Titles of Royalty and Nobility within the British Monarchy: Marquess

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A marquess is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. Marquess (from the French marquis, march). This is a reference to the Marches (borders) between Wales, England and Scotland.

The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) of a marquess is a marchioness or marquise. The children’s titles are the same as those of a duke’s children (Lord and Lady). These titles are also used to translate equivalent Asian styles, as in Imperial China and Imperial Japan.

A marquess is addressed as ‘Lord followed by thier first name.

United Kingdom

In Great Britain, and historically in Ireland, the correct spelling of the aristocratic title of this rank is marquess (although on the European mainland and in Canada, the French spelling of marquis is used in English).

In Scotland, the French spelling is also sometimes used. In Great Britain and historically in Ireland, the title ranks below a Duke and above an Earl.

The theoretical distinction between a marquess and other titles has, since the Middle Ages, faded into obscurity. In times past, the distinction between a count and a marquess was that the land of a marquess, called a march, was on the border of the country, while a count’s land, called a county, often was not.

As a result of this, a marquess was trusted to defend and fortify against potentially hostile neighbors and was thus more important and ranked higher than a count. As mentioned the title is ranked below that of a duke, which was often, for a time, was largely restricted to the royal family.

The rank of marquess was a relatively late introduction to the British peerage: no marcher lords had the rank of Marquess, though some were Earls. On the evening of the Coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838, the Prime Minister Lord Melbourne explained to her why (from her journals):

I spoke to [Lord Melbourne] about the numbers of Peers present at the Coronation, & he said it was quite unprecedented. I observed that there were very few Viscounts, to which he replied “There are very few Viscounts,” that they were an old sort of title & not really English; that they came from Vice-Comites; that Dukes & Barons were the only real English titles; – that Marquises were likewise not English, & that people were mere made Marquises, when it was not wished that they should be made Dukes.

One of the most well known Marquees was the form Prince Louis of Battenberg who became Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford-Haven.

Louis Alexander of Battenberg was born in Graz, Styria, on May 24, 1854, the eldest son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine by his morganatic marriage to Countess Julia von Hauke. Because of his morganatic parentage, Louis did not inherit his father’s rank in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine; and, from birth, his style of Illustrious Highness and title of Count of Battenberg instead derived from the rank given to his mother at the time of her marriage.

On December 26, 1858, he automatically became His Serene Highness Prince Louis of Battenberg when his mother was elevated to Princess of Battenberg with the style of Serene Highness, by decree of her husband’s brother, Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.

On April 30, 1884 at Darmstadt in the presence of Queen Victoria, Prince Louis married her granddaughter, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine.

HSH Prince Louis of Battenberg

His wife was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria’s second daughter Princess Alice and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Through the Hesse family, Prince and Princess Louis of Battenberg were first cousins once removed. They had known each other since childhood, and invariably spoke English to each other. As wedding presents Louis received the British Order of the Bath and the Star and Chain of the Hessian Order of Louis.

After a naval career lasting more than forty years, in 1912 he was appointed First Sea Lord, the professional head of the British naval service. With the First World War looming, he took steps to ready the British fleet for combat, but his background as a German prince forced his retirement once the war began.

During the war, persistent rumours that the British Royal Family must be pro-German, given their dynastic origins and many German relatives, prompted the King to abandon his subsidiary German dynastic titles and adopt an English surname.

At the behest of the King, Louis relinquished the title Prince of Battenberg in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, along with the style of Serene Highness, on July 14, 1917. At the same time, Louis anglicised his family name, changing it from “Battenberg” to “Mountbatten”, having considered but rejected “Battenhill” as an alternative.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, First Sea Lord

On November 7, King George V created him Marquess of Milford Haven, Earl of Medina, and Viscount Alderney in the peerage of the United Kingdom. He was offered a Dukedom by George V, but declined as he could not afford the lavish lifestyle expected of a Duke.

Louis’s wife ceased to use her own title of Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine and became known as the Marchioness of Milford Haven. His three younger children ceased to use their princely titles and assumed courtesy titles as children of a British marquess; his eldest daughter, Princess Alice, had married into the Greek Royal Family in 1903, and never had occasion to use the surname Mountbatten. However, her only son, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, adopted the name when he became a British subject in 1947.

While the transition in names and titles was being effected, Louis spent some time at the home of his eldest son, George. After anglicising his surname to Mountbatten and becoming Marquess of Milford Haven, Louis wrote in his son’s guestbook, “Arrived Prince Hyde, Departed Lord Jekyll”.

The Marquees of Milford Haven was the maternal grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II and the great-grandfather of King Charles III.

June 26, 1899: Birth of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia

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Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (June 26,1899 – July 17, 1918) was the third daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (neé Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine). Her murder following the Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in her canonization as a passion bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming conventions, the patronymic is Nikolaevna and the family name is Romanova.

