Mountbatten
Encyclopedia
Mountbatten is the family name originally adopted by a branch of the Battenberg family
due to rising anti-German sentiment
among the British public during World War I
. On 14 July 1917 Prince Louis of Battenberg ("Prince Louis I") assumed the surname Mountbatten (having rejected an alternative translation, "Battenhill") for himself and his descendants, and was created Marquess of Milford Haven
. The name is an Anglicisation
of the German Battenberg
, a small town in Hesse
. The title of count of Battenberg, later prince of Battenberg, was granted to a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt in the mid 19th century.
Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark
, the consort of now-Queen Elizabeth II, adopted the surname of Mountbatten from his mother's family in 1947, although he is a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg by patrilineal descent.
, Prince Louis I's great-grandson, who was born in London
on 6 June 1961. He has a son named Henry, born in 1991.
and Louis's brother, Prince Henry of Battenberg
— Prince Alexander
and Prince Leopold
— also took the new surname, with Alexander being made Marquess of Carisbrooke
.
Prince Henry of Battenberg's eldest daughter, Carisbrooke's sister, Queen Ena of Spain, never assumed the English form, however.
The best-known of Prince Louis I's descendants were his youngest son, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
, and the former's grandson, son of Louis's daughter Princess Alice of Battenberg
: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
, who is now husband of Queen Elizabeth II
. Another daughter to Louis I, sister to Princess Alice and to the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and aunt to the Duke of Edinburgh, was Queen Louise of Sweden
.
Prior to his marriage in 1882 Prince Louis I had an affair with the actress Lillie Langtry
. According to his grandson the Earl Mountbatten of Burma
, Louis was the father of Langtry's only child, Jeanne Marie Langtry, born some months later. However, other sources indicate another putative father.
dynasty to Mountbatten. Queen Mary
(the new Queen's grandmother) expressed her aversion to this idea to the then Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
.
Queen Mary's objection was partly based on the fact that Prince Philip was in fact a Prince of Greece and Denmark by birth, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece, and only descended from the Battenberg family through his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg
. He was a member of the sovereign, originally ducal
, House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
, which had attained royal status in Denmark
(1863), Greece
(1863), and Norway
(1905). Prince Philip had only taken the more "English-sounding" surname of Mountbatten, a translation of his mother's original German name, when joining the Royal Navy
, on the advice of his ambitious uncle, Earl Mountbatten. Queen Mary was also of the generation which considered a morganatic surname—the Battenberg family is a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt—to carry some stigma, and therefore did not want it to be the name of the British Royal House. Her attitude may have been influenced by her own origins; although Queen Mary's mother was a British royal princess, her father, Francis, Duke of Teck
, was the child of a morganatic marriage
, and for most of his life carried only the honorific Serene Highness. As such, he was considered somewhat declassé by strict royalists, something that may have rankled Queen Mary to some degree.
Winston Churchill raised the matter in Parliament
where it was decided that the name of the Royal House would remain Windsor, as decreed in perpetuity by Queen Mary's husband, King George V
. The principle of strict patrilineality
was applied in the succession of Queen Victoria
, of the House of Hanover
, whose offspring were of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
, or Wettin
, after their father, Prince Albert. In such a hypothetical case, the proper name of the House of Windsor would become Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg at the succession of Queen Elizabeth II by one of her descendants.
However, under an ambiguously worded Order in Council issued in 1960, the name Mountbatten-Windsor is apparently the personal surname
of some of the descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. It differs from the official name of the British Royal Family
or Royal House
, which remains Windsor
.
The change of surname obviously does not apply to members of the royal family
not descended from Prince Philip—the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent, for example.
The Order specifically applies to those descendants of the Queen and Prince Philip not holding Royal styles and titles but in practice it is used by all, as exemplified at the marriages of the Prince of Wales
and the Princess Royal
, when both used Mountbatten-Windsor in their entries in the marriage registers.
Battenberg family
The Battenberg family was a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, rulers of the Grand Duchy of Hesse in Germany. The first member was Julia Hauke, whose brother-in-law Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse created her Countess of Battenberg with the style Illustrious Highness in 1851, at her...
due to rising anti-German sentiment
Anti-German sentiment
Anti-German sentiment is defined as an opposition to or fear of Germany, its inhabitants, and the German language. Its opposite is Germanophilia.-Russia:...
among the British public during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. On 14 July 1917 Prince Louis of Battenberg ("Prince Louis I") assumed the surname Mountbatten (having rejected an alternative translation, "Battenhill") for himself and his descendants, and was created Marquess of Milford Haven
Marquess of Milford Haven
Marquess of Milford Haven is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for Prince Louis of Battenberg, the former First Sea Lord, and a relation to the British Royal family, who amidst the anti-German sentiments of the First World War abandoned the use of his German...
