Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma

She was born in 1900, the elder daughter of Wilfred William Ashley, later 1st Baron Mount Temple (of the 1932 creation), who was a Conservative Member of Parliament.[2]

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 (1881–1911), 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 Catholicism. He also lost his only child, Amalia. He left 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.

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 (equivalent to £89.4 million in 2019[3]), and his palatial London townhouse, Brook House, at a time when her future husband's naval salary was £610 a year (equivalent to £27,262 in 2019[3]). 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, Westminster. 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".[4]

Portrait by Philip de László, 1924

Drew Pearson described Edwina in 1944 as "one of the most beautiful women in England".[5] She was known to have affairs throughout the marriage, doing little to hide them from her husband. He became aware of her lovers, accepted them and even developed friendships with some of them – making them "part of the family". Her daughter Pamela Hicks wrote a memoir in which she describes her mother as "a man eater" and her mother's many lovers as a succession of "uncles" throughout her childhood.[6] Edwina's affair with Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India, both during and after their post-war service has been widely documented.[7]

The Mountbattens had two daughters, Patricia (14 February 1924 – 13 June 2017) and Pamela (born 19 April 1929).[8] 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.[9]

The 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 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.[10]

Prime Minister Nehru with Edwina Mountbatten in 1951

Lady Mountbatten was the last Vicereine of India, serving during the final months of the British Raj and the first months of the post-Partition period (February 1947 to June 1948) when Louis Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of India and then, after the partition of India and Pakistan in June 1947, the Governor-General of India but not of Pakistan. It was at this time that a serious relationship between Edwina and Nehru began. Lady Mountbatten and the new Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru became infatuated with each other. Whether the romance was ever consummated is not known, however their mutual fondness was evident and caused widespread speculation.[11] 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.[12][13] British historian Philip Ziegler, with access to the private letters and diaries, concludes the relationship:

was to endure until Edwina Mountbatten's death: intensely loving, romantic, trusting, generous, idealistic, even spiritual. If there was any physical element it can only have been of minor importance to either party. Mountbatten's reaction was one of pleasure....He liked and admired Nehru, it was useful to him that the Prime Minister should find such attractions in the Governor-General's home, it was agreeable to find Edwina almost permanently in good temper: the advantages of the alliance were obvious. [14]

Lady Mountbatten at Police Hospital, Delhi

Following the violent disruption that accompanied the Partition of India, Lady Mountbatten's priority was to mobilise the enormous relief efforts required, work for which she was widely praised. 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.[15]

Lady Mountbatten died in her sleep at age 59 of unknown causes on 21 February 1960 in Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu), British North Borneo (now Sabah), while on an inspection tour for the St John Ambulance Brigade.[16] In accordance with her wishes she was buried at sea off the coast of Portsmouth from HMS Wakeful on 25 February 1960; Geoffrey Fisher, the Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated.[17] Nehru had the Indian Navy frigate INS Trishul escort the Wakeful and cast a wreath.[18][19][20] Her will was proven in London on 21 March 1960, with her estate valued for probate at £589,655 (equivalent to £13,678,026 in 2019[3]).[21]

Her husband, Louis Mountbatten, died on 27 August 1979 when an IRA bomb exploded on his yacht near Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in the Republic of Ireland. Also among the dead was their 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, who had been born four years after Lady Mountbatten's death.

Lady Mountbatten is portrayed by Gillian Anderson in Gurinder Chadha's historical drama film Viceroy's House (2017).[22] She was portrayed by Janet Suzman in the 1986 television docudrama Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy.[23] She was portrayed by Lucy Russell in Series 2 of The Crown (2017).[24] She also was portrayed by Maria Aitken in the 1998 biographical film Jinnah.[25]

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  Lady Mountbatten speaking on behalf of the Red Cross at the Central Bandstand, Herne Bay, Kent, England around 1939
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  Mahatma Gandhi, preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India with Lord and Lady Mountbatten outside Government House, New Delhi, 1947
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  Mahatma Gandhi with Lord and Lady Mountbatten outside Government House, New Delhi, 1947
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  Mahatma Gandhi with the Mountbattens
• 
  Mountbattens in Government House, New Delhi at swearing-in of Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of independent India (15 August 1947).

• Morgan, Janet 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, Mountbatten: Hero of our time, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1980. ISBN 978-0297786221

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edwina Mountbatten.

• Tribute & Memorial Website to Louis, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
• Newspaper clippings about Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW