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The Mountbattens: Their Lives & Loves
The intimate story of a unique marriage that spans the heights of glamour and power to infidelity, manipulation and disaster through the heart of the 20th century.
DICKIE MOUNTBATTEN: A major figure behind his nephew Philip's marriage to Queen Elizabeth II and instrumental in the Royal Family taking the Mountbatten name, he was Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia during World War II and the last Viceroy of India.
EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN: Once the richest woman in Britain and a playgirl who enjoyed numerous affairs, she emerged from World War II as a magnetic and talented humanitarian worker loved around the world.
From British high society to the South of France, from the battlefields of Burma to the Viceroy's House, The Mountbattens is a rich and filmic story of a powerful partnership, revealing the truth behind a carefully curated legend.
Was Mountbatten one of the outstanding leaders of his generation, or a man over-promoted because of his royal birth, high-level connections, film-star looks and ruthless self-promotion? What is the true story behind controversies such as the Dieppe Raid and Indian Partition, the love affair between Edwina and Nehru, and Mountbatten's assassination in 1979?
Based on over 100 interviews, research from dozens of archives and new information released under Freedom of Information requests, prize-winning historian Andrew Lownie sheds new light on this remarkable couple.
DICKIE MOUNTBATTEN: A major figure behind his nephew Philip's marriage to Queen Elizabeth II and instrumental in the Royal Family taking the Mountbatten name, he was Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia during World War II and the last Viceroy of India.
EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN: Once the richest woman in Britain and a playgirl who enjoyed numerous affairs, she emerged from World War II as a magnetic and talented humanitarian worker loved around the world.
From British high society to the South of France, from the battlefields of Burma to the Viceroy's House, The Mountbattens is a rich and filmic story of a powerful partnership, revealing the truth behind a carefully curated legend.
Was Mountbatten one of the outstanding leaders of his generation, or a man over-promoted because of his royal birth, high-level connections, film-star looks and ruthless self-promotion? What is the true story behind controversies such as the Dieppe Raid and Indian Partition, the love affair between Edwina and Nehru, and Mountbatten's assassination in 1979?
Based on over 100 interviews, research from dozens of archives and new information released under Freedom of Information requests, prize-winning historian Andrew Lownie sheds new light on this remarkable couple.
496 pages, hardcover
Published August 22, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 190 reviews
April 21, 2021
On starting this book, I thought there was no way I would end up liking it. Observe my three-star rating! This indicates I do like it. The beginning chapters read as lines taken from gossip columns. Names are dropped right and left. It is assumed you know who these megastars are. The lifestyle and the shenanigans of Louis Mountbatten (1900 – 1979) and his beautiful, extremely wealthy, but seemingly sex-obsessed to-be wife, Edwina Ashley (1900-1960), neither attracted nor impressed me.
With the advent of the Second World War the Mountbattens’ lives gained at least some semblance of purpose. His achievements and titles begin to pile up—First Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Supreme Allied Commander East Asia during the Second World War, last Viceroy of India, first Governor-General of independent India and later, from 1954-1959, First Sea Lord. She began working first with the Red Cross and then later involved herself in other numerous charity organizations and relief work.
Needless to say, they remained throughout their lives active socialite figures. He was of royal blood--second cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II. He and the Prince of Wales were close confidants and friends; the two traveled the world together. The Mountbattens, sometimes together but more often separately, never stopped travelling. Unfortunately, readers are told merely who they met, drank and partied with. Nothing, not a word is said about the countries themselves!
As the title indicates, not only the careers but also the love lives of Louis and Edwina are discussed. They both had multiple love affairs. The two agreed to an “open marriage”. He states he was incapable of feeling jealousy. I am baffled by their relationship. Honestly, I don’t quite know what to believe! She has a long-term sexual relationship with Nehru and Louis claims Nehru is a close friend?! Was perhaps Louis homosexual or let’s say bi-sexual? This is discussed. Views regarding their respective promiscuity and sexual proclivities are voiced. Who thought what is aired, and opinions do vary. No, they did not have sex! Oh yes, they did. I know they did! These parts too read as scandal sheets.