. The name is an Anglicisation
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
of the German Battenberg
Battenberg, Hesse
Battenberg is a small town in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. The town is noted for giving its name to the Battenberg family, a morganatic branch of the ruling House of Hesse-Darmstadt, and through it, the name Mountbatten used by members of the British royal family, a literal...
, a small town in Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
. The title of count of Battenberg, later prince of Battenberg, was granted to a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt in the mid 19th century.
Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, the consort of now-Queen Elizabeth II, adopted the surname of Mountbatten from his mother's family in 1947, although he is a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg by patrilineal descent.
Current holder of the marquessate
The current head of the Mountbatten family is George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford HavenGeorge Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven
George Ivar Louis Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven , styled Earl of Medina before 1970, is a British businessman, peer, and current Head of the House of Mountbatten.-Family:...
, Prince Louis I's great-grandson, who was born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 6 June 1961. He has a son named Henry, born in 1991.
Notable Mountbattens
The sons of Princess BeatricePrincess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
The Princess Beatrice was a member of the British Royal Family. She was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Juan Carlos, King of Spain, is her great-grandson...
and Louis's brother, Prince Henry of Battenberg
Prince Henry of Battenberg
Colonel Prince Henry of Battenberg was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, later becoming a member of the British Royal Family, through his marriage to Princess Beatrice.-Early life:...
— Prince Alexander
Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke
Alexander Albert Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCB, GCVO, GJStJ was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria...
and Prince Leopold
Lord Leopold Mountbatten
Lord Leopold Mountbatten, GCVO was a descendant of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria...
— also took the new surname, with Alexander being made Marquess of Carisbrooke
Marquess of Carisbrooke
The title of Marquess of Carisbrooke was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1917 for Prince Alexander of Battenberg, eldest son of Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom and Prince Henry of Battenberg...
.
Prince Henry of Battenberg's eldest daughter, Carisbrooke's sister, Queen Ena of Spain, never assumed the English form, however.
The best-known of Prince Louis I's descendants were his youngest son, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
, and the former's grandson, son of Louis's daughter Princess Alice of Battenberg
Princess Alice of Battenberg
Princess Alice of Battenberg, later Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law of Elizabeth II....
: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, who is now husband of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
. Another daughter to Louis I, sister to Princess Alice and to the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and aunt to the Duke of Edinburgh, was Queen Louise of Sweden
Louise Mountbatten
Louise Alexandra Marie Irene Mountbatten became Queen consort of Sweden in 1950 and served as such until her death in 1965...
.
Prior to his marriage in 1882 Prince Louis I had an affair with the actress Lillie Langtry
Lillie Langtry
Lillie Langtry , usually spelled Lily Langtry when she was in the U.S., born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton, was a British actress born on the island of Jersey...
. According to his grandson the Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Earl Mountbatten of Burma
The title Earl Mountbatten of Burma was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1947 for Rear Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, the last Viceroy of India....
, Louis was the father of Langtry's only child, Jeanne Marie Langtry, born some months later. However, other sources indicate another putative father.
The Royal Mountbattens
In 1952, on the accession of Queen Elizabeth II, there was a belief that certain members of the Mountbatten family wished to change the name of the WindsorHouse of Windsor
The House of Windsor is the royal house of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V by royal proclamation on the 17 July 1917, when he changed the name of his family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor, due to the anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom...
dynasty to Mountbatten. Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
(the new Queen's grandmother) expressed her aversion to this idea to the then Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
.
Queen Mary's objection was partly based on the fact that Prince Philip was in fact a Prince of Greece and Denmark by birth, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece, and only descended from the Battenberg family through his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg
Princess Alice of Battenberg
Princess Alice of Battenberg, later Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law of Elizabeth II....
. He was a member of the sovereign, originally ducal
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
, House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
The House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg , known as the House of Glücksburg for short, is a German ducal house, junior branches of which include the royal houses of Denmark and Norway, the deposed royal house of Greece, and the heir to the thrones of the Commonwealth realms The House...
, which had attained royal status in Denmark
Danish Royal Family
The Danish Royal Family includes the Queen of Denmark and her family. All members except the Queen hold the title of Prince/Princess of Denmark with the style of His/Her Royal Highness or His/Her Highness. The Queen is styled Her Majesty. The Queen and her siblings belong to the House of...
