Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma

The Right Honourable
The Countess Mountbatten of Burma
Edwina and her husband, early 1920s
Born Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley
(1901-11-28)28 November 1901
Broadlands, Romsey Extra, Hampshire, England
Died 21 February 1960(1960-02-21) (aged 58)
Jesselton, Crown Colony of North Borneo (now Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia)
Spouse(s)
Children
Parent(s)

Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, CI, GBE, DCVO, GCStJ (née Ashley; 28 November 1901 – 21 February 1960)[1] was an English heiress, socialite, relief worker and the last Vicereine of India as wife of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.

Lineage and wealth

She was born in 1901, the elder daughter of Wilfred William Ashley, later 1st Baron Mount Temple (of the 1932 creation), who was a Conservative Member of Parliament.

Edwina Ashley was patrilineally descended from the Earls of Shaftesbury who had been ranked as baronets since 1622 and ennobled as barons in 1661. She was a great-granddaughter of the reformist 7th Earl of Shaftesbury through his younger son, The Hon. Evelyn Melbourne Ashley (1836–1907) and his wife, Sybella Farquhar (d. 1886), a granddaughter of the 6th Duke of Beaufort. From this cadet branch, the Ashley-Cooper peers would inherit the estates of Broadlands (Hampshire, England) and Classiebawn Castle (County Sligo, Ireland).

Ashley's mother was Amalia Mary Maud Cassel (1879–1911), daughter of the international magnate Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, friend and private financier to the future King Edward VII. Cassel was one of the richest and most powerful men in Europe. He lost his beloved wife (Annette Mary Maud Maxwell), for whom he had converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism. He also lost his only child, Amalia. He was then to leave the bulk of his vast fortune to Edwina, his elder granddaughter.

After Ashley's father's remarriage in 1914 to Molly Forbes-Sempill (ex-wife of Rear-Admiral Arthur Forbes-Sempill), she was sent away to boarding schools, first to the Links in Eastbourne, then to Alde House in Suffolk, at neither of which was she a willing pupil. Her grandfather, Sir Ernest, solved the domestic dilemma by inviting her to live with him and, eventually, to act as hostess at his London residence, Brook House. Later, his other mansions, Moulton Paddocks and Branksome Dene, would become part of her Cassel inheritance.

Marriage and children

Louis and Edwina Mountbatten early in marriage.

By the time Lord Louis Mountbatten first met Edwina in 1920, she was a leading member of London society. Her maternal grandfather died in 1921, leaving her £2 million (£48.9 million in today's pounds), and his palatial London townhouse, Brook House, at a time when her future husband's naval salary was £610 per annum (£20 thousand in today's pounds). Later, she would inherit the country seat of Broadlands, Hampshire, from her father, Wilfred William Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple.

She and Mountbatten married on 18 July 1922 at St. Margaret's Church. The wedding attracted crowds of more than 8,000 people, and was attended by many members of the royal family, including Queen Mary, Queen Alexandra, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII), and dubbed "wedding of the year". The reception was held in Brook House after which the couple rode a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost to the bride's family's country house.[2]

Portrait by Philip de László, 1924

Edwina was known to be wildly promiscuous throughout the marriage, doing little to hide such indiscretions from her husband. He became aware of her numerous lovers, accepted them and even developed friendships with some of them – making them "part of the family". Towards the end of Edwina's life, her daughter Pamela Mountbatten wrote a memoir of her mother in which she describes her mother as "a man eater" and her mother's many lovers as a succession of "uncles" throughout her childhood.[3] Louis Mountbatten eventually gained a long-time French mistress and the couple settled into a type of "ménage à quatre". Edwina's affair with Prime Minister Nehru of India both during and after their post WWII service has been widely documented.[4] In addition to their lifetime of heterosexual excesses, both Louis and Edwina were often described as being bisexual, providing an unending source of gossip among the wealthy, titled society set of their day.[5]

The Mountbattens had two daughters, Patricia (14 February 1924 – 13 June 2017) and Pamela (born 19 April 1929).[6] In her memoir daughter Pamela describes Edwina as a detached, rarely seen mother who preferred travelling the world with her current lover to mothering her children.[7]

World War II

Countess Mountbatten pictured in the Uniform of the St John Ambulance Brigade with the Officer Commanding 78 Wing RAAF, Group Captain Brian A Eaton DSO, DFC of Canterbury, Vic, after the Anzac Day service in Malta. The Wing was stationed in Malta for garrison.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Lady Mountbatten acquired a new purpose in life and devoted her considerable intelligence and energy to the service of others. In 1941, Mountbatten's visited the United States, where she thanked efforts to raise funds for the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance Brigade. In 1942, she was appointed Superintendent-in-Chief of the St John Ambulance Brigade serving extensively with Brigade. In 1945, she assisted in the repatriation of prisoners of war in the South East Asia. She was awarded a CBE in 1943 and made a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO) in 1946. She also received the American Red Cross Medal.[8]

Vicereine of India

Mountbattens with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder and first Governor General of Pakistan