The book voices opposing views not only about the couple’s respective sex lives. Thank goodness. Other more serious issues are debated, two being Mountbatten’s role in the failed attack on Dieppe during the Second World War and his management / mismanagement of the partition of India. Was independence and partition done too rapidly? Could the subsequent communal violence have been avoided or lessened? Were their adequate military forces in place? Shouldn’t territorial borders have been clearly designated before partition?
The problem is that although opposing views are voiced, the reader is still left groping for answers at the book’s end. Opposing views are stated, and then the discussion stops. Adequate analysis is lacking. No clear conclusions are drawn.
The book is not a long, comprehensive biography of either Louis or Edwina, but it does quickly cover the essentials of their lives—their education, their marriage, the birth of their kids and grandchildren and their respective deaths. He is assassinated by the IRA and she, at the young age of fifty-nine, is killed by stroke.
Two long sections are devoted to other books written about the Mountbattens, some authorized and some not. Their biases are spoken of. It is interesting to note that Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex von Tunzelmann is favorably spoken of. I have read it, gave it five stars, think it is wonderful and highly recommend it.
The book improves from its unimpressive start which reads as a scandal sheet. Do I feel I know Louis and Edwina Mountbatten? No, not really. I know now not to rely on what Louis Mountbatten says. Circuitous in his ways, metaphorically spoken of by some as a corkscrew, he was able to bend people to his will, coerce them to his point of view. A talent not to be undervalued. Edwina, she brimmed over with vitality and spontaneity. With the passage of years, she became an adept organizer. I am now well aware of the fact that others’ views of them vary widely. What is said of them need not be pure fact. This in itself is worth knowing.
The author reads the audiobook. He reads in a fairly clear, unmodulated tone. His voice remains always calm, cool and collected. Polite. There is not a hint of criticism in his tone. The narration I have given three stars.
With the advent of the Second World War the Mountbattens’ lives gained at least some semblance of purpose. His achievements and titles begin to pile up—First Earl Mountbatten of Burma, Supreme Allied Commander East Asia during the Second World War, last Viceroy of India, first Governor-General of independent India and later, from 1954-1959, First Sea Lord. She began working first with the Red Cross and then later involved herself in other numerous charity organizations and relief work.
Needless to say, they remained throughout their lives active socialite figures. He was of royal blood--second cousin once removed of Queen Elizabeth II. He and the Prince of Wales were close confidants and friends; the two traveled the world together. The Mountbattens, sometimes together but more often separately, never stopped travelling. Unfortunately, readers are told merely who they met, drank and partied with. Nothing, not a word is said about the countries themselves!
As the title indicates, not only the careers but also the love lives of Louis and Edwina are discussed. They both had multiple love affairs. The two agreed to an “open marriage”. He states he was incapable of feeling jealousy. I am baffled by their relationship. Honestly, I don’t quite know what to believe! She has a long-term sexual relationship with Nehru and Louis claims Nehru is a close friend?! Was perhaps Louis homosexual or let’s say bi-sexual? This is discussed. Views regarding their respective promiscuity and sexual proclivities are voiced. Who thought what is aired, and opinions do vary. No, they did not have sex! Oh yes, they did. I know they did! These parts too read as scandal sheets.
The book voices opposing views not only about the couple’s respective sex lives. Thank goodness. Other more serious issues are debated, two being Mountbatten’s role in the failed attack on Dieppe during the Second World War and his management / mismanagement of the partition of India. Was independence and partition done too rapidly? Could the subsequent communal violence have been avoided or lessened? Were their adequate military forces in place? Shouldn’t territorial borders have been clearly designated before partition?
The problem is that although opposing views are voiced, the reader is still left groping for answers at the book’s end. Opposing views are stated, and then the discussion stops. Adequate analysis is lacking. No clear conclusions are drawn.
The book is not a long, comprehensive biography of either Louis or Edwina, but it does quickly cover the essentials of their lives—their education, their marriage, the birth of their kids and grandchildren and their respective deaths. He is assassinated by the IRA and she, at the young age of fifty-nine, is killed by stroke.
Two long sections are devoted to other books written about the Mountbattens, some authorized and some not. Their biases are spoken of. It is interesting to note that Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex von Tunzelmann is favorably spoken of. I have read it, gave it five stars, think it is wonderful and highly recommend it.