(1863), Greece
Greek Royal Family
The Greek Royal Family was a branch of the House of Glücksburg that reigned in Greece from 1863 to 1924 and again from 1935 to 1973. Its first monarch was George I. He and his successors styled themselves "Kings of the Hellenes"...
(1863), and Norway
Norwegian Royal Family
The Royal Family of Norway is the family of King Harald V of Norway. In Norway there is a distinction between the Royal House and the Royal Family. The Royal House includes only the King and his spouse, the Queen, the King's eldest son with spouse, being the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, and the...
(1905). Prince Philip had only taken the more "English-sounding" surname of Mountbatten, a translation of his mother's original German name, when joining the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, on the advice of his ambitious uncle, Earl Mountbatten. Queen Mary was also of the generation which considered a morganatic surname—the Battenberg family is a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt—to carry some stigma, and therefore did not want it to be the name of the British Royal House. Her attitude may have been influenced by her own origins; although Queen Mary's mother was a British royal princess, her father, Francis, Duke of Teck
Francis, Duke of Teck
Francis, Duke of Teck , was a member of the German nobility, and later of the British Royal Family. He was the father of Queen Mary, the wife of King George V...
, was the child of a morganatic marriage
Morganatic marriage
In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
, and for most of his life carried only the honorific Serene Highness. As such, he was considered somewhat declassé by strict royalists, something that may have rankled Queen Mary to some degree.
Winston Churchill raised the matter in Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
where it was decided that the name of the Royal House would remain Windsor, as decreed in perpetuity by Queen Mary's husband, King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
. The principle of strict patrilineality
Patrilineality
Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
was applied in the succession of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
, of the House of Hanover
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
, whose offspring were of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a German dynasty, the senior line of the Saxon House of Wettin that ruled the Ernestine duchies, including the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha....
, or Wettin
Wettin
Wettin is:*House of Wettin, a German Royal House*Wettin Castle, near Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, ancestral seat of the House of Wettin*Asteroid 90709 Wettin, named in the castle's and House's honour...
, after their father, Prince Albert. In such a hypothetical case, the proper name of the House of Windsor would become Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg at the succession of Queen Elizabeth II by one of her descendants.
However, under an ambiguously worded Order in Council issued in 1960, the name Mountbatten-Windsor is apparently the personal surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
of some of the descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. It differs from the official name of the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
or Royal House
Royal House
A royal house or royal dynasty consists of at least one, but usually more monarchs who are related to one another, as well as their non-reigning descendants and spouses. Monarchs of the same realm who are not related to one another are usually deemed to belong to different houses, and each house is...
, which remains Windsor
House of Windsor
The House of Windsor is the royal house of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V by royal proclamation on the 17 July 1917, when he changed the name of his family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor, due to the anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom...
.
The change of surname obviously does not apply to members of the royal family
Royal family
A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term imperial family appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning...
not descended from Prince Philip—the Dukes of Gloucester and Kent, for example.
The Order specifically applies to those descendants of the Queen and Prince Philip not holding Royal styles and titles but in practice it is used by all, as exemplified at the marriages of the Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
and the Princess Royal
Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
, when both used Mountbatten-Windsor in their entries in the marriage registers.
See also
- Battenberg familyBattenberg familyThe Battenberg family was a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, rulers of the Grand Duchy of Hesse in Germany. The first member was Julia Hauke, whose brother-in-law Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse created her Countess of Battenberg with the style Illustrious Highness in 1851, at her...
- Mountbatten-WindsorMountbatten-WindsorMountbatten-Windsor is the personal surname of some of the descendants of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh under an ambiguously-worded Order in Council issued in 1960, and as such a cadet branch of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg , which in turn is a branch of...
- Mountbatten class hovercraftMountbatten class hovercraftThe SR.N4 hovercraft was a large passenger and vehicle carrying hovercraft built by the British Hovercraft Corporation . BHC was formed by the merger of Saunders-Roe and Vickers Supermarine in 1966...
- Mountbatten MedalMountbatten MedalThe Mountbatten Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding contribution, or contributions over a period, to the promotion of electronics or information technology and their application....
- The Mountbatten School And Language CollegeThe Mountbatten School And Language CollegeThe Mountbatten School is a Secondary School located on Whitenap Lane in Romsey, Hampshire, England. The School opened in 1969 as a comprehensive school and was built on land that was originally part of Earl Mountbatten's Broadlands estate....
- Mountbatten Internship ProgrammeMountbatten internship programmeFounded in 1984, the Mountbatten Internship Programme is dedicated to the promotion of educational and business links between the USA and the UK. The Programme is named in honour of the late Earl Mountbatten of Burma, a noted supporter of international education and training...