Maria was born on June 26, 1899. She was the third child and daughter of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra. She weighed 4.5 kg at birth. The birth of a third daughter led to widespread disappointment in Russia. Grand Duke Constantin Constantinovich, Nicholas’ cousin, wrote, “And so there’s no Heir. The whole of Russia will be disappointed by this news.” Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, Alexandra’s grandmother and Maria’s great-grandmother, wrote, “I regret the third girl for the country. I know that an heir would be more welcome than a daughter.” Nicholas insisted that he was happy with Maria’s birth, and he told Alexandra “I dare complain the least, having such happiness on earth, having a treasure like you my beloved Alix, and already the three little cherubs.”

Maria’s siblings were Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia, Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, and Tsarevich Alexei of Russia. Maria’s Russian title (Velikaya Knyazhna Великая Княжна) is most precisely translated as “Grand Princess”, meaning that Maria, as an “Imperial Highness” was higher in rank than other Princesses in Europe who were “Royal Highnesses”. “Grand Duchess” is the most widely used English translation of the title. However, in keeping with her parents’ desire to raise Maria and her siblings simply, even servants addressed the Grand Duchess by her first name and patronym, Maria Nikolaevna. She was also called by the French version of her name, “Marie”, or by the Russian nicknames “Masha” or “Mashka”.

At age eleven, Maria apparently developed a painful crush on one of the young men she had met. “Try not to let your thoughts dwell too much on him, that’s what our Friend said,” Alexandra wrote to her on December 6, 1910. Alexandra advised her third daughter to keep her feelings hidden because others might say unkind things to her about her crush. “One must not let others see what one feels inside, when one knows it’s considered not proper. I know he likes you as a little sister and would like to help you not to care too much, because he knows you, a little Grand Duchess, must not care for him so.

Until his own assassination in 1979, her first cousin Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, kept a photograph of Maria beside his bed in memory of the crush he had upon her. In 1910, Louis met the Romanov sisters. He later reflected that “they were lovely, and terribly sweet, far more beautiful than their photographs,” and he said that “I was crackers about Marie, and was determined to marry her. She was absolutely lovely.”

Maria was a noted beauty. She had light brown hair and large blue eyes that were known in the family as “Marie’s saucers.” Maria, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Maria’s great-aunt, declared that Maria was “a real beauty… with enormous blue eyes.” Her mother’s friend Lili Dehn wrote that she “was exceeding fair, dowered with the classic beauty of the Romanoffs.” A gentleman at the Imperial court said that the infant Maria “had the face of one of Botticelli’s angels.” Her French tutor Pierre Gilliard said Maria was tall and well-built, with rosy cheeks. Tatiana Botkina thought the expression in Maria’s eyes was “soft and gentle”. Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, her mother’s lady-in-waiting, reflected that “[Maria] was like Olga in colouring and features, but all on a more vivid scale. She had the same charming smile, the same shape of face.” Sophie Buxhoeveden said that her eyes were “magnificent, of a deep blue,” and that “her hair had golden lights in it.”

During her lifetime, Maria, too young to become a Red Cross nurse like her elder sisters during World War I, was patroness of a hospital and instead visited wounded soldiers. Throughout her lifetime she was noted for her interest in the lives of the soldiers. The flirtatious Maria had a number of innocent crushes on the young men she met, beginning in early childhood. She hoped to marry and have a large family.

Maria and her entire family were assassinated on July 17, 1918.

She was an elder sister of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, whose alleged escape from the assassination of the imperial family was rumored for nearly 90 years. However, it was later proven that Anastasia did not escape and that those who claimed to be her were imposters. In the 1990s, it was suggested that Maria might have been the grand duchess whose remains were missing from the Romanov grave that was discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia and exhumed in 1991. Further remains were discovered in 2007, and DNA analysis subsequently proved that the entire Imperial family had been murdered in 1918. A funeral for the remains of Maria and Alexei to be buried with their family in October 2015 was postponed indefinitely by the Russian Orthodox Church, which took custody of the remains in December and declared without explanation that the case required further study; the 44 partial bone fragments remain stored in a Russian state repository.

Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine/Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven. Conclusion

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In 1930, her eldest daughter, Alice, suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed as schizophrenic. In the following decade Victoria was largely responsible for her grandson Prince Philip’s education and upbringing during his parents’ separation and his mother’s institutionalisation. Prince Philip recalled, “I liked my grandmother very much and she was always helpful. She was very good with children … she took the practical approach to them. She treated them in the right way—the right combination of the rational and the emotional.”

In 1937, Victoria’s brother, Ernst Ludwig, died and soon afterwards her widowed sister-in-law, nephew, granddaughter and two of her great-grandchildren all died in an air crash at Ostend. Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, had married Victoria’s nephew (Ernst Ludwig’s son), Georg Donatus of Hesse and by Rhine. They and their two young sons, Ludwig and Alexander, were all killed. Cecilie’s youngest child, Johanna, who was not on the plane, was adopted by her uncle Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine but the little girl only survived her parents and older brothers by eighteen months, dying of meningitis in 1939.