The book improves from its unimpressive start which reads as a scandal sheet. Do I feel I know Louis and Edwina Mountbatten? No, not really. I know now not to rely on what Louis Mountbatten says. Circuitous in his ways, metaphorically spoken of by some as a corkscrew, he was able to bend people to his will, coerce them to his point of view. A talent not to be undervalued. Edwina, she brimmed over with vitality and spontaneity. With the passage of years, she became an adept organizer. I am now well aware of the fact that others’ views of them vary widely. What is said of them need not be pure fact. This in itself is worth knowing.
The author reads the audiobook. He reads in a fairly clear, unmodulated tone. His voice remains always calm, cool and collected. Polite. There is not a hint of criticism in his tone. The narration I have given three stars.
November 19, 2019
"The story of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten is almost the story of the 20th century. Both were born at the turn of the century and their lives touched many of the greatest events of the period or intertwined with the dominating figures of the time."
This is a very entertaining biography about the marriage of two remarkable, high achieving, deeply flawed people. I didn't always like them - in fact, I didn't often like them - but I never found them dull. It moves at a quick pace and it gives a fascinating insight into a marriage that was very much a product of its time and class. Reading it I couldn't help but thinking about how no one in the British upper classes thought anything of Charles and Camilla continuing their affair despite both their marriages or why Prince Andrew's indiscretions seem more acceptable to the Palace than anything that Meghan & Harry have done.
From very shortly after their marriage in 1922, Edwina was having the first of what her daughter claims were 18 affairs but which was probably far more. Lord Louis was not far behind. Despite this, and despite the fact that they had a tempestuous relationship, they presented a united front and worked hard to advance Louis's career and legacy.
Prior to WW2, Edwina was a hideous person with few redeeming qualities. She was described as "a butterfly and a selfish one at that". She spent much of her time travelling with lovers to far flung locations, often away for months at a time. She would give birth, hand her baby to a nanny and disappear on another holiday. At one point in 1935, feeling that they were potentially unsafe in Malta, she took her daughters (then aged 11 and 6) to Hungary where she thought they would be safer. She stashed them in a remote countryside hotel with their Nanny and governesses and only went to pick them up at the end of November "having forgotten exactly where she had left them". The poor girls had only summer clothes with them - the average daytime high at that time was 3°.
WW2 was the making of Edwina as she got involved with the St John Ambulance organisation, which led to numerous more humanitarian roles. She worked tirelessly for worthwhile causes from that time until her death in 1960. The greatest love of her life was Nehru, whom she met when Louis was sent to India as the final Viceroy. They met regularly and corresponded often for the rest of her life.
At first my sympathies were with Louis who was initially shattered by his wife's behaviour, but he really wasn't any more likeable. "Mountbatten had a very old-fashioned, aristocratic view of marriage, partly shaped by his own marital experience, of it being separate from love. As long as one was discreet, anything was permitted.". This includes a lengthy relationship later in life with his own goddaughter (the daughter of one of Edwina's long time lovers), numerous relationships with much younger women and quite possibly sleeping with underage boys. He was a shrewd political operative with a way of pushing things through, but he made many questionable decisions over the course of his career and was immensely concerned with his image and legacy.
I picked up a few errors reading this book (Dougas Macarthur's name is spelled wrong, at another point there is an operation involving six canoeists, "but only two of the twelve returned") and that always makes me think that there are probably more errors that I'm not aware of. It also gets wearying at time reading about so many affairs - I hit sleaze overdose. But overall I simply found this book immensely entertaining and I tore through it.
This is a very entertaining biography about the marriage of two remarkable, high achieving, deeply flawed people. I didn't always like them - in fact, I didn't often like them - but I never found them dull. It moves at a quick pace and it gives a fascinating insight into a marriage that was very much a product of its time and class. Reading it I couldn't help but thinking about how no one in the British upper classes thought anything of Charles and Camilla continuing their affair despite both their marriages or why Prince Andrew's indiscretions seem more acceptable to the Palace than anything that Meghan & Harry have done.
From very shortly after their marriage in 1922, Edwina was having the first of what her daughter claims were 18 affairs but which was probably far more. Lord Louis was not far behind. Despite this, and despite the fact that they had a tempestuous relationship, they presented a united front and worked hard to advance Louis's career and legacy.
