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83-532: The IET Mountbatten Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding contribution, or contributions over a period, to the promotion of electronics or information technology and their application. The Medal was established by the National Electronics Council in 1992 and named after Louis Mountbatten , The Earl Mountbatten of Burma , Admiral of the Fleet and Governor-General of India. Since 2011,

166-598: A German course change. This was "a rather disastrous move as the directors swung off and lost target" and it resulted in Javelin being struck by two torpedoes. He rejoined Kelly in December 1940, by which time the torpedo damage had been repaired. Kelly was sunk by German dive bombers on 23 May 1941 during the Battle of Crete ; the incident serving as the basis for Noël Coward 's film In Which We Serve . Coward

249-557: A different turn. Given Mountbatten's determination, Nehru and Sardar 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, which in turn eased Mountbatten's task. Mountbatten also developed a strong relationship with the Indian princes , who ruled those portions of India not directly under British rule. His intervention

332-540: A flying visit to Pearl Harbor , three months before the Japanese attack on it . Mountbatten, appalled at the US naval base's lack of preparedness, drawing on Japan's history of launching wars with surprise attacks as well as the successful British surprise attack at the Battle of Taranto which had effectively knocked Italy's fleet out of the war, and the sheer effectiveness of aircraft against warships, accurately predicted that

415-802: A former member of the Royal Marines , have written that these lessons should not have needed a debacle such as Dieppe to be recognised. Nevertheless, as a direct result of the failings of the Dieppe Raid, the British made several innovations, most notably Hobart's Funnies – specialised armoured vehicles which, in the course of the Normandy Landings , undoubtedly saved many lives on those three beachheads upon which Commonwealth soldiers were landing ( Gold Beach , Juno Beach and Sword Beach ). In August 1943, Churchill appointed Mountbatten

498-585: A royal tour of Australia in her. He was promoted lieutenant on 15 April 1920. HMS  Renown returned to Portsmouth on 11 October 1920. Early in 1921 Royal Navy personnel were used for civil defence duties as serious industrial unrest seemed imminent. Mountbatten had to command a platoon of stokers, many of whom had never handled a rifle before, in Northern England . He transferred to the battlecruiser HMS  Repulse in March 1921 and accompanied

581-579: A significant role in persuading princely states to accede to India. In 1952, Mountbatten was appointed commander-in-chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet and NATO Commander Allied Forces Mediterranean . From 1955 to 1959, he 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

664-542: A strict rotational basis between the three services. The first break in rotational order was precipitated by the death of Marshal of the RAF Sir Andrew Humphrey . From the creation of the post until 1997, the Chief of the Defence Staff was appointed to the highest rank in the respective branch of the British armed forces to which he belonged, being an admiral of the Fleet , a field marshal or marshal of

747-609: A united India as a result of the transfer of power but authorised him to adapt to a changing situation in order to get Britain out promptly with minimal reputational damage. Mountbatten arrived in India on 22 March by air, from London . In the evening, he was taken to his residence and two days later, he took the Viceregal oath. His arrival saw large-scale communal riots in Delhi , Bombay and Rawalpindi . Mountbatten concluded that

830-473: 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

913-477: A viceregal candidate acceptable to the Indian National Congress , in clandestine meetings with Sir Stafford Cripps and Clement Attlee . Attlee advised King George VI to appoint Mountbatten Viceroy of India on 20 February 1947 charged with overseeing the transition of British India to independence no later than 30 June 1948. Mountbatten's instructions were to avoid partition and preserve

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996-515: A winner, the Panel give particular emphasis to: Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg ; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten , was a British statesman, Royal Navy officer and close relative of the British royal family . He was born in

1079-643: Is supported by a deputy, the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff , who since 1997 (when the CDS post was downgraded) has been of equivalent rank but is ordinarily from a different service to the CDS. There are also several Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (DCDS) posts who support the VCDS. As of 2015 these are: The CDS maintains a close working relationship with the Ministry of Defence's Permanent Under Secretary , who