Further tragedy soon followed when Victoria’s son, George, died of bone cancer the following year. Her granddaughter, Lady Pamela Hicks, remembered her grandmother’s tears. In World War II Victoria was bombed out of Kensington Palace, and spent some time at Windsor Castle with King George VI. Her surviving son (Louis Mountbatten) and her two grandsons (David Mountbatten and Prince Philip) served in the Royal Navy, while her German relations fought with the opposing forces.

Victoria was present at the christening of her great grandson, the current Prince of Wales.

She spent most of her time reading and worrying about her children; her daughter, Alice, remained in occupied Greece and was unable to communicate with her mother for four years at the height of the war. After the Allied victory, her son, Louis, was made Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. He was offered the post of Viceroy of India, but she was deeply opposed to his accepting, knowing that the position would be dangerous and difficult; he accepted anyway.

She fell ill with bronchitis (she had smoked since the age of sixteen) at Lord Mountbatten’s home at Broadlands, Hampshire, in the summer of 1950. Saying “it is better to die at home”, Victoria moved back to Kensington Palace, where she died on September 24, aged 87. She was buried four days later in the grounds of St. Mildred’s Church, Whippingham on the Isle of Wight.

Legacy

With the help of her lady-in-waiting, Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, Victoria wrote an unpublished memoir, held in the Mountbatten archive at the University of Southampton, which remains an interesting source for royal historians. A selection of Queen Victoria’s letters to Victoria have been published with a commentary by Richard Hough and an introduction by Victoria’s granddaughter, Patricia Mountbatten.

Lord Mountbatten remembered her fondly: “My mother was very quick on the uptake, very talkative, very aggressive and argumentative. With her marvellous brain she sharpened people’s wits.” Her granddaughter thought her “formidable, but never intimidating … a supremely honest woman, full of commonsense and modesty.”

Victoria wrote her own typically forthright epitaph at the end of her life in letters to and conversation with her son: “What will live in history is the good work done by the individual & that has nothing to do with rank or title … I never thought I would be known only as your mother. You’re so well known now and no one knows about me, and I don’t want them to.”

Julia, Princess of Battenberg. Russian and German noblewoman

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Julia, Princess of Battenberg (previously Countess Julia Therese Salomea von Hauke; November 24, 1825 –September 19, 1895) was the wife of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, the third son of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.

The daughter of a Polish general of German descent, she was not of princely origin. She became a lady-in-waiting to Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, wife of the future Emperor Alexander II of Russia and a sister of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, whom she married, having met him in the course of her duties.

The marriage of social unequals was deemed morganatic, but the Duke of Hesse and by Rhine gave her own title of nobility as Princess of Battenberg. She was the mother of Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria, and is an ancestor of Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne, and to the current generations of the Spanish royal family.

Life

Julia Therese Salomea Hauke was born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, then ruled in personal union by the Emperor of Russia. She was the daughter of John Maurice Hauke, a Polish general of German descent, and his wife Sophie (née Lafontaine), who was of French, Italian, German, and Hungarian descent.

Julia’s father had fought in Napoleon’s Polish Legions in Austria, Italy, Germany, and the Peninsular War. After his service in the Polish army from 1790 and in the army of the Duchy of Warsaw from 1809 to 1814, he entered the ranks of the army of Congress Poland, was promoted to general in 1828, and was awarded a Russian title.

Recognizing his abilities, Emperor Nicholas I appointed him Deputy Minister of War of Congress Poland and made him a hereditary count in 1829. In the November Uprising of 1830, led by rebelling army cadets, Grand Duke Constantine, Poland’s Russian governor, managed to escape, but Julia’s father was shot dead by the cadets on a Warsaw street. Her mother died of shock shortly afterwards, and their children were made wards of the Emperor.

Julia served as lady-in-waiting to Empress Marie Alexandrovna, wife of Emperor Alexander II and a sister of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine. She met Prince Alexander while performing her duties at court in St. Petersburg. The Emperor did not approve of a courtship between his son’s brother-in-law and a noblewoman, and so the two arranged to leave the St. Petersburg court.

By the time Julia and Alexander were able to marry, she was six months pregnant with their first child, Marie. They were married on October 25, 1851 in Breslau in Prussian Silesia (now called Wrocław and in Poland).

Since Julia did not belong to a reigning or mediatized family, which were the only ones considered equal for royal marriage purposes, she was considered to be of insufficient rank for any of her children to qualify for succession to the throne of Hesse and by Rhine; the marriage was considered morganatic.