Prior to WW2, Edwina was a hideous person with few redeeming qualities. She was described as "a butterfly and a selfish one at that". She spent much of her time travelling with lovers to far flung locations, often away for months at a time. She would give birth, hand her baby to a nanny and disappear on another holiday. At one point in 1935, feeling that they were potentially unsafe in Malta, she took her daughters (then aged 11 and 6) to Hungary where she thought they would be safer. She stashed them in a remote countryside hotel with their Nanny and governesses and only went to pick them up at the end of November "having forgotten exactly where she had left them". The poor girls had only summer clothes with them - the average daytime high at that time was 3°.
WW2 was the making of Edwina as she got involved with the St John Ambulance organisation, which led to numerous more humanitarian roles. She worked tirelessly for worthwhile causes from that time until her death in 1960. The greatest love of her life was Nehru, whom she met when Louis was sent to India as the final Viceroy. They met regularly and corresponded often for the rest of her life.
At first my sympathies were with Louis who was initially shattered by his wife's behaviour, but he really wasn't any more likeable. "Mountbatten had a very old-fashioned, aristocratic view of marriage, partly shaped by his own marital experience, of it being separate from love. As long as one was discreet, anything was permitted.". This includes a lengthy relationship later in life with his own goddaughter (the daughter of one of Edwina's long time lovers), numerous relationships with much younger women and quite possibly sleeping with underage boys. He was a shrewd political operative with a way of pushing things through, but he made many questionable decisions over the course of his career and was immensely concerned with his image and legacy.
I picked up a few errors reading this book (Dougas Macarthur's name is spelled wrong, at another point there is an operation involving six canoeists, "but only two of the twelve returned") and that always makes me think that there are probably more errors that I'm not aware of. It also gets wearying at time reading about so many affairs - I hit sleaze overdose. But overall I simply found this book immensely entertaining and I tore through it.
December 4, 2022
Andrew Lownie has given us an unbiased and balanced perspective into the lives of two of Britains most fabulous royals. He showed us what MB wanted us to see and what others saw from MB, leaving us to draw our own conclusions about his actions. His treatment of Edwina was also very open-ended. Her loves and daliances were not presented as the betrayals of a promiscuous wife, but the real connections of a woman who needed companions of all forms. He also allowed us to see that although this relationship was by no means perfect, the Mountbattens had a marriage that they made work for each other and that is something I have taken away from this book. They may not have been physically faithful to each other, but they were always aiming to be each other's equal. Marriage is a contract and they both got what they could from it after negotiation. Their support of each other's individual lives was surprising but interesting to see.
They were two individuals who came together and made for a dashing pair that rose to soaring heights during and after the war. Whether I think MB should or could have done differently in his millitary roles or whether he truly deserved his positions is something for me to decide, but this biography has given me the details from different viewpoints with which to form my opinion.
I was glad to see that this wasn't just about their human loves, but the causes important to them. As well as Nehru being important to Edwina (It doesn't matter to me if they were physical or not, I think their relationship was beautiful in the glimpses we got of it through letters) the suffering of people was just as important. MB's great love was the naval and I heard so much about it.
I dont usually read biographies, but this was a good one and entertaining as a book of whatever genre.
They were two individuals who came together and made for a dashing pair that rose to soaring heights during and after the war. Whether I think MB should or could have done differently in his millitary roles or whether he truly deserved his positions is something for me to decide, but this biography has given me the details from different viewpoints with which to form my opinion.
I was glad to see that this wasn't just about their human loves, but the causes important to them. As well as Nehru being important to Edwina (It doesn't matter to me if they were physical or not, I think their relationship was beautiful in the glimpses we got of it through letters) the suffering of people was just as important. MB's great love was the naval and I heard so much about it.
I dont usually read biographies, but this was a good one and entertaining as a book of whatever genre.
September 26, 2019
A brilliant biography of a marriage! A marriage which famously turned out paradoxically to be both highly dysfunctional and one of the most successful marital unions of the 20th Century. Very gratifying to have a book which filled in the gaps between all the commonly-known snippets (Dieppe, Indian Partition, promiscuity, the IRA bombing) to reveal two vibrant, dynamic and very flawed human beings who had such a massive impact on both British and international politics.
