Princess of Battenberg.[2]
Mountbatten's oldest siblings were Princess Alice of Battenberg (mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh), Princess Louise of Battenberg (later Queen Louise of Sweden), and Prince George of Battenberg (later George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven).[2]
Mountbatten was educated at home for the first 10 years of his life; he was then sent to Lockers Park School in Hertfordshire[3] and on to the Royal Naval College, Osborne, in May 1913.[4]
Military career
He was involved in World War 1 in the Navy from 1914-1918 fighting against the German Empire led by Kaiser Wilhelm II . He was also fighting against the Empire of Japan (Japanese Empire) led by Emperor Hirohito and Nazi Germany (Third Reich ) led by Adolf Hitler and the Italian Empire led by Mussolini during World War 2 from 1939-1945 in the Royal Navy.
He served in the Navy from 1913-1965 from the prelude of World War 1 in 1913 to the Post World War 2 Era during the Cold War in 1965.
Civil service
In February 1947, Mountbatten was made Viceroy and Governor-General of India. He was in charge during the Partition of India into India and Pakistan. He then served as the first Governor-General of the Union of India until June 1948 and played an important role in talking to the princely states to accede to India.[5]
In 1952, Mountbatten was made commander-in-chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet and NATO Commander Allied Forces Mediterranean. From 1955 to 1959, he was First Sea Lord, a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier. He was the chief of the Defence Staff until 1965, making him the longest-serving professional head of the British Armed Forces to date. During this period Mountbatten also served as chairman of the NATO Military Committee for a year.
In a 1987 book, Spycatcher, it was said that in May 1968 Mountbatten went to a private meeting with press baron Cecil King and the government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Solly Zuckerman.[6] The book said that "up to thirty" MI5 officers had joined a secret campaign work against the Labour government of Harold Wilson. In the meeting, it was said that many people wanted Mountbatten to become the leader of a government and lead a coup d'état.[6] It was also said that the Queen had to talk Mountbatten out of plotting against Wilson.[7] Several historians also said that Mountbatten wanted to use a private military and members of the MI5 to remove Wilson from power.[8][9]
Personal life
Mountbatten was married on 18 July 1922 to Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley, daughter of Wilfred William Ashley.
Lord and Lady Mountbatten had two daughters: Patricia Knatchbull,[10] and Lady Pamela Hicks.[2]
After Edwina died in 1960, Mountbatten was involved in relationships with young women.[11] He had a long-running affair with American actress Shirley MacLaine, whom he met in the 1960s.[12]
Assassination
On 27 August 1979, Mountbatten was assassinated by a bomb planted aboard his fishing boat in Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The boat was destroyed by the force of the blast and Mountbatten's legs were almost blown off. Mountbatten, then aged 79, was pulled alive from the water by nearby fishermen, but died from his injuries before being brought to shore.[13][14][15]
Mountbatten received a ceremonial funeral at Westminster Abbey and was buried in Romsey Abbey in Hampshire.
Lord Mountbatten Media
Portrait by Philip de László, 1925
Prince Edward with his staff all wearing kimono (yukata) during the Pacific visit to Japan in 1922. (Mountbatten standing, first from left). The Rising Sun Flag in the background.
Mountbatten inspecting sailors before the Bruneval Raid, February 1942
(Front row, L–R) Walter Short, Mountbatten and Husband E. Kimmel (Back row) Frederick Martin and Patrick Bellinger in Hawaii 1941
Clockwise from lower right, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Sir Hastings 'Pug' Ismay, Mountbatten: January 1943 at the Casablanca conference
Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1943.*Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten sitting at his desk (close-up, looking up).
Mountbatten during his tour of the Arakan Front in Burma in February 1944
Mountbatten's address on the steps of Singapore's Municipal Building after the surrender
Mountbatten meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru (left) and Muhammad Ali Jinnah (right) in discussing the partition of British India, 1947.
Mountbatten with Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of sovereign India, in Government House. Lady Mountbatten is standing to their left.
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References
- ↑ "Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma". British Museum. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Montgomery-Massingberd (1973), pp. 303–304
- ↑ Ziegler (2011).
- ↑ Heathcote (2002), p. 183.
- ↑ Sanajaoba, Naorem (1991). Law and Society: Strategy for Public Choice, 2001. Mittal Publications. p. 223. ISBN 978-81-7099-271-4. Archived from the original on 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
The princely states had been wooed by Mountbatten, Patel and Nehru to join the Indian Dominion
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "House of Commons Proceedings". Hansard. 10 January 1996. Column 287. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- ↑ Sawer, Patrick (17 August 2019). "Revealed: Full extent of Lord Mountbatten's role in '68 plot against Harold Wilson". The Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/17/revealed-full-extent-lord-mountbattens-role-68-plot-against/.
- ↑ Wheeler, Brian (9 March 2006). "Wilson 'Plot': The Secret Tapes". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4789060.stm. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- ↑ Leigh, David (10 October 2009). The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 by Christopher Andrew. London. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/oct/10/defence-of-the-realm-mi5. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- ↑ Corby, Tom (15 June 2017). "Countess Mountbatten of Burma". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/15/countess-mountbatten-of-burma-obituary. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
- ↑ Lownie, Andrew (7 November 2017). "The love lives of Lord and Lady Mountbatten – bedhopping, gay affairs and dangerous liaisons". The Times. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-love-lives-of-lord-and-lady-mountbatten-bedhopping-gay-affairs-and-dangerous-liaisons-p7wqpk7xz. Retrieved 23 August 2019.(subscription needed)
- ↑ Shukla, Srijan (25 August 2019). "The private lives of the Mountbattens — Open marriage, flings and paedophilia". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "On This Day: 27 August 1979: IRA Bomb Kills Lord Mountbatten". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/27/newsid_2511000/2511545.stm. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- ↑ "IRA Bombs Kill Mountbatten and 17 Soldiers". The Guardian. London. 28 August 1979. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
- ↑ O'Brien (1995), p. 55.
Other websites
Media related to Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma at Wikimedia Commons
- Mountbatten at unit-histories.comArchived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
- Combined operations information
- Information on the sinking of the German submarine U-35
- Mountbatten assassination information
- mountbattenofburma.com - Tribute & Memorial web-site to Louis, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Archived 2017-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
- The Mountbatten School Archived 2008-10-17 at the Wayback Machine
- Mountbatten Internship Programme