1162-612: Is the Ministry's senior civil servant, and they both report directly to the Secretary of State for Defence . The CDS focuses on military operations and strategy while the Permanent Under Secretary's remit concerns administrative and financial policy. Additionally, the CDS is supported by a Strategic Advisory Panel . The post was created in 1959 to reflect the new concept of joint operations that had come to

1245-748: The Dominion of India . Mountbatten attended the Royal Naval College, Osborne , before entering the Royal Navy in 1916. He saw action during the closing phase of the First World War , and after the war briefly attended Christ's College, Cambridge . During the interwar period , Mountbatten continued to pursue his naval career, specialising in naval communications. Following the outbreak of the Second World War, he commanded

1328-599: The German Empire . To appease British nationalist sentiment, in 1917 King George V issued a royal proclamation changing the name of the British royal house from the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor . The king's British relatives with German names and titles followed suit with Mountbatten's father adopting the surname Mountbatten, an anglicisation of Battenberg. The elder Mountbatten

1411-597: The P-class sloop HMS  P. 31 on 13 October 1918 and was confirmed as a substantive sub-lieutenant on 15 January 1919. HMS  P. 31 took part in the Peace River Pageant on 4 April 1919. Mountbatten attended Christ's College, Cambridge , for two terms, starting in October 1919, where he studied English literature (including John Milton and Lord Byron ) in a programme designed to augment

1494-719: The Potsdam Conference when Mountbatten, desiring to receive an invitation to visit the Soviet Union , repeatedly attempted to impress Joseph Stalin with his former connections to the Russian imperial family . The attempt fell predictably flat, with Stalin dryly inquiring whether "it was some time ago that he had been there". Says Lunghi, "The meeting was embarrassing because Stalin was so unimpressed. He offered no invitation. Mountbatten left with his tail between his legs." During his time as Supreme Allied Commander of

1577-849: 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

1660-455: The accession of Kashmir to India , citing his close relationship to Nehru. Mountbatten's own account says that he simply wanted Maharaja Hari Singh to make up his mind. The viceroy made several attempts to mediate between the Congress leaders, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Hari Singh on issues relating to the accession of Kashmir, though he was largely unsuccessful in resolving the conflict. After

1743-767: The funeral of George V in January 1936. Mountbatten was appointed a personal naval aide-de-camp to King Edward VIII on 23 June 1936 and, having joined the Naval Air Division of the Admiralty in July 1936, he attended the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937. Mountbatten was promoted captain on 30 June 1937 and was then given command of the destroyer HMS  Kelly in June 1939. Within

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1826-746: The honorary ranks of lieutenant general and air marshal to have the authority to carry out his duties in Combined Operations; and, despite the misgivings of General Sir Alan Brooke , the Chief of the Imperial General Staff , Mountbatten was placed in the Chiefs of Staff Committee . He was in large part responsible for the planning and organisation of the St Nazaire Raid on 28 March, which put out of action one of

1909-685: The substantive rank of vice-admiral on 22 June 1949, he became Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet in April 1950. He became Fourth Sea Lord at the Admiralty in June 1950. He then returned to the Mediterranean to serve as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet and NATO Commander Allied Forces Mediterranean from June 1952. He was promoted to the substantive rank of full admiral on 27 February 1953. In March 1953, he

1992-410: The tribal invasion of Kashmir , it was on his suggestion that India moved to secure the accession of Kashmir from Hari Singh before sending in military forces for his defence. After his tenure as governor-general concluded, Mountbatten continued to enjoy close relations with Nehru and the post-Independence Indian leadership, and was welcomed as a former governor-general of India on subsequent visits to

2075-461: The 2010s Guthrie , Boyce , Walker and Stirrup were honorarily promoted to their respective services' senior ranks, sometime after they had each stepped down as CDS. Although there is no policy against a Royal Marines officer being appointed, few officers in the Corps attain a high enough rank to be considered for the post. However, in 2016, a Royal Marine officer Gordon Messenger was promoted to

