Lord Mountbatten

Mountbatten tied the nuptial knot with Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley, daughter of Wilfred William Ashley on July 18, 1922.

The two shared a cordial relationship and were blessed with two children, both daughters, Lady Patricia Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, sometime lady-in-waiting to the Queen, and Lady Pamela Carmen Louise (Hicks) sometime lady-in-waiting to the Queen.

Since Mountbatten had no male heir, he created Viscount Mountbatten of Burma of Romsey in the County of Southampton and Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Baron Romsey in the County of Southampton, according to which since he left no sons or issue in the male line, the titles could pass to his daughters, in order of seniority of birth, and to their heirs, male respectively.

Born to Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife Princess Victoria of Hesse, Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten was the youngest of the four children of the couple. He had two sisters, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Queen Louise of Sweden and a brother George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven. Since his birth, he was popularly known by the title His Serene Highness Prince Louis of Battenberg.

Mountbatten received his education at home for the first ten years of his life after which he was sent to Lockers Park School in Hertfordshire. Thereafter, he shifted to the Royal Naval College, Osborne in 1913.

After completing his education, Mountbatten joined the Royal Navy in 1916. He served on-board the’ HMS Lion’ and ‘HMS Elizabeth’.

At the end of the First World War in 1919, Mountbatten was promoted to sub-lieutenant and attended Christ College, Cambridge where he took a course in engineering.

In 1920, he was promoted to the Lieutenant posted to the battle cruiser ‘HMS Renown’. For his immense capability and hard work, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1920. Following year, he was transferred to ‘HMS Repulse’ and accompanied Prince Edward on the latter’s tour to India and Japan.

Amidst his naval career, Mountbatten did not let go of his education. He enrolled himself at the Portsmouth Signals School in 1924 to pursue his interest in technological development and gadgetry. Thereafter, he studied electronics at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He also enlisted himself as a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.

Mountbatten served as the Assistant Fleet Wireless and Signals Officer of the Mediterranean Fleet for the battleship ‘HMS Centurion’ in 1926. Two years henceforth, he was promoted to the position of a Lieutenant-Commander.

In June 1939, Mountbatten was given the command of the battleship Kelly. During Second World War as commander of the ‘HMS Kelly’ he successfully executed several daring operations. He was also part of the Norwegian campaign. During the war Kelly suffered a lot of wreckage and was finally sunk deep into the water by German dive bombers off the coast of Crete on 23 May 1941.

In 1941, he was appointed captain of an aircraft carrier 'HMS Illustrious'. Since he was the blue-eyed boy of Winston Churchill, he achieved success early in life and rose to important positions and ranks.

By the October of 1941, Mountbatten replaced Roger Keyes as Chief of Combined Operations and was promoted to the rank of Commodore. His profile included planning commando raids across the English Channel and inventing new technical aids to assist with opposed landings.

Mountbatten also had an important role to play in the disastrous Dieppe Raid in 1942, which caused casualties in great numbers and made Mountbatten a controversial figure among the Canadians. Apart from this failure, Mountbatten had quite a remarkable technical achievements, These include: the construction of an underwater oil pipeline from the English coast to Normandy, an artificial harbour constructed of concrete caissons and sunken ships, and the development of amphibious tank-landing ships

In 1943, Mountbatten was appointed Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command (SEAC). Working along with General William Slim, he directed the summoning up of Burma and Singapore from the Japanese. The SEAC was disbanded in 1946 after which Mountbatten returned home with a rear-admiral rank by his side.