Prince Louis of Battenberg
Preceded by | New creation |
---|---|
Succeeded by | George Mountbatten |
Personal details | |
Born | Count Louis Alexander of Battenberg 24 May 1854 St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham , Isle of Wight |
Spouse | |
Children |
|
Battles/wars | Anglo-Egyptian War |
Awards | See list |
Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven (24 May 1854 – 11 September 1921), formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a British
Although born in Austria, and brought up in Italy and Germany, Louis enrolled in the
After a naval career lasting more than forty years, in 1912 Louis was appointed
Louis married Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. They had four children: Alice, Louise, George, and Louis. Louise later became Queen of Sweden, while the younger Louis served as First Sea Lord, like his father, from 1954 to 1959. The Marquess and Marchioness of Milford Haven were the maternal grandparents of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Early life
Louis Alexander of Battenberg was born in
Shortly after Louis's birth, his father was stationed with the
Among the visitors entertained at Heiligenberg were Battenberg's relations, the
In January of the following year, the
Louis returned to Britain in May 1869. In June he joined
In 1875, again at the invitation of the Prince of Wales, he joined
In late February–early March 1878, Louis was still serving on the Sultan as it lay in the
On 24 August 1880, Louis was posted to
From South Africa the Inconstant sailed to
In November 1882, he left the Inconstant, spent Christmas in Darmstadt, and in March the following year visited his younger brother, Prince Alexander, in Bulgaria.[37] Alexander had been made Sovereign Prince of Bulgaria in 1879 with the approval of Europe's Great Powers. Louis accompanied his brother on a state visit to Turkey, and then on a tour of Cyprus and the Holy Land with the Turkish navy, during which Louis was appalled at the lack of seamanship—the Turkish captains were unable to navigate and had to hug the coast so as not to get lost; when they did leave the coast they became so disoriented that they were unable to steer for Jaffa. On its return journey the ship on which they had travelled ran aground.[38]
Marriage and family
In September 1883,
Louis and Victoria had four children:
Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Alice | 25 February 1885 | 5 December 1969 | Married 1903, to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark; had issue, including Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. |
Louise | 13 July 1889 | 7 March 1965 | Married 1923, to Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden (making this his second marriage); one stillborn daughter.
|
George | 6 November 1892 | 8 April 1938 | Married 1916, to Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby; had issue. |
Louis | 25 June 1900 | 27 August 1979 | Married 1922, to Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley; had issue. |
In 1885, one of Louis's younger brothers, Prince Henry of Battenberg, married Princess Beatrice, the youngest child of Queen Victoria, and took up residence with the Queen in Britain so that Beatrice could continue to serve as her mother's companion and personal secretary.[43]
Commander
On his penultimate day aboard the Queen's yacht, 30 August 1885, Louis was promoted to the rank of
On 3 October 1889, Battenberg was appointed to his first independent command, HMS Scout, a torpedo-cruiser, which saw service in the Red Sea.[47]
Captain
On 31 December 1891, Prince Louis was promoted to the rank of captain.[48][49] At the beginning of the following year, he was appointed naval advisor to the inspector-general of fortifications. His role was to act as a liaison between the navy and the army in order to ensure a co-ordinated defence.[31] Traditionally, there was a great deal of friction between the two services, but Louis exercised his social skills in the role, leading Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, to write to him, "You have produced a mutual feeling of goodwill and unanimity which I have always wished to see established, and which, by your tact and sound judgement, you have brought about to the fullest extent."[50]
In 1892, Battenberg invented the
By February 1894 his role was further developed when he was appointed joint secretary of the naval and military committee on defence, which was later renamed the