2158-578: The Admiralty, Mountbatten was called "The Master of Disaster" for his penchant of getting into messes. When war broke out in September 1939, Mountbatten became Captain (D) (commander) of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla aboard HMS Kelly , which became famous for its exploits. In late 1939 he brought the Duke of Windsor back from exile in France and in early May 1940 Mountbatten led a British convoy in through

2241-458: The American ambassador from 1961 to 1963, was a particularly harsh critic of Mountbatten in this regard. However, another view is that the British were forced to expedite the partition process to avoid involvement in a potential civil war with law and order having already broken down and Britain with limited resources after the Second World War. According to historian Lawrence James, Mountbatten

2324-688: The Dieppe Raid, Mountbatten became a controversial figure in Canada, with the Royal Canadian Legion distancing itself from him during his visits there during his later career. His relations with Canadian veterans, who blamed him for the losses, "remained frosty" after the war. Mountbatten claimed that the lessons learned from the Dieppe Raid were necessary for planning the Normandy invasion on D-Day nearly two years later. However, military historians such as Major-General Julian Thompson ,

2407-707: The Imperial Court of Russia at St Petersburg and became intimate with the Russian Imperial Family , harbouring romantic feelings towards his maternal first cousin Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna , whose photograph he kept at his bedside for the rest of his life. Mountbatten adopted his surname as a result of World War I . From 1914 to 1918, Britain and its allies were at war with the Central Powers , led by

2490-617: The Institution of Engineering and Technology ( IET ). He was posted to the battleship HMS  Centurion in the Reserve Fleet in 1926 and became Assistant Fleet Wireless and Signals Officer of the Mediterranean Fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Roger Keyes in January 1927. Promoted lieutenant commander on 15 April 1928, Mountbatten returned to the Signals School in July 1929 as Senior Wireless Instructor. He

2573-558: The Prince of Wales on a Royal tour of India and Japan. Edward and Mountbatten formed a close friendship during the trip. Mountbatten survived the deep defence cuts known as the Geddes Axe . Fifty-two percent of the officers of his year had had to leave the Royal Navy by the end of 1923; although he was highly regarded by his superiors, it was rumoured that wealthy and well-connected officers were more likely to be retained. Mountbatten

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2656-553: The Royal Air Force , ( NATO rank grade OF-10). However, with the post- Cold War reduction in the manpower strength of the British Armed Forces and the additional reasoning that no new "Five-star" appointments are to be made in peacetime, since 1997 the Chief of the Defence Staff has kept the rank of admiral , general or air chief marshal , (NATO OF-9 ), which he invariably already holds. However, during

2739-521: The Royal Navy for war with characteristic professionalism and thoroughness. Despite his military rank, Mountbatten was ignorant as to the physics involved in a nuclear explosion and had to be reassured that the fission reactions from the Bikini Atoll tests would not spread through the oceans and blow up the planet. As Mountbatten became more familiar with this new form of weaponry, he increasingly grew opposed to its use in combat. Yet, he realised

2822-610: The Southeast Asia Theatre, his command oversaw the recapture of Burma from the Japanese by General Sir William Slim . A personal high point was the receipt of the Japanese surrender in Singapore when British troops returned to the island to receive the formal surrender of Japanese forces in the region led by General Itagaki Seishiro on 12 September 1945, codenamed Operation Tiderace . South East Asia Command

2905-480: The Spanish pretender Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona , to ease the eventual accession of his son, Juan Carlos , to the Spanish throne by signing a declaration of abdication while in exile. The next year Mountbatten attended an official White House dinner during which he took the opportunity to have a 20-minute conversation with Richard Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers , about which he later wrote, "I

2988-532: The Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command (SEAC) with promotion to acting full admiral . His less practical ideas were sidelined by an experienced planning staff led by Lieutenant-Colonel James Allason , though some, such as a proposal to launch an amphibious assault near Rangoon , got as far as Churchill before being quashed. British interpreter Hugh Lunghi recounted an embarrassing episode during