I devoured this book once I started. After an initial reluctance (I’m wary of biographies; too many have bored me) I soon found myself keeping anti-social hours and neglecting responsibilities in order to binge-read. Not for long, however, as the book’s style is very fluent and well-paced, and I, typically a very slow and meticulous reader, was speeding through it. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I had previously flirted with buying the author’s other book - “Stalin’s Englishman” - but had never made the commitment; now it’s the first on my shopping list. Looking forward to reviewing that one, too.
I devoured this book once I started. After an initial reluctance (I’m wary of biographies; too many have bored me) I soon found myself keeping anti-social hours and neglecting responsibilities in order to binge-read. Not for long, however, as the book’s style is very fluent and well-paced, and I, typically a very slow and meticulous reader, was speeding through it. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I had previously flirted with buying the author’s other book - “Stalin’s Englishman” - but had never made the commitment; now it’s the first on my shopping list. Looking forward to reviewing that one, too.
September 15, 2019
This was a really interesting book. I have read a lot about Lord Louis, notably Ziegler's excellent biography. Indeed, I was privileged to meet him on three or four occasions and he was immensely kind to me. He didn't know - and it didn't need to be mentioned - that our family had some resistance to him and his style. The reasons for this hesitation were covered extremely well in Lownie's book: he said on several occasions that if an issue could be dealt with directly or by circumspect action, 'Dickie' would always take the underhand route.
But the Mountbattens, despite their open marriage, were amazingly competent, hard working and dedicated people. I learned much more than I expected about Edwina (more than any outsider should learn, to be candid). No matter how you look at them, they contributed a huge amount to the nation and wider world. Well worth a read
But the Mountbattens, despite their open marriage, were amazingly competent, hard working and dedicated people. I learned much more than I expected about Edwina (more than any outsider should learn, to be candid). No matter how you look at them, they contributed a huge amount to the nation and wider world. Well worth a read
January 7, 2024
Review of The Mountbatten’s
Having read earlier works by Andrew Lownie in which I have seen how deeply and thoroughly his investigative skills, as well as his diligence for accuracy is brought to bear on the subject matter at hand, I was not disappointed when I began reading The Mountbatten’s.
This is a monumental work of investigative research delving deeply into the crevices, nooks, and crannies of the lives of Lord Louis Mountbatten and his beautiful but restless and promiscuous wife Edwina. While there has always been a strong element of extramarital activity on the part of Edwina, particularly with men of color, it was generally thought to be of less frequency by Dickie as Lord Louis was fondly known. Nevertheless, Lownie’s voluminous evidence of interviews with a wide range of friends, acquaintances, staff, and relatives, as well as archival material enables the reader to evaluate for themselves just where the preponderance of the evidence lies regarding Dickie’s sexual encounters, both male and female.
While there have been many books on these two prominent personalities it is Lownie’s later chapters that strike a chord with a balanced and non-judgmental view of the sexual preferences of Lord Mountbatten.
Personally, as I did in the case of the Guy Burgess affair, I wish to point out the inherently rotten system at the top end of our illustrious society in which a person of alleged repute or perhaps of Royal bloodlines, could flagrantly and repeatedly get away with what, at that time period, was a crime. In contrast, the case of Alan Turing who was a true hero commits suicide after Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts; the Labouchere Amendment of 1885 had mandated that "gross indecency" was a criminal offense in the UK. It is estimated that because of Turings’ wartime work he probably saved 14 million lives and possibly shortened the war by 2 years.
If by today’s progressive standards, we can overlook the hypocrisy of Mountbatten’s lifestyle, Alan Turing should have been knighted and we can only imagine the remarkable advances he would have made going forward. (No pun intended)
The number of lives lost under Lord Louis’ command has been well documented and reading Andrew Lownie’s account of his command capabilities is by itself worth the price of this excellent treatise. To know is to be informed. Buy it today!
David E. Huntley July 17, 2020
Having read earlier works by Andrew Lownie in which I have seen how deeply and thoroughly his investigative skills, as well as his diligence for accuracy is brought to bear on the subject matter at hand, I was not disappointed when I began reading The Mountbatten’s.
This is a monumental work of investigative research delving deeply into the crevices, nooks, and crannies of the lives of Lord Louis Mountbatten and his beautiful but restless and promiscuous wife Edwina. While there has always been a strong element of extramarital activity on the part of Edwina, particularly with men of color, it was generally thought to be of less frequency by Dickie as Lord Louis was fondly known. Nevertheless, Lownie’s voluminous evidence of interviews with a wide range of friends, acquaintances, staff, and relatives, as well as archival material enables the reader to evaluate for themselves just where the preponderance of the evidence lies regarding Dickie’s sexual encounters, both male and female.