Her husband’s brother, Grand Duke Ludwig III of Hesse and by Rhine created her Countess of Battenberg in 1851, with the style of Illustrious Highness (Erlaucht), and in 1858 further elevated her to Princess of Battenberg with the style of “Her Serene Highness”, (Durchlaucht).

The children of Julia and Alexander were also elevated to princely rank. Thus, Battenberg became the name of a morganatic branch of the Grand Ducal Family of Hesse and by Rhine.

Julia converted from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism on May 12, 1875. Princess Julia died at Heiligenberg Castle, near Jugenheim, Hesse, aged sixty-nine, on September 19, 1895, the age of 70.

Prince Alexander of Hesse died of cancer in 1888. They lived to see four of their five children, who had no rights of succession to the Hessian throne, mount a throne or marry dynastically, and to become welcome in-laws to Queen Victoria, whose correspondence reflected a consistent respect and fondness for the Battenberg family.

There were five children of the marriage, all princes and princesses of Battenberg:

• Princess Marie of Battenberg (1852–1923), married in 1871 Gustav, Prince of Erbach-Schönberg (d. 1908), with issue.
• Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854–1921), created first Marquess of Milford Haven in 1917, married in 1884 Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (1863–1950), with issue (including Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Queen Louise of Sweden, and Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma). In 1917, he and his children gave up their German titles and took the surname Mountbatten. He was the maternal grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
• Prince Alexander of Battenberg (1857–1893), created reigning Prince of Bulgaria in 1879, abdicated in Bulgaria and created Count of Hartenau, married morganatically in 1889 Johanna Loisinger (1865–1951), with issue.
• Prince Henry of Battenberg (1858–1896), married in 1885 Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (1857–1944), youngest child and daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; with issue (including Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg later Queen of Spain). His children resided in the UK and became lords and ladies with the surname Mountbatten in 1917 (see “Name change” below). His eldest son was created the first Marquess of Carisbrooke in 1917.
• Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg (1861–1924), married in 1897 Princess Anna Petrovich-Njegosh of Montenegro (1874–1971), with no issue.

Name change to “Mountbatten”

Julia’s eldest son, Ludwig (Louis) of Battenberg, became a British subject, and during World War I, due to anti-German sentiment prevalent at the time, anglicised his name to Mountbatten (a literal translation of the German Battenberg), as did his nephews, the sons of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice.

The members of this branch of the family also renounced all German titles and were granted peerages by their cousin King George V of the United Kingdom: Prince Louis became the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while Prince Alexander, Prince Henry’s eldest son, became the 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke.

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven. Part III.

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In 1937, Victoria’s brother, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, died and soon afterwards her widowed sister-in-law, nephew, granddaughter and two of her great-grandchildren all died in an air crash at Ostend.

Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, had married Victoria’s nephew (Ernst Ludwig’s son), Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus of Hesse and by Rhine. They and their two young sons, Ludwig and Alexander, were all killed.

Further tragedy soon followed when Victoria’s son, George, died of bone cancer the following year. Her granddaughter, Lady Pamela Hicks, remembered her grandmother’s tears.

In World War II Victoria was bombed out of Kensington Palace, and spent some time at Windsor Castle with King George VI. Her surviving son (Louis Mountbatten) and her two grandsons (David Mountbatten and Prince Philip) served in the Royal Navy, while her German relations fought with the opposing forces.

Victoria spent most of her time reading and worrying about her children; her daughter, Alice, remained in occupied Greece and was unable to communicate with her mother for four years at the height of the war.

After the Allied victory, her son, Louis, was made Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. He was offered the post of Viceroy of India, but she was deeply opposed to his accepting, knowing that the position would be dangerous and difficult; he accepted anyway.

Victoria was present at the christening of her great grandson, the current Prince of Wales.

Victoria fell ill with bronchitis (she had smoked since the age of sixteen) at Lord Mountbatten’s home at Broadlands, Hampshire, in the summer of 1950. Saying “it is better to die at home”, Victoria moved back to Kensington Palace, where she died on September 24 aged 87. She was buried four days later in the grounds of St. Mildred’s Church, Whippingham on the Isle of Wight.

Legacy

With the help of her lady-in-waiting, Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, Victoria wrote an unpublished memoir, held in the Mountbatten archive at the University of Southampton, which remains an interesting source for royal historians. A selection of Queen Victoria’s letters to Victoria have been published with a commentary by Richard Hough and an introduction by Victoria’s granddaughter, Patricia Mountbatten.

Lord Mountbatten remembered her fondly: “My mother was very quick on the uptake, very talkative, very aggressive and argumentative. With her marvellous brain she sharpened people’s wits.” Her granddaughter thought her “formidable, but never intimidating … a supremely honest woman, full of commonsense and modesty.”

Victoria wrote her own typically forthright epitaph at the end of her life in letters to and conversation with her son: “What will live in history is the good work done by the individual & that has nothing to do with rank or title … I never thought I would be known only as your mother. You’re so well known now and no one knows about me, and I don’t want them to.”