3071-538: The US would enter the war after a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Mountbatten was a favourite of Winston Churchill . On 27 October 1941, Mountbatten replaced Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes as Chief of Combined Operations Headquarters and was promoted to commodore . His duties in this role included inventing new technical aids to assist with opposed landings. Noteworthy technical achievements of Mountbatten and his staff include

3154-553: 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, 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", were not eligible to be titled Princes of Hesse, and were given

3237-597: The United Kingdom to the prominent Battenberg family . He was a maternal uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , and a second cousin of King George VI . He joined the Royal Navy during the First World War and was appointed Supreme Allied Commander , South East Asia Command , in the Second World War . He later served as the last Viceroy of India and briefly as the first Governor-General of

3320-465: The chief of the defence staff is a member. The current chief of the defence staff is Admiral Sir Tony Radakin , who succeeded General Sir Nick Carter in November 2021. Chiefs of the defence staff are appointed on the recommendation of the secretary of state for defence to the prime minister, before being approved by the monarch. The Chief of the Defence Staff's responsibilities include: The CDS

3403-427: The child's father) and Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg (his paternal uncle, represented by Lord Edward Clinton ). He wore the original 1841 royal christening gown at the ceremony. Mountbatten's nickname among family and friends was "Dickie"; however "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

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3486-499: The construction of "PLUTO", an underwater oil pipeline to Normandy , an artificial Mulberry harbour constructed of concrete caissons and sunken ships, and the development of tank-landing ships . Another project Mountbatten proposed to Churchill was Project Habakkuk . It was to be an unsinkable 600-metre aircraft carrier made from reinforced ice (" Pykrete "); Habakkuk was never carried out due to its enormous cost. As commander of Combined Operations, Mountbatten and his staff planned

3569-407: The country, and, through the efforts of their close mutual friend, Krishna Menon , developed a certain depth of feeling and intimacy with both Nehru that was shared by his wife, Edwina. He felt differently about the Muslim League 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

3652-426: The country, including during an official trip in March 1956. The Pakistani government, by contrast, lacked a positive view of Mountbatten for his perceived hostile attitude towards Pakistan and deemed him persona non grata , barring him from transiting their airspace during the same visit. After India, Mountbatten served as commander of the 1st Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet and, having been granted

3735-434: The date of the partition from June 1948 to 15 August 1947. The uncertainty of the borders caused Muslims and Hindus to move into the direction where they felt they would get the majority. Hindus and Muslims were thoroughly terrified, and the Muslim movement from the East was balanced by the similar movement of Hindus from the West. A boundary committee chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe was charged with drawing boundaries for

3818-501: The destroyer HMS  Kelly and the 5th Destroyer Flotilla . He saw considerable action in Norway, in the English Channel, and in the Mediterranean. In August 1941, he received command of the aircraft carrier HMS  Illustrious . He was appointed chief of Combined Operations and a member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee in early 1942, and organised the raids on St Nazaire and Dieppe . In August 1943, Mountbatten became Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command and oversaw

3901-404: The education of junior officers which had been curtailed by the war. He was elected for a term to the Standing Committee of the Cambridge Union Society and was suspected of sympathy for the Labour Party, then emerging as a potential party of government for the first time. Mountbatten was posted to the battlecruiser HMS  Renown in March 1920 and accompanied Edward, Prince of Wales , on

3984-470: The fog to evacuate the Allied forces participating in the Namsos Campaign during the Norwegian Campaign . On the night of 9–10 May 1940, Kelly was torpedoed amidships by a German E-boat S 31 off the Dutch coast, and Mountbatten thereafter commanded the 5th Destroyer Flotilla from the destroyer HMS  Javelin . On 29 November 1940 the 5th Flotilla engaged three German destroyers off Lizard Point, Cornwall . Mountbatten turned to port to match

