Friday 27 April 2018

William's touching tribute to his father's tragic mentor: How Prince Louis is named after Lord Mountbatten – known as Uncle Dickie – who was murdered by the IRA during a fishing trip

  • The newest member of the royal family has been named Louis Arthur Charles
  • Prince Charles' great uncle and beloved mentor was Lord Louis Mountbatten
  • He was killed in 1979 by the IRA when they placed a bomb under his fishing boat  

  • The newest member of the royal family has been named Louis Arthur Charles in a poignant tribute to his grandfather's beloved mentor. 
    Prince Charles' great uncle and 'honorary grandfather' was Lord Louis Mountbatten, the great-grandson of Queen Victoria and uncle to Prince Philip.
    His full title was Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. 
    In 1979, Mountbatten, his grandson Nicholas, and two others were killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), which had placed a bomb in his fishing boat, Shadow V, in Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland. 
    Charles referred to Mountbatten - fondly named 'Dickie' by the royal family - as the 'grandfather he never had', once saying: 'I admire him almost more than anybody else I know.'
    Prince Charles with his great uncle - Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
    Prince Charles with his great uncle - Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
    Lord Louis Mountbatten pictured here in 1965 wearing the Veterans of Foreign Wars Merit Award
    Lord Louis Mountbatten pictured here in 1965 wearing the Veterans of Foreign Wars Merit Award
    Louis Mountbatten (third from left) with members of his family on his 30ft boat, Shadow V, at Mullaghmore, County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland, circa 1975 - some four years before his death. From left: David Hicks, Lord Brabourne, Lord Mountbatten, Lady Brabourne, India Hicks, Nicholas Knatchbull, Timothy Knatchbull, Ashley Hicks and Philip Knatchbull
    Louis Mountbatten (third from left) with members of his family on his 30ft boat, Shadow V, at Mullaghmore, County Sligo in the Republic of Ireland, circa 1975 - some four years before his death. From left: David Hicks, Lord Brabourne, Lord Mountbatten, Lady Brabourne, India Hicks, Nicholas Knatchbull, Timothy Knatchbull, Ashley Hicks and Philip Knatchbull
    Greg Wise played the role Lord Mountbatten in the Netflix series, The Crown
    Greg Wise played the role Lord Mountbatten in the Netflix series, The Crown
    Lord Mountbatten was born Prince Louis of Battenburg in Windsor in 1900. 
    His great-grandmother was Queen Victoria and his sister was Princess Alice of Battenberg, Prince Philip's mother.  
    Mountbatten famously encouraged the betrothal of his nephew Philip to Elizabeth, the future queen.
    And Uncle Dickie, as he was known in the family, shared a particularly tender relationship with his young family member Prince Charles.Lord Mountbatten was admiral of the fleet in the Second World War and the last viceroy of India. 
    The 79-year-old had been frequently warned about his safety while visiting his Irish holiday home, which is just 12 miles from the border with Northern Ireland.
    On the fateful day he was killed, Mountbatten had set sail on his pleasure boat Shadow V for a fishing trip.
    Prince Louis Mountbatten And His Wife Edwina having A picnic with their cousins, Prince Charles and his sister Princess Anne in Malta on April 24, 1954
    Prince Louis Mountbatten And His Wife Edwina having A picnic with their cousins, Prince Charles and his sister Princess Anne in Malta on April 24, 1954
    Prince Charles was in his late 20s when his great-uncle died. He is pictured here, struggling to contain his emotions, at his funeral 
    Prince Charles was in his late 20s when his great-uncle died. He is pictured here, struggling to contain his emotions, at his funeral 

    Lord Louis Mountbatten , the last Governor General from Britain waving a cheery farewell to the crowds in Delhi 
    Prince Charles visits the harbour in the village of Mullaghmore in Ireland on May 20, 2015 where the his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten was killed
    Prince Charles visits the harbour in the village of Mullaghmore in Ireland on May 20, 2015 where the his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten was killed
    Lord Louis Mountbatten, pictured here in 1955, was First Sea Lord from 1954 until 1959 - a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier
    Lord Louis Mountbatten, pictured here in 1955, was First Sea Lord from 1954 until 1959 - a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier

    'DICKIE' APPEARS IN NETFLIX DRAMA 

    Popular Netflix drama paid tribute to Lord Mountbatten, portrayed in the drama by Greg Wise.
    In the first episode of season two, Elizabeth II speaks with Uncle Dickie about her marital troubles. 
    He says to her: 'You married a wild spirit—we both did,' in reference to his wife Lady Edwina Ashley Mountbatten, who he married on July 18, 1922.
    In series two, episode nine, 'Paterfamilias', producers explored the tender relationship between Dickie and Prince Charles after the young Prince was sent to to Gordonstoun School in Scotland.
    In the show, Mountbatten takes his great-nephew shopping for the Eton uniforms he never gets to wear, and urges him to open up emotionally.
    But a bomb had been smuggled on board the night before, and once the boat was a few hundred yards offshore it was remotely detonated. 
    The bomb killed Lord Mountbatten, his grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, 14, young crew member Paul Maxwell, 15, and the dowager Lady Brabourne, 83.
    Also on board was his eldest daughter Patricia, her husband John and their other son Timothy Knatchbull. 
    IRA activist Thomas McMahon had planted the bomb, but was already being held by the Garda at the time of the explosion having been stopped during a routine check.
    McMahon was jailed for murder in November, 1979, but released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday agreement.  
    Mountbatten's murder happened on one of the bloodiest day of the Troubles.
    Timothy Knatchbull, then a 14-year-old boy, survived the deadly attack and was pulled alive from the wreckage by a local couple.
    But tragically his twin brother Nicholas, his grandmother Doreen, and his grandfather, Lord Mountbatten, were all killed. 
    Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the Queen  and the Duke of Edinburgh wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Silver Jubilee procession in 1977
    Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Silver Jubilee procession in 1977
    Mountbatten inspecting Royal Marine in August 1941
    Mountbatten inspecting Royal Marine in August 1941
    Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew  and Lord Mountbatten wave to crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in 1977
    Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Prince Andrew and Lord Mountbatten wave to crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in 1977
    In the show The Crown, Mountbatten takes his great-nephew shopping for the Eton uniforms he never gets to wear, and urges him to open up emotionally
    In the show The Crown, Mountbatten takes his great-nephew shopping for the Eton uniforms he never gets to wear, and urges him to open up emotionallyPrince of Wales and Lord Mountbatten, wearing full naval uniform, on a visit to Nepal for the coronation of King Birendra on January 1, 1975
    Prince of Wales and Lord Mountbatten, wearing full naval uniform, on a visit to Nepal for the coronation of King Birendra on January 1, 1975
    In 2015, Prince Charles had made a poignant speech in which he praised Mountbatten as 'the grandfather I never had'
    In 2015, Prince Charles had made a poignant speech in which he praised Mountbatten as 'the grandfather I never had'
    Doreen, the 83-year-old Dowager Countess of Brabourne, Lord Mountbatten's daughter's mother-in-law, died the following day. 
    In 2015, Prince Charles made a poignant speech in which he praised Mountbatten as 'the grandfather I never had'.
    'In August 1979, my much-loved great uncle, Lord Mountbatten, was killed alongside his young grandson and my godson, Nicholas, and his friend, Paul Maxwell, and Nicholas's grandmother, the Dowager Lady Brabourne,' the Prince told an audience at The Model arts centre in Sligo.
    'At the time I could not imagine how we would come to terms with the anguish of such a deep loss since, for me, Lord Mountbatten represented the grandfather I never had.
    'So it seemed as if the foundations of all that we held dear in life had been torn apart irreparably.'  

    A very unconventional marriage: How the dashing Mountbatten and his heiress wife enjoyed dalliances with a string of lovers

    Lord Mountbatten with his wife Edwina in Florida in 1938
    Lord Mountbatten with his wife Edwina in Florida in 1938
    In 1922, wealthy heiress Edwina Ashley married the handsome, though impoverished, 21-year- old Lord Louis Mountbatten.
    After a honeymoon, some of it spent in Hollywood, Mountbatten resumed his career as a naval officer.
    Meanwhile, the stylish Edwina, described as one of the six best- dressed women in the world, shopped at Chanel, played bridge, danced the Charleston until 3am, sometimes with Fred Astaire and shot a short movie with Charlie Chaplin.
    Edwina was left some £2million by her banker grandfather Sir Ernest Cassel, one of the richest men in Britain, and inherited the grand 6,000-acre Broadlands estate in Hampshire where the Queen spent her honeymoon.
    At weekends their country home was full of guests (including the Prince of Wales) arriving in fast cars and even aeroplanes.
    After their daughter Patricia was born in 1924, Edwina partied, frolicked and fornicated with abandon as she enjoyed dalliances with a string of lovers. 
    Her first was the aristocratic Lord Molyneux. He was followed by a rich, polo-playing American, Laddie Sandford, and then by Mike Wardell, the good-looking manager of a London evening newspaper. At times, she juggled all three at once. 
    Louis Mountbatten with his wife Edwina and the wife of U Kyin, the Burmese Ambassador at the Burmese Embassy in 1956
    Louis Mountbatten with his wife Edwina and the wife of U Kyin, the Burmese Ambassador at the Burmese Embassy in 1956
    Next came playboy Larry Gray, before she went on a Mexican cruise and jumped into bed with the elder of two Californian brothers, Ted Phillips, quickly followed by his sibling Bunny.
    This serial sexual gallivanting went on until the birth of her second daughter Pamela in 1929.
    By now, Mountbatten, too, was seeking other women. In 1931, he was flirting with the 18-year-old future Duchess of Argyll and even kept her photo in his cabin. 
    He also fell for a young French woman, Yola Letellier, who inspired the French novel on which the 1958 film musical Gigi was based.
    As Mountbatten himself once famously put it: 'Edwina and I spent all our married lives getting into other people's beds.' 
    Edwina died in her sleep in 1960, aged 58.
    Edwina, described as one of the six best- dressed women in the world, shopped at Chanel, played bridge, danced the Charleston until 3am, sometimes with Fred Astaire and shot a short movie with Charlie Chaplin
    Edwina, described as one of the six best- dressed women in the world, shopped at Chanel, played bridge, danced the Charleston until 3am, sometimes with Fred Astaire and shot a short movie with Charlie Chaplin


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