Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
CBE MSC CD
Knatchbull in 1941
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a Hereditary peer
27 August 1979 – 11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Succeeded bySeat abolished [a]
Personal details
Born
Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten

(1924-02-14)14 February 1924
Westminster, London, England [1]
Died13 June 2017(2017-06-13) (aged 93)
Mersham, Kent, England
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1946; died 2005)​
Children
Second World War

Patricia Edwina Victoria Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, Baroness Brabourne,

King Charles III. She was a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria
.

Lady Mountbatten succeeded her father to the

heirs male. This inheritance accorded her the title of countess and a seat in the House of Lords, where she remained until 1999, when the House of Lords Act 1999
removed most hereditary peers from the House.

Marriage and children

On 26 October 1946 she married John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne (9 November 1924 – 23 September 2005), at the time an aide to her father in the Far East. They had met after Patricia, having served in the Women's Royal Naval Service, was commissioned in 1945 as a third officer and was serving in the Supreme Allied Headquarters, South East Asia. The wedding took place at Romsey Abbey in the presence of members of the royal family. Her bridesmaids were Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Lady Pamela Mountbatten (the bride's younger sister), and Princess Alexandra, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent.[2]

Later they became one of the few married couples each of whom held a peerage in their own right, and whose descendants inherited titles through both. They had eight children:

As Lady Brabourne during her father's lifetime, her immediate family became closely involved in the consideration of a future consort for her first cousin once-removed, Charles, Prince of Wales. In early 1974, Lord Mountbatten began corresponding with the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip about a potential marriage to Lady Brabourne's daughter, Amanda.[5] Charles wrote to Lady Brabourne (who was also his godmother), about his interest in her daughter, to which she replied approvingly, though suggesting that a courtship was premature.[6] Amanda Knatchbull declined the marriage proposal of Charles in 1980, following the assassination of her grandfather.[7]

Activities

Patricia was educated in Malta, England, and at the Hewitt School[8] in New York City. In 1943, at age 19, she entered the Women's Royal Naval Service as a Signal Rating and served in Combined Operations bases in Britain, including HMS Tormentor.[9] She was then commissioned as a third officer in 1945 and serving in the Supreme Allied Headquarters, South East Asia.[10]

In 1973 she was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for the County of

Order of St John, of which she was a Dame; and the Countess Mountbatten's Own Legion of Frontiersmen of the Commonwealth, of which she was a Patron.[11]

On 15 June 1974, she succeeded her distant cousin Lady Patricia Ramsay, formerly

First World War. Despite her succeeding to an earldom in her own right as Countess Mountbatten of Burma on the death of her father in 1979, she preferred that the officers and men of her regiment address her as Lady Patricia. She was succeeded by The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson on 17 March 2007. On 28 August 2007, the Governor General of Canada presented her with the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross for her services as Colonel-in-Chief of Princess Patricia's Light Infantry.[12]

Patricia was in the boat which was blown up by the

Paul Maxwell, a boat-boy from County Fermanagh. She, her husband, and their son Timothy were injured but survived the attack.[13] Following the incident the Countess became Patron and, later, President of The Compassionate Friends, a self-help charitable organisation of bereaved parents in the UK.[14]

In June 2012, at the time of

IRA. "I think it's wonderful ... I'm hugely grateful that we have come to a point where we can behave responsibly and positively", she is reported to have said.[15] In September 2012, she unveiled a memorial to the work of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties at Hayling Island in Hampshire.[16]

Death and funeral

Countess Mountbatten died at her home in Mersham, Kent, aged 93. Her funeral service took place on 27 June 2017 at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, and was attended by the Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and other senior members of the royal family. Her casket was borne by a party of pall bearers from Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, who were in London on public duties. She was buried in the Knatchbull family plot in Mersham churchyard.[17]

Colonelcy-in-chief

Honours

Bibliography

  • ISBN 0-688-12996-X
    .

Notes

  1. ^ Seat abolished by the House of Lords Act 1999.

References

  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  2. ^ "Wedding of Lady Patricia Mountbatten 1946". British Pathe.
  3. ISBN 978-0806351728
  4. ^ "It's heir kissing". Sunday Mail. Glasgow. 12 July 1998. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  5. ^ Dimbleby, pp. 204–206
  6. ^ Dimbleby
  7. ^ "Prince Charles and his girlfriends through the years". Daily Express. London. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
  8. ^ Reginato, James (5 September 2013). "The Raj Duet". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  9. ISBN 9781476733821
    .
  10. ^ "Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess of Mountbatten of Burma CBE MSC CD". British Empire. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  11. ^ "Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma". Lord Mountbatten of Burma. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  12. ^ "Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean on the Presentation of the Meritorious Service Cross to Lady Patricia, The Countess Mountbatten of Burma". Government of Canada. 28 August 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Britain: A Nation Mourns Its Loss". Time. 10 September 1979. Archived from the original on 3 October 2008. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  14. ^ "Death announced of Countess Mountbatten, passionate supporter of The Compassionate Friends". The Compassionate Friends. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  15. ^ Rayner, Gordon (28 June 2012). "Queen meets McGuinness: It's a wonderful moment, says daughter injured by IRA Mountbatten bomb". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Secret WWII unit memorial stone in place in Hayling Island". BBC News. 12 July 2012.
  17. ^ Furness, Hannah (27 June 2017). "Queen leads mourners at funeral of Countess Mountbatten". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  18. Canadian Press
    . 7 February 2007. Retrieved 7 September 2020.

External links

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded byas Earl Countess Mountbatten of Burma
1979–2017
Member of the House of Lords
(1979–1999) 		Succeeded byas Earl

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patricia_Knatchbull,_2nd_Countess_Mountbatten_of_Burma&oldid=1217630475"