4067-404: The following July. The Defence Secretary , Denis Healey , interviewed the forty most senior officials in the Ministry of Defence; only one, Sir Kenneth Strong , a personal friend of Mountbatten, recommended his reappointment. "When I told Dickie of my decision not to reappoint him," recalls Healey, "he slapped his thigh and roared with delight; but his eyes told a different story." Mountbatten

4150-444: The fore in the Second World War . The first incumbent was Marshal of the RAF Sir William Dickson . Prior to the creation of the post, he had served as the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee , from 1956 onwards. Before 1956, although no permanent post of chairman existed, the three service chiefs took it in turn to act as chairman at meetings. From the post's inception until the mid-to-late 1970s, CDS appointments were granted on

4233-433: The highly successful Bruneval raid , which gained important information and captured part of a German Würzburg radar installation and one of the machine's technicians on 27 February 1942. It was Mountbatten who recognised that surprise and speed were essential to capture the radar, and saw that an airborne assault was the only viable method. On 18 March 1942, he was promoted to the acting rank of vice admiral and given

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4316-605: The less exalted Battenberg title. Mountbatten's elder siblings were Princess Alice of Battenberg (mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh ), Princess Louise of Battenberg (later Queen Louise of Sweden ), and Prince George of Battenberg (later George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven ). Mountbatten was baptised in the large drawing room of Frogmore House on 17 July 1900 by the Dean of Windsor , Philip Eliot . His godparents were Queen Victoria (his maternal great-grandmother), Nicholas II of Russia (his maternal uncle through marriage and paternal second cousin, represented by

4399-423: 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 August 1979, Mountbatten was assassinated by a bomb planted aboard his fishing boat in Mullaghmore, County Sligo , Ireland, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army . He received a ceremonial funeral at Westminster Abbey and

4482-455: The many Nickys of the Russian Imperial Family ("Nicky" was particularly used to refer to Nicholas II , the last Tsar), "Nicky" was changed to "Dickie". Mountbatten was educated at home for the first 10 years of his life; he was then sent to Lockers Park School in Hertfordshire and on to the Royal Naval College, Osborne , in May 1913. Mountbatten's mother's younger sister was Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna . In childhood he visited

4565-406: The medal has been awarded as one of the IET Achievement Medals . One of the IET's Prestige Achievement Medals, the Medal is awarded to an individual for an outstanding contribution, or contributions over a period, to the promotion of electronics or information technology and in the dissemination of the understanding of electronics and information technology to young people, or adults. In selecting

4648-419: The more British-sounding "Windsor", Mountbatten acquired the courtesy title appropriate to a younger son of a marquess, becoming known as Lord Louis Mountbatten ( Lord Louis for short) until he was created a peer in his own right in 1946. He paid a visit of ten days to the Western Front in July 1918. While still an acting- sub-lieutenant , Mountbatten was appointed first lieutenant (second-in-command) of

4731-440: The most heavily defended docks in Nazi-occupied France until well after the war's end, the ramifications of which contributed to allied supremacy in the Battle of the Atlantic . After these two successes came the Dieppe Raid of 19 August 1942. He was central in the planning and promotion of the raid on the port of Dieppe . The raid was a marked failure, with casualties of almost 60%, the great majority of them Canadians. Following

4814-472: The new nations. With a mandate to leave as many Hindus and Sikhs in India and as many Muslims in Pakistan as possible, Radcliffe came up with a map that split the two countries along the Punjab and Bengal borders. This left 14 million people on the "wrong" side of the border, and very many of them fled to "safety" on the other side when the new lines were announced. When India and Pakistan attained independence at midnight of 14–15 August 1947, Mountbatten

4897-469: The potential for nuclear energy, especially with regard to submarines. Mountbatten expressed his feelings towards the use of nuclear weapons in combat in his article "A Military Commander Surveys The Nuclear Arms Race", which was published shortly after his death in International Security in the Winter of 1979–1980. After leaving the Admiralty, Mountbatten took the position of Chief of the Defence Staff . He served in this post for six years during which he

