Louis Mountbatten (1900

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Biography

Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was a British statesman, naval officer, and member of the British royal family. A maternal uncle of Prince Philip and second cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II, he served in the Royal Navy during both world wars and rose to become Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, in the later stages of the Second World War. He subsequently oversaw the transition of British India to independence as the last Viceroy and the first Governor‑General of independent India. As the last viceroy of India, Mountbatten also oversaw its partition into the Dominions of India and Pakistan and the integration of the princely states.

Timeline

The story of Louis Mountbatten, told in moments.

1900 Birth

Born at Frogmore House, Windsor. A great-grandson of Queen Victoria. His original family name was Battenberg. They changed it to Mountbatten in 1917 when anything German became politically dangerous in Britain.

Did changing your name from Battenberg feel like losing your identity? Was growing up as Queen Victoria's great-grandson a privilege or a prison? What did Frogmore House give a future viceroy?

1943 Event

Appointed Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia at 43. Churchill picks him partly for his royal connections, partly for his energy. He oversees the Burma campaign, the largest land battle the British fight in the war.

Was being Supreme Allied Commander at 43 about your connections or your ability? Did the Burma campaign define your military career? What did Churchill see in you?

1947 Event

Oversees the partition of India as the last Viceroy. The border is drawn by a British lawyer who has never been to India. Mountbatten accelerates the timeline by ten months. Between 200,000 and two million people die in the violence that follows.

Was accelerating the partition timeline by ten months a mistake? Did the violence that followed haunt you? How do you live with between 200,000 and two million deaths?

1979 Death

Killed by an IRA bomb planted in his fishing boat at Mullaghmore, County Sligo. He was 79. His 14-year-old grandson and a 15-year-old local boy die in the same blast. The bomber serves 18 years and is released under the Good Friday Agreement.

Did you see the IRA bomb as a possibility? Was Mullaghmore supposed to be safe? What would you say to the families of the boys who died with you?

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