He commissioned the newly built battleship HMS Implacable on 10 September 1901,[58] and served as its captain for a year in the Mediterranean, during which he spectacularly defeated a larger opposing force in a naval exercise.[59] When the Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, Rear-Admiral Burges Watson, died suddenly in late September 1902, Louis was temporarily appointed 2nd class Commodore with added responsibilities.[60] In November of the same year he was appointed as Director of Naval Intelligence,[61][62] an apt posting for a man whom First Lord of the Admiralty the Earl of Selborne described as "the cleverest sailor I have met yet".[63] The outgoing Director, Rear-Admiral Reginald Custance, had been Battenberg’s superior at the Naval Intelligence Department a few years earlier and tried to prevent Battenberg’s promotion to succeed him.[64]
Admiral
He was promoted to
After less than six months in post his flag was transferred to the battleship
Sea Lord
Fisher recommended Louis as
However, almost a year to the day later, on 8 December 1912, Battenberg assumed the post of First Sea Lord in succession to
As First Sea Lord, Battenberg was responsible to the First Lord for the readiness of the fleet and the preparation of naval strategy, as well as the development of a scheme for state insurance of merchant vessels in times of war, which was to prove essential in preventing prohibitive insurance rates that would have stifled British trade.[78]
On the eve of the World War, Churchill and Battenberg made the crucial decision to cancel the scheduled dispersal of the British fleet following practice manoeuvres, to preserve the Royal Navy's battle readiness.[31][79] In the view of Andrew Lambert, "While Churchill planned to recall Fisher if war broke out, he missed the chance to prevent war that might have been provided by drafting him earlier. No Cabinet advised by Fisher would have made such a blundering, incompetent, disastrous response to the July [1914] Crisis. The British trumpet gave a very uncertain note in July [1914], allowing the Germans to delude themselves that Britain might be neutral ... the contrast in habits between the energy and enthusiasm of the young First Lord and the lackadaisical habits of the First Sea Lord Prince Louis of Battenberg made Fisher's recall all but inevitable."[80]
Upon the outbreak of war, gout began to cause Battenberg considerable pain, and the naval staff he had set up did not function as well as it ought to have done.[81] On 6 August 1914 Battenberg and the French Deputy Chief of Staff of the Navy Antoine Schwerer signed a convention in London on the division of responsibilities between the two navies.[82] The convention confirmed the terms of the Entente Cordiale, and placed France in command of all naval operations in the Mediterranean.[82] Malta and Gibraltar would both be treated as French naval bases. In the event that Austria entered the war France would act against its naval forces, and would at minimum prevent them passing the Strait of Otranto.[82]
Anti-German sentiment rose among the British public, in newspapers, and in elite
His resignation was announced amid an outpouring of appreciation from politicians and naval comrades. Battenberg had written to Churchill on 28 October, "What I shd (sic) value above all else is to be admitted to the
Prince Louis held no official post for the remainder of the war and lived in retirement at Kent House on the Isle of Wight.[91] He occupied his time in writing a comprehensive encyclopaedia on naval medals published in three large volumes, which became the standard reference work on the subject.[92] His naval career had been characterised by industry, invention and intellect; he introduced mechanical calculators to compute navigations and a cone signalling apparatus.[31] Although assured that he would be returned to command post-war, on 9 December 1918 the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, wrote to Prince Louis informing him that he would not be employed again and suggested that he might retire in order to facilitate the promotion of younger officers. Prince Louis agreed,[93] and he officially retired on 1 January 1919 "at [his] own request", shortly before reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65.[94]
Adoption of the surname Mountbatten
During the war, persistent rumours that the
The King's British relatives in the
While the transition in names and titles was being effected, Louis spent some time at the home of his eldest son, George. After anglicising his surname to Mountbatten and becoming Marquess of Milford Haven, Louis wrote in his son's guestbook, "Arrived Prince Hyde, Departed Lord Jekyll".[99]
Final years and death
During the war, two of Lord Milford Haven's sisters-in-law (
In 1919, the Milford Havens had to give up their home, Kent House, for financial reasons.