June 25, 1900: Birth of Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Part II.

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Personal Life

Earl Mountbatten admitted “Edwina and I spent all our married lives getting into other people’s beds.” He maintained an affair for several years with Yola Letellier, the wife of Henri Letellier, publisher of Le Journal and mayor of Deauville (1925–28). Yola Letellier’s life story was the inspiration for Colette’s novel Gigi.

Yola Letellier

After Edwina’s death in 1960, Mountbatten was involved in relationships with young women, according to his daughter Patricia, his secretary John Barratt, his valet Bill Evans and William Stadiem, an employee of Madame Claude.

Sexuality

Ron Perks, Mountbatten’s driver in Malta in 1948, alleged that he used to visit the Red House, a gay brothel in Rabat. Andrew Lownie, a Royal Historical Society fellow, wrote that the FBI maintained files regarding Mountbatten’s alleged homosexuality. He also interviewed several young men who claimed to have been in a relationship with him. Barratt has denied Mountbatten was a homosexual, claiming it would be impossible for such a fact to be hidden from him.

Earl Mountbatten and The Duke of Edinburgh

Allegations of sexual abuse

The FBI file on Mountbatten, began after he took on the role of Supreme Allied Commander in Southeast Asia in 1944, contains a claim by American author Elizabeth Wharton Drexel that Mountbatten had “a perversion for young boys”. Norman Nield, Mountbatten’s driver from 1942–43, told the tabloid New Zealand Truth that he transported young boys aged 8 to 12 and was paid to keep quiet. Robin Bryans had also claimed to the Irish magazine Now that he and Anthony Blunt, along with others, were part of a ring that engaged in homosexual orgies and procured boys in their first year at public schools such as the Portora Royal School in Enniskillen.

Several former residents of the Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast have asserted that they were trafficked to Mountbatten at his residence in Mullaghmore, County Sligo. These claims were dismissed at the time. A recent book detailing the Irish magazine Village’s investigation asserts that Mountbatten was the most high-profile member of an extensive British-Irish child rape network.

Career After India

From 1954 to 1959, Mountbatten was First Sea Lord, a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier. Thereafter he served as 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 the Suez Crisis of 1956, Mountbatten strongly advised his old friend Prime Minister Anthony Eden against the Conservative government’s plans to seize the Suez canal in conjunction with France and Israel. He argued that such a move would destabilize the Middle East, undermine the authority of the United Nations, divide the Commonwealth and diminish Britain’s global standing. His advice was not taken. Eden insisted that Mountbatten not resign. Instead he worked hard to prepare the Royal Navy for war with characteristic professionalism and thoroughness.

Death

On August 27, 1979, Mountbatten went lobster-potting and tuna fishing in his 30-foot (9.1 m) wooden boat, Shadow V, which had been moored in the harbour at Mullaghmore. IRA member Thomas McMahon had slipped onto the unguarded boat that night and attached a radio-controlled bomb weighing 50 pounds (23 kg). When Mountbatten and his party had brought the boat just a few hundred yards from the shore, the bomb was detonated. 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.

Also aboard the boat were his elder daughter Patricia, Lady Brabourne; her husband Lord Brabourne; their twin sons Nicholas and Timothy Knatchbull; Lord Brabourne’s mother Doreen, Dowager Lady Brabourne; and Paul Maxwell, a young crew member from Enniskillen in County Fermanagh. Nicholas (aged 14) and Paul (aged 15) were killed by the blast and the others were seriously injured. Doreen, Dowager Lady Brabourne (aged 83), died from her injuries the following day.

The attack triggered outrage and condemnation around the world. The Queen received messages of condolence from leaders including American President Jimmy Carter and Pope John Paul II. Carter expressed his “profound sadness” at the death.

Daughter as heir

Lord and Lady Mountbatten had two daughters: Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma (14 February 1924 – 13 June 2017), sometime lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II, and Lady Pamela Hicks (born 19 April 1929), who accompanied them to India in 1947–1948 and was also sometime lady-in-waiting to the Queen.

Since Mountbatten had no sons when he was created Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, of Romsey in the County of Southampton on August 27, 1946 and then Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Baron Romsey, in the County of Southampton on October 28, 1947, the Letters Patent were drafted such that in the event 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 male heirs respectively.

June 25, 1900: Birth of Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Part I.

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Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; June 25, 1900 – August 27, 1979), was a British Royal Navy officer and statesman, a Maternal Uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and second cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. During the Second World War, he was Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command (1943–1946). He was the last Viceroy of India (1947) and the first governor-general of independent India (1947–1948).

Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

Lord Mountbatten was known as His Serene Highness Prince Louis of Battenberg from the time of his birth at Frogmore House in the Home Park, Windsor, Berkshire until 1917, when he and several other relations of King George V of the United Kingdom dropped their German styles and titles.

