Meet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma – statesman, naval officer and esteemed member of the British Royal Family.
And if you think that’s quite a mouthful you should know that he was actually born Prince Louis of Battenberg.
His parents, like all the British Royal family, were of German descent and decided during World War One that it would be better to adopt a more English sounding surname. The Royal family became the Windsors of course and the Battenberg’s adopted the name Mountbatten.
Having got that out the way – he went onto have a distinguished navy career in both world wars, becoming Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command in the later stages of WW2.
As a member of the Royal Family, he was famously known as the future King Charles favourite ‘Great Uncle’ acting as mentor during Charles formative years.
Mountbatten’s reputation took a dent after the war when, in his role as the last Viceroy of India, there was controversy over his judgement and decision making during the partition of India,
His private life also attracted adverse scrutiny with rumours about an adulterous sexual life and other sexual allegations, some of which were dismissed by official inquiries.
Tragically he lost his life when he was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army when a bomb exploded aboard his fishing boat in Ireland in 1979.
This bronze statue erected on November 2nd 1983, is located on Mountbatten Green, just off Horse Guards Road and though was open to the public when it was unveiled, is now closed for security reasons due to its proximity to Downing Street.
Which in a way, somehow feels appropriate for such an outstanding but ultimately flawed and controversial figure.
Courtesy of Wikipedia. Image by Miguel Discart This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.