4980-418: The process of independence unduly and recklessly, foreseeing vast disruption and loss of life and not wanting this to occur on his watch, but thereby actually helping it to occur (albeit in an indirect manner), especially in Punjab and Bengal. John Kenneth Galbraith , the Canadian-American Harvard University economist, who advised governments of India during the 1950s and was an intimate of Nehru who served as

5063-447: The process. 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. When Mountbatten's timeline offered the prospect of attaining independence soon, sentiments took

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5146-497: The rank of general and appointed as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff. Customarily, former Chiefs of Defence Staff receive a life peerage on retirement, sitting in the House of Lords as non-political crossbench peers. Their appointment is recommended not via the House of Lords Appointments Commission as is normal procedure, but is instead nominated directly to The King by the Prime Minister , who elects to nominate "a limited number of distinguished public servants" on retirement for

5229-426: The recapture of Burma and Singapore from the Japanese by the end of 1945. For his service during the war, Mountbatten was created viscount in 1946 and earl the following year. In February 1947, Mountbatten was appointed Viceroy and Governor-General of India and oversaw the Partition of India into India and Pakistan . He then served as the first Governor-General of the Union of India until June 1948 and played

5312-404: The self-promotion of his own part in Indian independence – notably in the television series The Life and Times of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Mountbatten of Burma , produced by his son-in-law Lord Brabourne , and Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins (of which he was the main quoted source) – his record is seen as very mixed. One common view is that he hastened

5395-463: The situation was too volatile to wait even a year before granting independence to India. Although his advisers favoured a gradual transfer of independence, Mountbatten decided the only way forward was a quick and orderly transfer of power before 1947 was out. In his view, any longer would mean civil war. Mountbatten also hurried so he could return to the Royal Navy. Mountbatten was fond of Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru and his liberal outlook for

5478-495: The streets to cheer Mountbatten as no European had ever been cheered before." During his reign as governor-general until 21 June 1948, he played a significant role in the political integration of India and persuaded many princely states to join India. On Mountbatten's advice, India took the issue of Kashmir to the newly formed United Nations in January 1948. Accounts differ on the future which Mountbatten desired for Kashmir. Pakistani accounts suggest that Mountbatten favoured

5561-618: The war, Mountbatten was known to have largely shunned the Japanese for the rest of his life out of respect for his men killed during the war and, as per his will, Japan was not invited to send diplomatic representatives to his funeral in 1979, though he did meet Emperor Hirohito during his state visit to Britain in 1971, reportedly at the urging of the Queen. Mountbatten's experience in the region and in particular his perceived Labour sympathies at that time, alongside his wife's longstanding friendship and collaboration with V. K. Krishna Menon , led to Menon putting forth Mountbatten's name alone as

5644-427: Was Mohammad Ali Jinnah." During his meeting with Jinnah on 5 April 1947, Mountbatten tried to persuade him 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

5727-468: Was a personal friend of Mountbatten and copied some of his speeches into the film. Mountbatten was mentioned in despatches on 9 August 1940 and 21 March 1941 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order in January 1941. In August 1941, Mountbatten was appointed captain of the aircraft carrier HMS  Illustrious which lay in Norfolk, Virginia , for repairs following action at Malta in January. During this period of relative inactivity, he paid

5810-430: Was able to consolidate the three service departments of the military branch into a single Ministry of Defence . Ian Jacob , co-author of the 1963 Report on the Central Organisation of Defence that served as the basis of these reforms, described Mountbatten as "universally mistrusted in spite of his great qualities". On their election in October 1964 , the Wilson ministry had to decide whether to renew his appointment

5893-468: Was able to talk to the President a bit about both Tino [Constantine II of Greece] and Juanito [Juan Carlos of Spain] to try and put over their respective points of view about Greece and Spain, and how I felt the US could help them." In January 1971, Nixon hosted Juan Carlos and his wife Sofia (sister of the exiled King Constantine) during a visit to Washington and later that year The Washington Post published an article alleging that Nixon's administration

