Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Lord Mountbatten chosen to end British rule

February 20, 1947

Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, first Empress of India, was "chosen today to close out British rule over the vast subcontinent she annexed to the Crown, reports the Associated Press.

The Viscount will serve as Viceroy to "liquidate" the raj, and as "Vice King," he will serve "as personal representative of his cousin, King George VI.

His mother, the Marchioness of Milford Haven, is a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Lord Mountbatten, known as Dickie "in royal society, is one of kingdom's "most popular war chieftains."

The 46-year-old Viscount, a Rear Admiral, first enlisted in the Royal Navy when he was thirteen years old.  His father, the late Prince Louis of Battenberg, was Admiral of Fleet at the outbreak of the first World War, but was forced to relinquish his "position and title " due to the "public clamor arising over his Teutonic antecedents."

The family changed its name to Mountbatten. 

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