06 MAR 2024
A tribute & memorial website to honour​ - Lord Louis MOUNTBATTEN, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
LOUIS, 1st MARQUESS OF MILFORD HAVEN
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On return to England from the Royal Tour of Prince Edward 'David', The Prince of Wales - subsequently King Edward VIII (1894(1936)1972) and later The Duke of Windsor, Louis' youngest son - Mountbatten, was able to return to active service and was assigned to command HMS Repulse during the State of Emergency caused by the miner’s strike. Louis joined his son for an impromptu 'cruise' from Sheerness up to Invergordon and clearly loved every minute on-board. Louis had last set foot on a Dreadnought ten years before the trip to Invergordon, however he subsequently caught a chill. Despite showing signs of recovery, Louis took to his bed with lumbago at the Naval & Military Club, affectionately known as 'The In and Out Club', 42 Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, London and died alone after a heart attack on 11th September 1921, aged 67yrs.
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ABOVE: The Naval & Military Club
(affectionately known as 'The In and Out' Club)
Piccadilly, London - where Mountbatten's father
died in September 1921
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LEFT: The elderly Marquess & Marchioness of Milford Haven
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Admiral of the Fleet The Rt Hon. Sir Louis Mountbatten,
1st Marquess of Milford Haven
(formerly Prince Louis of Battenberg)
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Mountbatten received news of his father’s death by telegram and was deeply affected by his father’s death and immediately burst into tears. He said - "I loved him deeply, and it was the most terrible shock." Prince Edward 'David', The Prince of Wales - subsequently King Edward VIII (1894(1936)1972) and later The Duke of Windsor said to him at the time - "how lucky you are to have had such a marvellous father! If I heard my father had died I wouldn’t be able to conceal my delight." Upon hearing the news of her father's death, Louis' eldest child - Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece & Denmark (1885-1969) headed for London with the new-born Prince Philip, later 1st Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021) and wrote - "I am so terribly sorry for poor Dickie, as he is so young and had such a wonderful and faithful friendship with his father."
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Louis' funeral was held on 19th September 1921, his coffin was processed down The Mall on a field gun carriage through Admiralty Arch and down Whitehall to Westminster Abbey. The pall bearers were - Admiral of the Fleet The Rt Hon. Sir David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (1871-1936); Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Jackson (1855-1929); Admiral of the Fleet Sir Doveton Sturdee, Bt. (1859-1925); Admiral of the Fleet Sir Arthur Fanshawe (1847-1936); Admiral of the Fleet Sir William May (1849-1930); Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cecil Burney, Bt. (1858-1929); Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman (1848-1929); General Sir Herbert Blumberg (1869-1934). Prince Arthur, 1st Duke of Connaught & Strathearn (1850-1942) - third son of Queen Victoria (1819(1837-1901) represented King George V (1865(1910-1936) and Sir Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, formerly Prince Alexander of Battenberg (1886-1960) - Louis' nephew, represented Queen Mary (1867-1953).
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The funeral procession of
Louis, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven
having passed through Admiralty Arch, London
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A short film (no audio) by Pathé about the funeral
of Louis, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven
(Prince Louis of Battenberg)
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The coffin of Louis,
1st Marquess of Milford Haven
being saluted by Admiral of the Fleet
The Rt Hon. Sir David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty
as it arrived at Westminster Abbey
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The Order of Service for the funeral of
Louis, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven
at Westminster Abbey
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Following the service at Westminster Abbey, Louis' coffin was driven to Waterloo Station, and conveyed to Portsmouth by train. Upon arrival at Portsmouth, the coffin was carried by members of the crew of the Royal Yacht and taken onboard HMS Ready to the Isle of Wight. At Cowes, Louis' coffin was officially met by Princess Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg (1857-1944), the Governor of the Isle of Wight and Louis' sister-in-law. After a service held by The Rt Revd. James Macarthur (1848-1922), the Archdeacon of the Isle of Wight (formerly Bishop of Southampton), Louis was buried at St Mildred’s Church, Whippingham, on the Isle of Wight - the church frequented by Queen Victoria (1819(1837-1901) whilst in residence at Osborne House which houses the Battenberg/Mountbatten chapel. Louis last wish was that "any tombstone or memorial erected over his remains should be of as modest and unassuming a character as possible." Louis' widow - Victoria, The Marchioness of Milford Haven wrote to Queen Mary (1867-1953), Queen Consort of King George V (1865(1910-1936) - "it has all been so sudden that I can hardly quite realise it yet, but I am very very grateful that my dear Louis’s life - a happy one as men’s go, ended so quickly and quietly, without time for worry, anxiety or sorrow. He felt a very real affection for you and your children and quite especially George, whom he had known so well in the old days in the Navy, and was always in the full sense of the words ‘at all your service.’"