5976-583: Was alone in his study at the Viceroy's house saying to himself just before the clock struck midnight that for still a few minutes, he was the most powerful man on Earth. At 12 am, as a last act of showmanship, he created Joan Falkiner , the Australian wife of the Nawab of Palanpur , a highness, an act that was apparently one of his favourite duties that was annulled at the stroke of midnight. Notwithstanding

6059-731: Was appointed Colonel of The Life Guards and Gold Stick in Waiting on 29 January 1965 and Life Colonel Commandant of the Royal Marines the same year. He was Governor of the Isle of Wight from 20 July 1965 and then the first Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight from 1 April 1974. Mountbatten was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and had received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1968. In 1969, Mountbatten tried unsuccessfully to persuade his second cousin,

6142-659: Was appointed Fleet Wireless Officer to the Mediterranean Fleet in August 1931 and, having been promoted commander on 31 December 1932, was posted to the battleship HMS  Resolution . In 1934, Mountbatten was appointed to his first command – the destroyer HMS  Daring . His ship was a new destroyer, which he was to sail to Singapore and exchange for an older ship, HMS  Wishart . He successfully brought Wishart back to port in Malta and then attended

6225-595: Was appointed Personal Aide-de-Camp to the Queen. Mountbatten served his final posting at the Admiralty as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from April 1955 to July 1959, the position which his father had held some forty years before. This was the first time in Royal Naval history that a father and son had both attained such high office. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 22 October 1956. In

6308-404: Was asked by Collins and Lapierre if he would have sabotaged the creation of Pakistan had he known that Jinnah was dying of tuberculosis , he replied, "Most probably". Mountbatten became the first Governor-General of independent India on 15 August 1947 upon the request of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru . The Life magazine noted on his reception in India that, "The people gathered in

6391-588: Was buried in Romsey Abbey in Hampshire. Mountbatten, then named Prince Louis of Battenberg , was born on 25 June 1900 at Frogmore House in the Home Park, Windsor , Berkshire. He was the youngest child and the second son of Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine . Mountbatten's maternal grandparents were Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse , and Princess Alice of

6474-472: Was decisive in persuading the vast majority of them to see advantages in opting to join the Indian Union . On one hand, the integration of the princely states can be viewed as one of the positive aspects of his legacy but on the other, the refusal of Hyderabad , Jammu and Kashmir , and Junagadh to join one of the dominions led to future wars between Pakistan and India. Mountbatten brought forward

6557-583: Was disbanded in May 1946 and Mountbatten returned home with the substantive rank of rear-admiral . That year, he was made a Knight Companion of the Garter and created Viscount Mountbatten of Burma , of Romsey in the County of Southampton , as a victory title for war service. He was then in 1947 further created Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Baron Romsey , of Romsey in the County of Southampton. Following

6640-526: Was left with no other option but to cut and run, with the alternative being involvement in a potential civil war that would be difficult to get out of. The creation of Pakistan was never emotionally accepted by many British leaders, among them Mountbatten. Mountbatten clearly expressed his lack of support and faith in the Muslim League 's idea of Pakistan. Jinnah refused Mountbatten's offer to serve as Governor-General of Pakistan . When Mountbatten

6723-479: Was posted to the battleship HMS  Revenge in the Mediterranean Fleet in January 1923. Pursuing his interests in technological development and gadgetry, Mountbatten joined the Portsmouth Signals School in August 1924 and then went on briefly to study electronics at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich . Mountbatten became a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers ( IEE ), now

6806-560: Was seeking to persuade Franco to retire in favour of the young Bourbon prince. Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom) Constitutionally, the sovereign is the de jure commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. However, in practice, the Government of the United Kingdom de facto exercises the royal prerogative and provides direction of the Armed Forces through the Ministry of Defence's Defence Council , of which

6889-412: Was subsequently created Marquess of Milford Haven . At the age of 16, 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

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