Prince Louis of Battenberg: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:43, 29 September 2005

Revision as of 22:56, 30 September 2005

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[[image:Louis_of_battenberg.jpeg|frame|Prince Louis of Battenberg]]

'''Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven''', ([[24 May]] [[1854]]– – [[11 September]] [[1921]]), formerly '''Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg''', was a minor German prince who married into the [[British Royal Family]] and pursued a distinguished career in the [[Royal Navy]], eventually serving as [[Admiralty|First Sea Lord]] from 1912 to 1914. He was the father of [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma]] and the maternal grandfather of [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]].

==Early Life==

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==Adoption of the Surname Mountbatten==

At the behest of [[George V of the United Kingdom|King George V]], Prince Louis relinquished the title Prince of Battenberg in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, as also the style of Serene Highness, on [[14 July]] [[1917]]. At the same time, he also anglecizedanglicized his family name, changing it from "BattenburgBattenberg" to "Mountbatten". On [[July 17]], the king created him ''[[Marquess of Milford Haven]], Earl of Medina, and Viscount Alderney'' in the [[peerage of the United Kingdom]]. His wife ceased to use her own title of Princess of Hesse 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.

Prince Louis' elder son, [[George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven|George Mountbatten]], who received the courtesy title Earl of Medina, succeeded him as 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven in [[1921]]. [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Prince Louis' younger son]], styled Lord Louis Mountbatten after [[1917]], was created Viscount Mountbatten of Burma in [[1946]] and then Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Baron Romsey in [[1947]].² He served as the last [[Viceroy of India]].

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¹ In 1881, Prince Louis of Battenberg allegedly had an illegitimate daughter [[Jeanne Marie Langtry Malcolm]] by the actress, [[Lillie Langtry]], a one-time mistress of [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Albert Edward, Prince of Wales]].

² Upon relinquishing his princely title and Anglicizinganglicizing his surname to ''Mountbatten'', Prince Louis allegedly wrote in a letter to his son George, "Enter Prince Jekyll, exit Lord Hyde."

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