While there have been many books on these two prominent personalities it is Lownie’s later chapters that strike a chord with a balanced and non-judgmental view of the sexual preferences of Lord Mountbatten.
Personally, as I did in the case of the Guy Burgess affair, I wish to point out the inherently rotten system at the top end of our illustrious society in which a person of alleged repute or perhaps of Royal bloodlines, could flagrantly and repeatedly get away with what, at that time period, was a crime. In contrast, the case of Alan Turing who was a true hero commits suicide after Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts; the Labouchere Amendment of 1885 had mandated that "gross indecency" was a criminal offense in the UK. It is estimated that because of Turings’ wartime work he probably saved 14 million lives and possibly shortened the war by 2 years.
If by today’s progressive standards, we can overlook the hypocrisy of Mountbatten’s lifestyle, Alan Turing should have been knighted and we can only imagine the remarkable advances he would have made going forward. (No pun intended)
The number of lives lost under Lord Louis’ command has been well documented and reading Andrew Lownie’s account of his command capabilities is by itself worth the price of this excellent treatise. To know is to be informed. Buy it today!
David E. Huntley July 17, 2020
June 4, 2021
An excellent biography of a complex and fascinating couple
October 18, 2019
A brand new shiny royal biography of a marriage so controversial yet so successful. A marriage where both the parties kept fleeing each other into other peoples’ beds and still lead a respectful life. This biography included everything, warts and all! From controversial lovers to desperate attempts to hush up scandals to public embarrassments, they had seen it all, together. The Mountbattens, might seem promiscuous and extremely careless from the outside but in contrast were quite hard working.
Dickie’s scientific and mathematical tendencies coloured me impressed along with Edwina’s dedication to learn household chores and her passion for reading. Their childhood, all explained so vividly, made me long to hop on a time machine and witness the entire thing with my own eyes.
Andrew used letters, journals, diaries and innumerable interviews and accounts of people in and around The Mountbattens’ circle and the result was this conversational type biography, which had a thick section of valid citations. This book had me hooked, and still I took it slowly and did not pace it at all. I simmered through it, soaking it all up in. Their traumas, to issues in their marriage to how they came into terms to their term in India to their philanthropic works and Dickie’s questionable sexuality.
This book also gives an insight on the political situation in Britain within the royal family from a whole new perspective which was quite fresh for me. The text might seem repetitive after quite some time, but the ample pictures from their personal lives, will keep you hooked and get you back on track. An avid biography reader would appreciate the efforts where the many lives and many lovers of Edwina and Dickie have been discussed, though I felt that most of the lives discussed were of Dickie and lovers, Edwina. At times the monotony of the loves did bore me, but still, the research and the work done by the author is commendable and this piece of literary work will always remain an integral part of human history where a glorified yet looked down upon couple would continue to live forever.
February 27, 2020
The rich and powerful? They’re different from thee and me. They don’t see the world around them as we see it. Rules - like ones that govern the common good - don’t bind them to good behavior as it does us. We must think twice before we take a lover or a string of lovers and cause hurt to our spouses. We have to think twice - or more times - before we act out in ways found lacking by society. However, one famous married couple - Lord Louis Mountbatten and his wife, Lady Edwina Ashley Mountbatten - set conventionality on its ear as they flaunted their good looks, money, power, and sexual drives from their early marriage through to Dickie Mountbatten’s assassination, with other members of the British Royal family, in 1979.
British author Andrew Lownie is the author of several books on the royals. This book, “The Mountbattens” certainly lives up to its subtitle, “Their Lives and Loves”. I’ve rarely read such a gossipy book. Was ANYONE faithful to their marriage vows in the Mountbatten set? Whether Dickie and Edwina set the pace or were just keeping up with others, their blatant infidelities- with both genders - were alarming?
Lownie also looks at the couple’s official work in the war effort and afterward as the last Viceroy and Vicereine of India. They presided over the breakup of the Crown’s Jewel. I thought the book was well-written and a fun read.