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The burial of Louis,
1st Marquess of Milford Haven
at St Mildred's Church, Whippingham,
on the Isle of Wight -
(left to right) George, Earl of Medina
(later 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven); Mountbatten; Victoria,
Marchioness of Milford Haven
& Nadejda 'Nada', Countess of Medina
(later Marchioness of Milford Haven)
The joint grave of Mountbatten's parents -
Louis, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven
(Prince Louis of Battenberg)
& Victoria, Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven
(Princess Victoria of Hesse & By the Rhine)
at St Mildred's Church, Whippingham, Isle of Wight
In the Autumn of 1950, Mountbatten’s mother who from 1921 was styled 'The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven' was taken ill with bronchitis at Broadlands, Mountbatten's home in Hampshire. Victoria, who was a favourite granddaughter of Queen Victoria (1819(1837-1901) had been born a Princess of Hesse & By the Rhine with the qualification of Grand Ducal Highness at Windsor Castle in 1863 and upon her marriage in 1884 to Louis, became a Princess of Battenberg with the qualification of Serene Highness until the family renounced their Princely titles and styles in 1917. When Victoria became ill, she told her son (Mountbatten) that she had wanted to return to London as it was "so much better to die at home."
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Victoria, The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven died aged 87yrs at Kensington Palace, London on 24th September 1950, sadly without seeing her son fulfil his destiny as First Sea Lord, but she had seen him back in the Royal Navy and rising to the top of the organisation which her late husband had been forced to resign from in 1914. Mountbatten and his sisters - Crown Princess Louise of Sweden - later Queen Louise of Sweden (1889-1965) and Princess Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece & Denmark (1885-1969) were at Victoria's bedside when she died. Upon Victoria's death, King George VI (1895(1936-1952) ordered a week of Family Mourning and the Royal Court of Sweden honoured her with two weeks of mourning. Victoria had written her memoirs, with the help of her Private Secretary - Baroness Sophie de Buxhoeveden (1883-1956), but have remained unpublished, and are currently in the Mountbatten Archive at the University of Southampton. She saw great sorrow throughout most of her life - from the early death of her mother in 1878 (at the young age of 35yrs), most of her family died young, tragically in accidents or were murdered - her life was constantly shadowed by grief.
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At the time of her death in 1950, The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven was the oldest surviving grand-daughter of Queen Victoria (1819(1837-1901) and notable for being a sister of the last Tsarina of Russia - Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, formerly Princess Alix of Hesse & By the Rhine (1872-1918) who was murdered with her family in the Russian Revolution; was the mother of Queen Louise of Sweden, formerly Princess Louise of Battenberg (1889-1965); was the grandmother of Prince Philip, 1st Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021) and the great-grandmother of Prince Charles, later King Charles III (1948(2022- ) - whose christening was one of the last 'family' events she was photographed at on 15th December 1948.
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Four days after her death on 28th September 1950, after a brief service at The Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, London, Victoria's coffin was taken to Portsmouth and subsequently taken across the Solent to the Isle of Wight onboard the frigate HMS Redpole. Victoria was laid to rest beside her late husband - Louis, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, formerly Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854-1921) at St Mildred’s Church, Whippingham on the Isle of Wight.
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Victoria, The Dowager
Marchioness of Milford Haven
(Princess Victoria of Hesse
& By the Rhine)
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