Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke
| Alexander Mountbatten | |
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| Tenure | 7 November 1917 – 23 February 1960 |
| Spouse | Lady Irene Denison |
| Issue | |
| Lady Iris Mountbatten | |
| Full name | |
| Alexander Albert Mountbatten | |
| Family | Battenberg |
| Father | Prince Henry of Battenberg |
| Mother | Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom |
| Born | 23 November 1886 Windsor Castle, Berkshire |
| Died | 23 February 1960 (aged 73) Kensington Palace, London |
| Burial | Whippingham Church, Isle of Wight |
Alexander Albert Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCB, GCVO, GJStJ (born Prince Alexander Albert of Battenberg; 23 November 1886 – 23 February 1960) was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria. He was a Prince of Battenberg from his birth until 1917, when the British Royal Family relinquished their German titles during the First World War and changed their name to Windsor.
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[edit] Early life
Prince Alexander was born in 1886 at Windsor Castle in Berkshire and was educated at Wellington College. His father was Prince Henry of Battenberg, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julie Therese née Countess of Hauke. His mother was Princess Henry of Battenberg (née The Princess Beatrice), the fifth daughter and the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Prince Henry of Battenberg was the product of a morganatic marriage, and took his style of Prince of Battenberg from his mother, Julia von Hauke, who was created Princess of Battenberg in her own right. At his birth, Alexander, was styled His Serene Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg, because the child of a morganatic marriage is ineligible for "Grand-Ducal Highness" status. However, three weeks after his birth, on 13 December 1886, he was styled His Highness under a Royal Warrant passed by his grandmother Queen Victoria.
[edit] Military service and honours
Prince Alexander served in the Royal Navy from 1902 to 1908.[1] In 1911 he joined the British Army, being appointed Second Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 22 November 1911,[2] and was promoted to Lieutenant on 15 August 1913.[3] He was seconded to the staff to act as an extra aide-de-camp on 10 April 1915[4][5] and promoted Captain the same year.[1] On 1 June 1917 he was authorised to wear the insignia of the Russian Order of St Vladimir, fourth class with Swords, awarded "for distinguished service to the Allied cause".[6] He resigned his commission on 19 June 1919[7] and was placed on the General Reserve of Officers, ranking as a Captain with seniority of 15 July 1915.[8] He held several other foreign orders and decorations: Grand Cross of Order of Charles III (Spain), Order of Leopold, with swords (Belgium), Order of Alexander Nevsky (Russia), Order of Naval Merit, fourth class (Spain), Order of the Nile (Egypt), Order of the Crown (Romania), and Croix de guerre, with palms (France).
[edit] Marquess of Carisbrooke
Anti-German feeling during the First World War led King George V to change the name of the Royal House in July 1917 from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the House of Windsor. He also relinquished, on behalf of his various relatives who were British subjects, the use of all German titles and styles.
The Battenberg family relinquished their titles of Prince and Princess of Battenberg and the styles of Highness and Serene Highness. Under Royal Warrant, they instead took the surname Mountbatten, an Anglicised form of Battenberg. As such, Prince Alexander became Sir Alexander Mountbatten.[9] On 7 November 1917, he was created Marquess of Carisbrooke, Earl of Berkhampsted and Viscount Launceston.[10]
In the 1930's, author E.F. Benson dedicated two of his famous novels "Mapp and Lucia" and "Lucia's Progress" to the Marquess of Carisbrooke.
[edit] Marriage
On 19 July 1917, he married Lady Irene Francis Adza Denison, GBE (4 July 1890 – 16 July 1956), the only daughter of the 2nd Earl of Londesborough and Lady Grace Adelaide Fane, at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace.
Lord and Lady Carisbrooke had one child, a daughter:
- Lady Iris Mountbatten (13 January 1920 – 1 September 1982)
According to the published diaries of Cecil Beaton, in his later years Lord Carisbrooke had a longtime male lover, Simon Fleet.[11] More is written about Lord Carisbrooke and his wife in the published diaries of James Lees-Milne.
[edit] Death
Lord Carisbrooke died in 1960, aged seventy-three, at Kensington Palace, and was buried at the Battenberg Chapel in St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham on the Isle of Wight. The title 'Marquess of Carisbrooke' became extinct upon his death.
[edit] Titles, styles and honours
- 23 November 1886–13 December 1886: His Serene Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg
- 13 December 1886–1910: His Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg/His Serene Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg
- Via Royal Warrant passed by Queen Victoria (effective in the United Kingdom, not in Germany)
- 1910–1911: His Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg KCVO/His Serene Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg, KCVO
- 1911–1917: His Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg GCVO/His Serene Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg, GCVO
- 1917: Sir Alexander Mountbatten, GCVO
- 1917–1927: The Most Hon The Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCVO
- 1927–1960: The Most Hon The Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCB, GCVO
[edit] Ancestry
[edit] References
- ^ a b http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/index661.htm
- ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/28562/pages/9448
- ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/28752/pages/6236
- ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29157/supplements/4509
- ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29168/supplements/4872
- ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/30108/supplements/5433
- ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/31408/pages/7790
- ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/31408/pages/7793
- ^ London Gazette: no. 30374. p. 11593. 1917-11-09. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 30374. p. 11594. 1917-11-09. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Beaton in the Sixties: More Unexpurgated Diaries", Orion Publishing Group, 2003.
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
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| New creation | Marquess of Carisbrooke 1917–1960 |
Extinct |
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