Lord Mountbatten was the youngest child and the second son of Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. His maternal grandparents were Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, 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 von Hauke, Princess of Battenberg.

Mountbatten’s paternal grandparents’ marriage was morganatic because his grandmother was not of royal lineage; as a result, he and his father were styled “Serene Highness” rather than “Grand Ducal Highness”, and were not eligible to be titled Princes of Hesse and by Rhine and were given the less exalted Battenberg title. His siblings were Princess Alice of Greece and Denmark (mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh), Queen Louise of Sweden, and George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven.

Young Mountbatten’s nickname among family and friends was “Dickie”, although “Richard” was not among his given names. This was because his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, had suggested the nickname of “Nicky”, but to avoid confusion with the many Nickys of the Russian Imperial Family (“Nicky” was particularly used to refer to Nicholas II, the last Russian Emperor) Nicky” was changed to “Dickie”.

Mountbatten was posted as midshipman to the battlecruiser HMS Lion in July 1916 and, after seeing action in August 1916, transferred to the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth during the closing phases of the First World War. In June 1917, when the royal family stopped using their German names and titles and adopted the more British-sounding “Windsor”, his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg became Louis Mountbatten, and was created 1st Marquess of Milford Haven. His second son acquired the courtesy title Lord Louis Mountbatten and was known as Lord Louis until he was created a peer in 1946. He paid a visit of ten days to the Western Front, in July 1918.

Louis Mountbatten and Edwina Ashley

Lord Mountbatten was married on July 18, 1922 to Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley, daughter of Wilfred William Ashley, later 1st Baron Mount Temple, himself a grandson of the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. She was the favourite granddaughter of the Edwardian magnate Sir Ernest Cassel and the principal heir to his fortune. The couple spent heavily on households, luxuries and entertainment. There followed a honeymoon tour of European royal courts and America which included a visit to Niagara Falls (because “all honeymooners went there”).

Last viceroy of India

His experience in the region and in particular his perceived Labour sympathies at that time led to Clement Attlee advising King George VI to appoint Mountbatten Viceroy of India on 20 February 20, 1947 charged with overseeing the transition of British India to independence no later than June 30, 1948.

Mountbatten’s instructions were to avoid partition and preserve a united India as a result of the transference of power but authorised him to adapt to a changing situation in order to get Britain out promptly with minimal reputational damage. Soon after he arrived, Mountbatten concluded that the situation was too volatile to wait even a year before granting independence to India.

Lord and Lady Mountbatten with Mahatma Gandhi, 1947

Although his advisers favoured a gradual transfer of independence, Mountbatten decided the only way forward was a quick and orderly transfer of independence before 1947 was out. In his view, any longer would mean civil war. The Viceroy also hurried so he could return to his senior technical Navy courses.

Mountbatten was fond of Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru and his liberal outlook for the country. He felt differently about the Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah, but was aware of his power, stating “If it could be said that any single man held the future of India in the palm of his hand in 1947, that man was Mohammad Ali Jinnah.” During his meeting with Jinnah on April 5, 1947, Mountbatten tried to persuade Jinnah of a united India, citing the difficult task of dividing the mixed states of Punjab and Bengal, but the Muslim leader was unyielding in his goal of establishing a separate Muslim state called Pakistan.

Given the British government’s recommendations to grant independence quickly, Mountbatten concluded that a united India was an unachievable goal and resigned himself to a plan for partition, creating the independent nations of India and Pakistan. Mountbatten set a date for the transfer of power from the British to the Indians, arguing that a fixed timeline would convince Indians of his and the British government’s sincerity in working towards a swift and efficient independence, excluding all possibilities of stalling the process.

Lord and Lady Mountbatten with Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Among the Indian leaders, Mahatma Gandhi emphatically insisted on maintaining a united India and for a while successfully rallied people to this goal. During his meeting with Mountbatten, Gandhi asked Mountbatten to invite Jinnah to form a new Central government, but Mountbatten never uttered a word of Gandhi’s ideas to Jinnah. And when Mountbatten’s timeline offered the prospect of attaining independence soon, sentiments took a different turn. Given Mountbatten’s determination, Nehru and Patel’s inability to deal with the Muslim League and lastly Jinnah’s obstinacy, all Indian party leaders (except Gandhi) acquiesced to Jinnah’s plan to divide India.

When India and Pakistan attained independence at midnight on the night of 14–15 August 1947, Mountbatten remained in New Delhi for 10 months, serving as the first governor general of an independent India until June 1948.

On this date in History: June 26, 1899. Birth of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia. Part I.

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Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, (June 26, 1899 – July 17, 1918) was the third daughter of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (Princess Alix of Hesse and By Rhine).

