David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven
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The Marquess of Milford Haven | |
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| Born | 12 May 1919 |
| Died | 14 April 1970 (aged 50) |
| Predecessor | George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven |
| Successor | George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven |
| Spouse(s) | Romaine Dahlgren Pierce Janet Mercedes Bryce |
| Children | George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven Lord Ivar Mountbatten |
| Parent(s) | George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven Countess Nadejda de Torby |
David Michael Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven OBE DSC (Edinburgh, 12 May 1919 – London, 14 April 1970), styled Viscount Alderney before 1921 and Earl of Medina between 1921 and 1938, was the son of the 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven and Countess Nadejda de Torby.
Biography
Family
His paternal grandparents were Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and the Rhine. His maternal grandparents were Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich Romanov and Sophie of Merenberg. He is also a descendant of the Russian writer Aleksandr Pushkin as well as Peter the Great's African protégé, General Abram Petrovich Gannibal.
Early life
He grew up at the family home in Holyport, Berkshire and enjoyed a close friendship with his first cousin Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later the Duke of Edinburgh, and served as best man to the prince at his marriage to The Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II.
Navy and postwar social life
During the Second World War Milford Haven served in the Royal Navy, in 1942 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for taking the destroyer Kandahar through a minefield in an attempt to rescue the cruiser Neptune. In 1943 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his work on Malta convoy operations, he retired from the Navy in 1948. He subsequently joined The Castaways' Club, which enabled him to keep in close contact with many of his naval contemporaries.
He then played a prominent part in the London demi-monde of the 50's, which brought together a colourful mix of aristocrats and shadowy social climbers like osteopath Stephen Ward. This hard-partying set formed the nucleus for the Profumo Affair.[1]
Marriage
Lord Milford Haven married:
- 1) Romaine Dahlgren Pierce (17 July 1923 – 15 February 1975), daughter of Vinton Ulric Dahlgren Pierce of United States of America and wife Margaret Knickerbocker Clark, on 4 February 1950 at Washington, D.C., U.S.A., formerly married on 23 May 1946 to William Simpson. They were divorced in 1954 in Mexico and she married a third time James B. Orthwein. Romaine's great-grandfather was Admiral John A. Dahlgren. They had no issue.
- 2) Janet Mercedes Bryce (born Bermuda, 29 September 1937), daughter of Major Francis (Frank) Bryce of Hamilton, Bermuda (Bystock, Saint Thomas[disambiguation needed], January/March 1876 - Bermuda, 2 February 1951) and wife Gladys Jean Mosley (and whose aunt Mary Mercedes Bryce married Joseph Harold John Phillips, the grandparents of Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn and Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster), on 17 November 1960 at St. Andrew's Church[disambiguation needed], Frognal, London. They had two children:
- George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven (born 6 June 1961)
- Lord Ivar Mountbatten (born 9 March 1963)
Death
David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, died from a heart attack on 14 April 1970 at Waterloo Railway Station, London, aged 50. He is buried at St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, Isle of Wight. Following his death, jewels were divided with family in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, giving rarely known pieces with Royal provenance a home outside Britain.
Styles from birth to death
- Viscount Alderney (1919–1921)
- Earl of Medina (1921–1938)
- The Most Honourable The Marquess of Milford Haven (1938–1970)
Ancestry
Battenberg/Mountbatten family | ||
|---|---|---|
Generations are numbered by their descent from Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julia, Princess of Battenberg | ||
| 1st generation |  | |
| 2nd generation | ||
| 3rd generation | ||
| 4th generation | ||
| 5th generation | ||
*Not Mountbatten or Battenberg by birth. Adopted the surname Mountbatten from his maternal line on abandoning his patrilineal Greek and Danish princely titles. | ||
References
- ^ 'Honeytrap' (1987) by Anthony Summers & Stephen Dorril. Chap.2.
- Articles with links needing disambiguation from June 2012
- Use dmy dates from April 2012
- 1919 births
- 1970 deaths
- Marquesses in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
- People from Bray, Berkshire
- British people of German descent
- British people of Russian descent
- House of Battenberg
- Royal Navy officers of World War II
- Deaths from myocardial infarction
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)