Milford Haven was appointed Military
The marquess's elder son,
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 24 May 1854 – 26 December 1858: His Illustrious Highness Count Louis of Battenberg
- 26 December 1858 – 14 July 1917: His Serene Highness Prince Louis of Battenberg
- 14 July – 7 November 1917: The Right Honourable Sir Louis Mountbatten
- 7 November 1917 – 11 September 1921: The Most Honourable The Marquess of Milford Haven
Honours
- Orders and decorations
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland:
- Egypt War Medal, 1882[107]
- Knight Commander of the Bath, 29 April 1884 (civil)[108]/25 June 1909 (military);[109] Additional Knight Grand Cross with Collar, 21 June 1887 (civil)[107][108]/1 January 1921 (military)[104]
- Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee Medal, 1887[107]
- Knight of Justice of St. John[110]
- Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 2 February 1901[108]
- King Edward VII Coronation Medal, 1902[107]
- Knight Commander of St Michael and St George, 30 June 1905[111]
- Hesse and by Rhine:
- Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 25 September 1870;[112] with Star and Collar, 29 April 1884
- Grand Cross of the Merit Order of Philip the Magnanimous, with Swords, 25 September 1870[112]
- Knight of the Golden Lion, with Collar, 30 April 1884[112]
- Wedding Medal of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and Grand Duchess Victoria Melita, 1894[107]
- Austria-Hungary:
- Grand Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph, 1877[113]
- Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1908[113]
- Principality of Bulgaria:
- Egypt:
- Order of the Medjidie, 4th Class, January 1869
- Khedive's Star, 1882[107]
- Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order[4]
- French Third Republic: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, 20 July 1913[114]
- Greece: Grand Cross of the Redeemer[4]
- Empire of Japan: Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun, with Paulownia Flowers, 2 November 1917[115]
- Principality of Montenegro: Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I[107]
- Ottoman Empire: Order of Osmanieh, 4th Class, April 1869; 1st Class, 1882[107]
- Kingdom of Portugal:
- Grand Cross of the Royal Military Order of Our Lord Jesus Christ[4]
- Grand Cross of the
- Kingdom of Prussia: Grand Cross of the Red Eagle[4]
- Russian Empire:
- Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class[4]
- Knight of St. Andrew, 1909[4]
- Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky[4]
- Knight of the White Eagle[4]
- Knight of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class[107]
- Restoration (Spain):
- Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, 26 November 1906[116]
- Grand Cross of Naval Merit, with White Decoration, 1907[117]
- Württemberg: Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1884[118]
- Appointments
- Honorary naval aide-de-camp to the Sovereign, 1 January 1897[56]
Arms
|
Ancestry
Ancestors of Prince Louis of Battenberg Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine | | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9. Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt | |||||||||||||||
2. Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine | |||||||||||||||
10. Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden | |||||||||||||||
5. Princess Wilhelmine of Baden | |||||||||||||||
11. Princess Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt | |||||||||||||||
1. Prince Louis of Battenberg | |||||||||||||||
12. Friedrich Karl Emanuel Hauke | |||||||||||||||
6. Count Hans Moritz Hauke | |||||||||||||||
13. Maria Salomé Schweppenhäuser | |||||||||||||||
3. Julia, Princess of Battenberg | |||||||||||||||
14. Franz Leopold Lafontaine | |||||||||||||||
7. Sophie Lafontaine | |||||||||||||||
15. Maria Theresa Kornély | |||||||||||||||
Notes and citations
- ISBN 0-297-78470-6
- ^ Hough, p. 173
- ISBN 978-91-630-5964-3
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ruvigny, Marquis of (1914), The Titled Nobility of Europe, London: Harrison and Sons, p. 307
- ^ Kerr, Mark (1934), Prince Louis of Battenberg, London: Longmans, Green and Co, pp. 4–5
- ^ Hough, p. 20
- ^ a b c d "Admiralty – Prince Louis of Battenberg – HMS Dreadnought HC Deb 2 August 1887 vol 318 cc924-6", Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 2 August 1887, retrieved 6 February 2012
- ^ a b "Admiralty – Prince Louis of Battenberg – HMS Dreadnought HC Deb 4 August 1887 vol 318 c1170", Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 4 August 1887, retrieved 6 February 2012
- ^ a b "Admiralty – the appointment of Prince Louis of Battenberg, HC Deb 5 August 1887 vol 318 cc1372-4", Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 5 August 1887, retrieved 6 February 2012
- S2CID 159895698
- ^ Kerr, pp. 7–8
- ^ Kerr, pp. 9–10
- ^ Hough, p. 61
- ^ Kerr, pp. 14–16
- ^ Kerr, p. 18
- ^ Kerr, pp. 19–23
- ^ Kerr, pp. 25–27
- ^ Hough, pp. 67, 69 and 73
- ^ Kerr, p. 34 and p. xiii
- ^ Hough, p. 76
- ^ Kerr, p. 36
- ^ Hough, p. 80
- ^ "No. 24326". The London Gazette. 16 May 1876. p. 2982.