Contemporaries sources described Maria as a pretty, flirtatious girl, broadly built woman with light brown hair and large blue eyes that were known in the family as “Marie’s saucers”. Her French tutor Pierre Gilliard said Maria was tall and well-built, with rosy cheeks. Tatiana Botkina thought the expression in Maria’s eyes was “soft and gentle.” As an infant and toddler, her physical appearance was compared to one of Botticelli’s angels. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia nicknamed her “The Amiable Baby” because of her good nature.

Maria’s siblings were Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, Grand Duchess Tatiana of Russia, Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, and Tsarevich Alexei of Russia. Maria’s Russian title (Velikaya Knyazhna Великая Княжна) is most precisely translated as “Grand Princess”, meaning that Maria, as an “Imperial Highness” was higher in rank than other Princesses in Europe who were “Royal Highnesses”. “Grand Duchess” is the most widely used English translation of the title.

However, in keeping with her parents’ desire to raise Maria and her siblings simply, even servants addressed the Grand Duchess by her first name and patronym, Maria Nikolaevna. She was also called by the French version of her name, “Marie,” or by the Russian nicknames “Masha” or “Mashka”.

Maria had a talent for drawing and sketched well, always using her left hand, but was generally uninterested in her schoolwork. She was surprisingly strong and sometimes amused herself by demonstrating how she could lift her tutors off the ground. Though usually sweet-natured, Maria could also be stubborn. Her mother complained in one letter that Maria was grumpy and “bellowed” at the people who irritated her. Maria’s moodiness coincided with her menstrual period, which the Empress and her daughters referred to as a visit from “Madame Becker.”

Lord Louis Mountbatten and Grand Duchess Maria

Young Maria enjoyed innocent flirtations with the young soldiers she encountered at the palace and on family holidays. She particularly loved children and, had she not been a Grand Duchess, would have loved nothing more than to marry a Russian soldier and raise a large family. Until his own assassination in 1979, her first cousin, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, (born a Prince of the House of Battenberg) kept a photograph of Maria beside his bed in memory of the crush he had upon her. However, because the Russian Orthodox Church has a rule against first cousins marrying, it is highly improbable that approval for the match would have been obtained.

Alexandra’s letters reveal that Maria, the middle child of the family, sometimes felt insecure and left out by her older sisters and feared she wasn’t loved as much as the other children. Alexandra reassured her that she was as dearly loved as her siblings. At age eleven, Maria apparently developed a painful crush on one of the young men she had met. “Try not to let your thoughts dwell too much on him, that’s what our Friend said,” Alexandra wrote to her on 6 December 1910. Alexandra advised her third daughter to keep her feelings hidden because others might say unkind things to her about her crush. “One must not let others see what one feels inside, when one knows it’s considered not proper. I know he likes you as a little sister and would like to help you not to care too much, because he knows you, a little Grand Duchess, must not care for him so.”

On this date in History: Queen Elizabeth II decrees non-royal descendants the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.

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On this date in History, February 8, 1960. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.

In 1947, Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II), heiress presumptive to King George VI, married Philip Mountbatten. He was born a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a branch of the House of Oldenburg, and had been a prince of Greece and Denmark. However, Philip, a few months before his marriage, renounced his princely titles and adopted the surname Mountbatten, which was the surname of his maternal uncle and mentor, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and had itself been adopted by Lord Mountbatten’s father (Philip’s maternal grandfather), Prince Louis of Battenberg, in 1917. It is the literal translation of the German battenberg, which refers to Battenberg, a small town in Hesse. The Battenberg family were morganatic scions of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse and By Rhine (formally Hesse-Darmstadt).

Soon after Elizabeth became Queen in 1952, Lord Mountbatten observed that because it was the standard practice for the wife in a marriage to adopt her husband’s surname, the royal house had become the House of Mountbatten. This statement is rather surprising given Lord Mountbatten’s knowledge of his family’s royal genealogy and history in general. Plainly, Lord Mountbatten was wrong. Although it is true that technically the Queen was a Mountbatten by marriage, it was not true that the name of the Royal House had changed.

Traditionally a female sovereign reigned under the Royal House to which she was born, and the name of the Royal House would not change until the next generation. An example would be Queen Victoria (1837-1901) who was the last monarch of the House of Hanover (the Royal House representing her Patrilineal descent) while her son, King Edward VII (1901-1910) who was a member of the German House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the same Royal House his father, Prince Albert, The Consort, belonged. It was the name of the Royal House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha that was changed to Windsor by King George V (1910-1936) in 1917.

When Elizabeth’s grandmother, Queen Mary, (wife of George V) heard of Lord Mountbatten’s comment, she informed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and he later advised the Queen to issue a royal proclamation declaring that the royal house was to remain known as the House of Windsor. This she did on April 9, 1952, officially declaring it her “Will and Pleasure that I and My children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that My descendants, other than female descendants who marry and their descendants, shall bear the name of Windsor.” The Duke of Edinburgh Is said to have privately complained, “I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.”