British author Andrew Lownie is the author of several books on the royals. This book, “The Mountbattens” certainly lives up to its subtitle, “Their Lives and Loves”. I’ve rarely read such a gossipy book. Was ANYONE faithful to their marriage vows in the Mountbatten set? Whether Dickie and Edwina set the pace or were just keeping up with others, their blatant infidelities- with both genders - were alarming?
Lownie also looks at the couple’s official work in the war effort and afterward as the last Viceroy and Vicereine of India. They presided over the breakup of the Crown’s Jewel. I thought the book was well-written and a fun read.
December 18, 2019
An Interesting and at times shocking book
Informative and at times salacious when describing the multitude of lovers each of the principles had during their marriage. Several chapters are serious reviews of history during the war and when looking at the events in India in 1948. In reality we will never know the full truth of this enigmatic couple.
Informative and at times salacious when describing the multitude of lovers each of the principles had during their marriage. Several chapters are serious reviews of history during the war and when looking at the events in India in 1948. In reality we will never know the full truth of this enigmatic couple.
March 5, 2023
Well dicky is a tad adventurous…. How did he not have more influence on Charles. Dicky was one wild and crazy an inappropriate guy!
ROYALTY PROJECT READ
ROYALTY PROJECT READ
March 22, 2025
The Mountbattens: Their Lives & Loves is a well-researched, comprehensive dual biography of Lord and Lady Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, who were among the most prominent figures of the 20th century by virtue of their roles during World War II and in the partitioning and establishment of Pakistan and an independent India in August 1947.
Louis Mountbatten (1900-1979), a great-grandson of Queen Victoria and the uncle of Prince Philip (Queen Elizabeth II's husband), joined the Royal Navy shortly before World War I and went on to have a long career in government service, at sea and ashore. After having his ship, the destroyer HMS Kelly, sunk by German dive bombers during the Battle of Crete in May 1941, Mountbatten was placed in charge of Combined Operations in the UK through which the Allies mounted a raid on Dieppe, France, in August 1942, from which lessons were hard learned in staging a future seaborne invasion of Western Europe (as evidenced by the successful landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944), and devising various strategies and devices for use against Germany.
Subsequently, Mountbatten would take up the post of Supreme Commander of Southeast Asia Command in late 1943, through which he played a key role of strengthening British military power and resources in that theater of war through which the British would defeat Japanese forces in Burma, Borneo, and Malaya.
Yet, while Mountbatten had his strengths, Andrew Lownie makes clear that he was also "a man full of contradictions. Self-confident in public life, he was insecure when it came to his private life and relations with his wife. Able to think outside the box and see the big picture, he was obsessed with trivial detail - often to do with his own personal appearance or prestige." (Lownie was also able to unearth and disclose - as a result of years of research and interviews with people who knew Mountbatten personally - some rather unsavory aspects of Mountbatten's personal life that would be shocking to readers of this biography.)
Edwina Mountbatten (1901-1960) was one of the world's richest women at the time she married her husband in 1922. Within a few years of marriage, both felt somewhat ill-matched for while Mountbatten prided himself on being meticulous and detail-oriented to the nth degree, his wife was one who loved to be spontaneous and enjoy life. She and her husband would agree on having an open marriage because of her tendency to engage in affairs with men who caught her fancy. (Both would have discreet and sometimes not-so-discreet affairs throughout their marriage.)
But once World War II broke out in September 1939, Edwina was determined to carve out a meaningful role for herself in service to Britain. And so it was that she developed considerable organizational and administrative talents in a variety of humanitarian endeavors. Edwina became a "universally admired and loved" figure because of the reputation she earned for herself, both during the war and afterward on the Indian subcontinent. What was "[a]n aimless youth was transformed into a middle age of lasting accomplishments as a humanitarian. Difficult, complex, determined to emerge from the shadow of her husband, she proved herself more than his equal in intellect and achievement, and her influence on him in public life has been underrated."
I learned so much about both Mountbattens and recommend this biography highly to everyone.
Louis Mountbatten (1900-1979), a great-grandson of Queen Victoria and the uncle of Prince Philip (Queen Elizabeth II's husband), joined the Royal Navy shortly before World War I and went on to have a long career in government service, at sea and ashore. After having his ship, the destroyer HMS Kelly, sunk by German dive bombers during the Battle of Crete in May 1941, Mountbatten was placed in charge of Combined Operations in the UK through which the Allies mounted a raid on Dieppe, France, in August 1942, from which lessons were hard learned in staging a future seaborne invasion of Western Europe (as evidenced by the successful landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944), and devising various strategies and devices for use against Germany.