- ^ a b Kerr, p. 51
- ^ Kerr, p. 63 and Hough, p. 87
- ^ Kerr, p. 64
- ^ Kerr, p. 69
- ^ Kerr, p. 70
- ^ Hough, pp. 95–96
- ^ Kerr, pp. 71–99
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1
- ISBN 0-241-13686-5
- ^ Hough, pp. 97–98
- ^ Kerr, p. 100
- ^ Kerr, p. 101
- ^ Hough, p. 105
- ^ Kerr, p. 103
- ^ Kerr, p. 106
- ^ Kerr, p. 107
- ^ Vickers, p. 7
- ^ Kerr, p. 109 and Vickers, p. 20
- ^ Hough, p. 119
- ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1
- ^ Kerr, p. xii
- ^ "No. 25507". The London Gazette. 1 September 1885. p. 4131.
- ^ Kerr, p. xiii and p. 110
- ^ Kerr, pp. 111–114
- ^ Kerr, p. 166
- ^ "No. 26239". The London Gazette. 1 January 1892. p. 3.
- ^ Kerr, p. 118
- ^ "The Battenberg Course Indicator", Royal Navy document OU5274 "Remarks on Handling Ships", Great War Primary Document Archive, 1934, retrieved 11 June 2009
- ^ a b Lee, Annabel (12 November 1905), "Louis of Battenberg: A Talk with the Sailor-Prince" (PDF), The New York Times, retrieved 11 June 2009
- ^ Kerr, pp. 121–122
- ^ Kerr, p. xiv
- ^ Hough, pp. 179, 185–186
- ^ a b "No. 26809". The London Gazette. 1 January 1897. p. 3.
- ^ Kerr, p. 138
- ^ The Times (London) 11 September 1901, no. 36557, p. 8
- ^ Hough, pp. 223–225
- ^ The Times (London) 29 September 1902, no. 36885, p. 8
- ^ Kerr, pp. 142–157
- ^ "Important Naval Appointments", The Times (London) 23 October 1902, no. 36906, p. 3
- ^ Boyce, D. George (1990), The Crisis of British Power: The Imperial and Naval Papers of the Second Earl of Selborne, 1895–1910, London: The Historians' Press, p. 113
- ^ a b Lambert 2012, pp. 283-5
- ^ "No. 27692". The London Gazette. 5 July 1904. p. 4259.
- ^ Kerr, pp. 185–206
- ^ Kerr, pp. 214–221
- ^ "No. 28156". The London Gazette. 7 July 1908. p. 4940.
- ISBN 978-0-571-23156-0
- ^ Kerr, pp. 230–231
- ^ Hough, pp. 237–239
- ^ Fisher to J. A. Spender, 25 October 1911, quoted in Marder, vol. II, p. 398; see also Hough, p. 245
- ^ Horatio Bottomley in John Bull, 2 November 1911, quoted in Hough, p. 246
- ^ Hough, pp. 244–256
- ^ "No. 28627". The London Gazette. 16 July 1912. p. 5182.
- ^ Churchill, pp. 611–613; Kerr, p. 238
- ISBN 0-19-820877-4
- ^ Hough, p. 272
- ^ Kerr, p. 243
- ^ Lambert, p. 317
- ^ Goldrick, pp. 17–18
- ^ a b c Koburger, pp. 31–32
- ^ Hough, pp. 302–303
- ^ Hough, p. 307
- ^ Hattendorf, p. 87
- ^ Quoted in Goldrick, p. 155
- ^ Bell 2017, p.162
- ^ Gilbert, p. 149
- ^ The Times (London), 4 November 1914
- ^ The Times (London), 1 November 1914
- ^ Kerr, p. 259
- ^ Kerr, p. 265
- ^ Hough, p. 330
- ^ a b ADM 196/38
- ^ Hough, p. 317
- ^ "No. 30374". The London Gazette. 9 November 1917. p. 11594.
