This date in 1900 was the birthdate of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. 19 facts about him:
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Louis Mountbatten was born in Frogmore House, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, the son of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse. He was Elizabeth II’s second cousin, and Prince Philip’s Uncle.
His full name when christened was His Serene Highness, Prince Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas of Battenberg. Queen Victoria and Tsar Nicholas II were his godparents. However, his nickname among his family was “Dickie” even though none of those many names was Richard. Queen Victoria had suggested “Nicky” but there were already several Nickys in the extended family so it got changed to Dickie. His last name changed from Battenberg to Mountbatten in 1917 when the British royal family wanted to distance themselves from their German roots.
Mountbatten joined the Royal Navy in 1916, specialising in communications and received his first command in 1934 on the destroyer HMS Daring. He was nicknamed ‘the Master of Disaster’ in the Navy for his penchant of getting into messes. In May 1941, his ship HMS Kelly was sunk by German dive-bombers off the coast of Crete, losing more than half the crew, and he commanded the ill fated Allied forces seaborne raid on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in France. Within 10 hours, of the 6,086 men who landed, 3,623 had been killed, wounded or become prisoners of war.
He tried to warn America that Pearl Harbor, which he visited while in command of HMS Illustrious in 1941, was vulnerable to an attack by Japan. Nobody listened to him at the time, but he was proved right in December that year when the attack happened.
Mountbatten married Edwina Ashley in July 1922 and they had two daughters who both served as ladies in waiting to the Queen. Both Edwina and Louis had numerous affairs, though, and there were rumours that some of Mountbatten’s were with men. After Edwina died in 1960, Mountbatten had several relationships with other women including actress Shirley MacLaine.
He was a father figure to Prince Philip, who was estranged from his father, and it was Mountbatten who arranged for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to visit Dartmouth Royal Naval College in 1939 and bring their daughters with them. He gave Philip the job of amusing the princesses while their parents went on a tour of the college.
His matchmaking continued with the next generation as he became a mentor to Prince Charles. He told the young prince to make the most of his bachelor life and then marry a young, inexperienced girl, which, he claimed, would ensure a stable marriage. He tried to set Charles up with one of his granddaughters, but that didn’t work out. He then warned him off marrying Camilla Shand, warning that his affair with Camilla meant he was on the same slippery slope as his uncle, King Edward VIII, which ended with his marriage to Wallis Simpson.
His hobbies and interests included genealogy, in particular, his own links with other European monarchs. From 1957 until his death, he served as Patron of the Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society. He was also a keen polo player, and wrote a book about it.
He oversaw the defeat of the Japanese offensive towards India during World War Two and then the transition of British India to independence. He was appointed the last British Viceroy of India, and became its first Governor-General.
Lord Mountbatten regularly holidayed with his family in Classiebawn Castle in Mullaghmore, Co Sligo. He had a boat there, which was blown up by the IRA, killing him, his two grandsons, the Dowager Lady Brabourne and a local boy. The man responsible for the bomb was one Thomas McMahon who attached the bomb to the boat while it was left unattended. McMahon was arrested before the bomb even went off, because he was suspected of driving a stolen car. Police noticed flecks of paint on his clothes, which they later matched to the paint on Mountbatten’s boat. McMahon was sentenced to life imprisonment, but released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
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