On February 8, 1960, seven years after the death of Queen Mary and the resignation of Churchill, the Queen confirmed that she and her children would continue to be known as the House and Family of Windsor, as would any agnaticdescendants who enjoy the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince or Princess. However, the Queen took a step further from the April 1952 decree and also decreed that her agnatic descendants who do not have that style and title would bear the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.

This Amendment to the earlier decree came after some months of correspondence between the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and the constitutional expert Edward Iwi. Iwi had raised the prospect that the Royal child due to be born in February 1960 would bear “the Badge of Bastardy” if it were given its mother’s maiden name (Windsor) rather than its father’s name (Mountbatten). Macmillan had attempted to rebuff Iwi, until the Queen advised the acting Prime Minister Rab Butler in January 1960 that for some time she had had her heart set on a change that would recognise the name Mountbatten. She clearly wished to make this change before the birth of her child. The issue did not affect Prince of Wales or Princess Anne, as they had been born with the name Mountbatten, before the Queen’s accession to the throne. Prince Andrew, the current Duke of York, was born 11 days later, on February 19, 1960.

Any future monarch can change the dynastic name through a similar royal proclamation, as royal proclamations do not have statutory authority. However, despite the tradition that the name of the Royal House does change to reflect the Patrilineal descent of the new monarch, it seems unlikely the Prince of Wales will change the name of the Royal House and the House of Windsor will remain.

HRH The Earl of Wessex

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HRH The Earl of Wessex

Today I would like to feature the Earl of Wessex. He is the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh. There is a lot about him that I can relate to. We are very close in age. I just turned 49 on Monday and he will be 49 this coming March. Both of our parents were about the same age too. My mother was born a year before the queen and my father was just 5 months older than the duke of Edinburgh.

I have said on this blog that I am a traditionalist when it comes to monarchy and to the most part I am. The Earl of Wessex represents a good mixture of both tradition and progressive attitudes when it comes to being a Prince of the United Kingdom. For the most part I am supportive of the non traditional paths that he has chosen although there are a couple of places where I disagree with those choices.

He was raised by a governess in the traditional style of his elder siblings. His very early education was at Buckingham Palace under tutors but by age of seven, Edward went to Gibbs School before attending, Heatherdown Preparatory School, near Ascot. After his stint there he followed in the footsteps of his father and elder brother, the Prince of Wales, and attended Gordonstoun in the north of Scotland. Edward spent his gap year abroad as a house tutor and junior master at the Wanganui Collegiate School in New Zealand. He attended college at Cambridge despite not having grades that were traditionally acceptable at the college. This created a bit of controversy at the time.

After graduating from Cambridge with a Master of Arts degree Prince Edward followed the very long line of tradition for British princes and joined the Royal Marines to train as an officer cadet. This did not last long. In January of 1987 the prince resigned after completing one third of the 12 month basic training course. Instead of the military Edward thereafter became more involved in theatre work. This was a big break from tradition. His father had been in the military, serving in the navy during World War II. The Duke of Edinburgh’s maternal grandfather, Prince Louis of Battenberg (Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven) rose to the rank of Admiral and then First Sea lord in the British Navy. His son, Edward’s great-uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten of Burma, Last Viceroy of India, Admiral of the Fleet, also held the position of First Sea Lord. Many British monarchs themselves saw active duty in military service. Both he future William IV and George V saw active duty in the British Navy. I applaud Edward for bucking this tradition.

Edward worked for some major theater companies such as Andre Lloyd Webber’s productions until he formed his own film company, Ardent Productions, under the name of Edward Windsor. The company specialized in documentaries. In 2001 Edward’s company filmed his nephew, Prince William, while he was at St Andrews, University. The anger Prince William feeling it was an invasion of privacy. Edward gas since stepped down from the company which had reported financial losses and stepped down from the company although he still maintains contact as a non-executive director.

In 1993 at a tennis match Edward met his future wife, Sophie Rhys-Jones. The 1990s were a terrible time for marriages in the British royal family. All of Edward’s siblings, the Prince of Wales, The Princess Royal and the Duke of York were all divorced at some point in the 1990s. Edward and Sophie dated for many years and kept a low profile not wanting to make the same mistakes that his siblings had made.

Edward and sophie were married at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle on June 19th 1999. Compared to his siblings this wedding was very low-key and not as ostentatious. Edward and Sophie did not want their wedding to be turned into a state occasion. This decision lead to there being no ceremonial state or military involvement. This also meant that Prime Minister Tony Blair and other politicians did not have to be invited. Rather than formal court dress or military uniforms, the couple requested that guests attend wearing formal wear.

To keep these blog posts to a digestible level I will stop here. Next week in the feature on royal princes’ and princesses I will examine Edward and Sophie’s children which will allow me to discuss how Edward has broken with tradition in these matters.