- ISBN 978-1-4767-3381-4
- ^ The Royal Family name, Official web site of the British monarchy, archived from the original on 15 February 2009, retrieved 11 June 2009
- ^ Kerr, p. 289
- ^ Kerr, p. 261
- ^ Kerr, p. 290
- ^ a b Kerr, p. 293
- ^ Vickers, p. 155
- ^ a b "No. 32178". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1921. p. 4.
- ^ Ziegler, p. 60
- ^ ISBN 0-9711966-2-1
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Großherzogliche Familie", Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (in German), Darmstadt: Im Verlag der Invalidenanstalt, 1912–1913, p. 2 – via hathitrust.org
- ^ a b c Shaw, William Arthur (1906), The Knights of England, vol. 1, London: Sherratt and Hughes, pp. 212, 288, 418
- ^ "No. 28263". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 June 1909. p. 4853.
- ^ "No. 26725". The London Gazette. 27 March 1896. p. 1960.
- ^ "No. 27811". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 June 1905. p. 4549.
- ^ a b c Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1914, pp. 2, 4, 21 – via hathitrust.org
- ^ a b "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie (in German), Vienna: Druck und Verlag der K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1914, pp. 63, 178 – via alex.onb.ac.at
- ISBN 978-2-35077-135-9.
- ^ "No. 30363". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 October 1917. p. 11322.
- ^ "Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III". Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish). Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra. 1914. p. 208 – via bne.es.
- ^ "Caballeros Grandes Cruces de la Orden del Mérito Naval". Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish). Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra. 1914. p. 547 – via bne.es.
- ^ "Königliche Orden", Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (in German), Stuttgart: Druck von W. Kohlhammer, 1896, p. 28
- ^ "No. 28965". The London Gazette. 6 November 1914. p. 9011.
- ^ Cokayne, G.E. (1940), The Complete Peerage, revised, enlarged and edited by Doubleday, H.A. and Howard de Walden, Lord, London: St Catherine Press, vol. XIII p. 260
- ^ Paget, Gerald (1977), The Lineage & Ancestry of HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Edinburgh and London: Charles Skilton
References
- ADM 196/38 Battenberg Service Record at The National Archives (fee payable for download).
- Bell, Christopher (2017). Churchill and the Dardanelles. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19870-254-2.
- Churchill, Randolph S. (1967), Winston S. Churchill, vol. II, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company
- ISBN 0-395-13153-7
- ISBN 0-87021-334-2
- Harley, Simon (May 2016), "'It's a Case of All or None': 'Jacky' Fisher's Advice to Winston Churchill, 1911", The Mariner's Mirror, 102 (2): 174–190, S2CID 159895698
- Marder, Arthur J., ed. (1956). Fear God and Dread Nought: The Correspondence of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher of Kilverstone. Vol. II. London: Jonathan Cape.
- ISBN 0-275-94231-7
- ISBN 0-297-78470-6
- Hurd, Archibald; ISBN 978-0-19-861411-1
- Kerr, Mark (1934), Prince Louis of Battenberg: Admiral of the Fleet, London: Longmans, Green and Co
- Koburger, Charles W. (2001), The Central Powers in the Adriatic, 1914–1918: War in a Narrow Sea, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-275-97071-0
- Lambert, Nicholas (2012). Planning Armageddon: British Economic Warfare and the First World War. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; 1st Edition. ISBN 978-0-67406-149-1.
- Vickers, Hugo (2000), Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece, London: Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-13686-5
- ISBN 0-00-216543-0
External links
- Media related to Prince Louis of Battenberg, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven at Wikimedia Commons
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Marquess of Milford Haven
- Portraits of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven at the National Portrait Gallery, London