She is especially remembered for her service as the last Vicereine of India during the final months of the British Raj and the first months of the post-Partition period, between February 1947 and June 1948.[9] Louis Mountbatten was endowed as the last Viceroy of India in 1947 and granted plenipotentiary power to oversee the transition to an independent India. Lady Mountbatten's time in India was in part marked by scandal, as she developed an infatuation for the leader of the Indian National Congress, Jawaharlal Nehru, whom she had met a year previously in Singapore. Till now it was unclear whether the romance was ever consummated, their fondness for one another was evident and caused widespread speculation.[10]. But in 2012 Edwina's Daughter Lady Pamela Hicks accepted that there was a romance between her mother and Jawaharlal Nehru; which she mentioned in the book Daughter Of Empire: Life As A Mountbatten [11] [12]. The relationship was blamed for contributing to the alienation of Muslim leaders, who feared that through Edwina, Nehru was biasing the Viceroy in favour of Hindus and the Indian National Congress.[13]

Lady Mountbatten at Police Hospital, Delhi

Lady Mountbatten, in all accounts of the violent disruption that followed the Partition of India, is universally praised for her heroic efforts in relieving the misery. She continued to lead a life of service after her viceroyalty in India, including service for the St John Ambulance Brigade. She was a governor of The Peckham Experiment in 1949.[14]

Death

Lady Mountbatten died in her sleep at age 58 of unknown causes in 1960 in Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu), British North Borneo (now Sabah), while on an inspection tour for the St John Ambulance Brigade.[15] In accordance with her wishes, Lord Mountbatten buried her at sea off the coast of Portsmouth from HMS Wakeful on 25 February 1960; Geoffrey Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated.[16]. Nehru had the Indian Navy frigate INS Trishul to escort the Wakeful and cast a wreath.[17]

Lady Mountbatten is portrayed by Gillian Anderson in Gurinder Chadha's historical drama film Viceroy's House (2017).[18] She was portrayed by Janet Suzman in the 1986 television docudrama Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy.[19] She was portrayed by Lucy Russell in Season 2 of The Crown (2017).[20]

Titles and honours

Shorthand titles

  • 28 November 1901 – 18 July 1922: Miss Edwina Ashley
  • 18 July 1922 – 23 August 1946: Lady Louis Mountbatten
  • 23 August 1946 – 28 October 1947: The Right Honourable The Viscountess Mountbatten of Burma
    • 12 February – 15 August 1947: Her Excellency The Right Honourable The Viscountess Mountbatten of Burma, Vicereine of India
  • 28 October 1947 – 21 February 1960: The Right Honourable The Countess Mountbatten of Burma
    • 28 October 1947 – 21 June 1948: Her Excellency The Right Honourable The Countess Mountbatten of Burma

Honours

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ GRO Register of Births: MAR 1902 1a 434 ST GEO HAN SQ = London
  2. ↑ Von Tunzelmann, p. 71.
  3. ↑ Lady Pamela Hicks - Daughter of Empire: My Life as a Mountbatten - Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2012
  4. ↑ https://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100410/saturday/main1.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1216186/The-shocking-love-triangle-Lord-Mountbatten-wife-founder-modern-India.html
  6. ↑ Von Tunzelmann, p. 73.
  7. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Empire-My-Life-Mountbatten-ebook/dp/B00AB19536/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473625945&sr=8-1&keywords=mountbatten+pamela
  8. ↑ Edwina, Countess Mountbatten of Burma
  9. ↑ "List of governors-general of India". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  10. ↑ James Lawrence (1997). Raj: the Making and Unmaking of British India. Saint Martin's Griffin. p. 611.
  11. ↑ ( "मां से प्यार करते थे नेहरू, शारीरिक संबंध नहीं थे: माउंटबेटन की बेटी" (in Hindi).
  12. ↑ "Pamela Mountbatten on the Jawaharlal-Edwina relationship". The Hindu. 18 July 2007.
  13. ↑ James Lawrence (1997). Raj: the Making and Unmaking of British India. Saint Martin's Griffin. p. 611.
  14. ↑ "The Bulletin of the Pioneer Health Centre". Peckham. 1 (5). September 1949. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  15. ↑ "Lady Mountbatten dies in sleep on visit to Borneo". The Sydney Morning Herald. London. Australian Associated Press. 21 February 1960. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  16. ↑ "Her Grave The Sea 1960". British Pathe.
  17. ↑ A TASTE OF OTHER SUMMERS - Love may not be the only theme of the Nehru-Edwina letters
  18. ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (30 April 2015). "Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson topline partition drama 'Viceroy's House'". Screen Daily. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  19. ↑ "Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  20. ↑ "The Crown" Misadventure (TV Episode 2017), retrieved 2017-12-11
  21. ↑ London Gazette, 1 January 1946
  22. ↑ London Gazette, 1 January 1946
  23. ↑ London Gazette, 1 January 1929
  24. ↑ London Gazette, 1 January 1948
  25. ↑ The London Gazette, 1 January 1943

Notes

  • Alex von Tunzelmann. Indian Summer The Secret History of the End of an Empire. Pocket Books.

Further reading

  • Morgan, Janet P. Edwina Mountbatten: A Life of Her Own, Scribners, 1991. ISBN 978-0684193465
  • Ziegler, Philip, Mountbatten: the official biography, Collins, 1985. ISBN 978-0006370475
  • Hough, Richard Alexander, Mountbatten: Hero of our time, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1980. ISBN 978-0297786221

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