Subsequently, Mountbatten would take up the post of Supreme Commander of Southeast Asia Command in late 1943, through which he played a key role of strengthening British military power and resources in that theater of war through which the British would defeat Japanese forces in Burma, Borneo, and Malaya.
Yet, while Mountbatten had his strengths, Andrew Lownie makes clear that he was also "a man full of contradictions. Self-confident in public life, he was insecure when it came to his private life and relations with his wife. Able to think outside the box and see the big picture, he was obsessed with trivial detail - often to do with his own personal appearance or prestige." (Lownie was also able to unearth and disclose - as a result of years of research and interviews with people who knew Mountbatten personally - some rather unsavory aspects of Mountbatten's personal life that would be shocking to readers of this biography.)
Edwina Mountbatten (1901-1960) was one of the world's richest women at the time she married her husband in 1922. Within a few years of marriage, both felt somewhat ill-matched for while Mountbatten prided himself on being meticulous and detail-oriented to the nth degree, his wife was one who loved to be spontaneous and enjoy life. She and her husband would agree on having an open marriage because of her tendency to engage in affairs with men who caught her fancy. (Both would have discreet and sometimes not-so-discreet affairs throughout their marriage.)
But once World War II broke out in September 1939, Edwina was determined to carve out a meaningful role for herself in service to Britain. And so it was that she developed considerable organizational and administrative talents in a variety of humanitarian endeavors. Edwina became a "universally admired and loved" figure because of the reputation she earned for herself, both during the war and afterward on the Indian subcontinent. What was "[a]n aimless youth was transformed into a middle age of lasting accomplishments as a humanitarian. Difficult, complex, determined to emerge from the shadow of her husband, she proved herself more than his equal in intellect and achievement, and her influence on him in public life has been underrated."
I learned so much about both Mountbattens and recommend this biography highly to everyone.
August 28, 2025
Well, I wished this book for Christmas under a wrong premise. I had seen the author in a programme on Prince Philippe's mother Alice, and thought it was a work on the Mountbatten family in general, while it actually focuses on his uncle Louis aka "Dickie" and his wife Edwina.
It is a good journalistic biography with both the common strengths and weaknesses of the genre: meticulous and detail rich, but not so much analysis.
The best point of the book is the presentation of the life-style and self image of the highest échelons of British society in the 20th century. In spite of their (moderately) leftist leanings the couple showed no inclination to give up a lifestyle consisting of costly lodging, traveling and expensive sports. Interesting is the affinity to the entertainment industry. For a couple at the fringe of the Royal family that seems to have been acceptable, while cause turmoil at its heart in the case of the Wallis Simpson affair.
Lownie shows that Dickie believed that history was basically made by negotiations between important men. Only on the margins he criticizes that Mountbatten thus underestimated the ground level forces that formed politics in the 20th century. He provides, however, a drastic example: Mountbatten's idea that he could have prevented the partition of India had he known about Jinnah's cancer by protracting negotiations beyond the "founder of Pakistan's" death.
The books deals a lot with sexuality, not with sex, as Lownie always stops at the bedroom's threshold. Some reviewers complain about this, but actually this topic matters as the many extra-marital affairs of the couple - "open marriage" as we would say today - informed their image among the public and in the eyes of Queen Elizabeth.
While Lownie proceeds chronologically, he deals with the rumours about Dickie's homosexuality in an appendix chapter. He does not arrive at a definite conclusion, but after having read about his many affairs with women, the allegations do not appear very convincing.
It is a good journalistic biography with both the common strengths and weaknesses of the genre: meticulous and detail rich, but not so much analysis.
The best point of the book is the presentation of the life-style and self image of the highest échelons of British society in the 20th century. In spite of their (moderately) leftist leanings the couple showed no inclination to give up a lifestyle consisting of costly lodging, traveling and expensive sports. Interesting is the affinity to the entertainment industry. For a couple at the fringe of the Royal family that seems to have been acceptable, while cause turmoil at its heart in the case of the Wallis Simpson affair.
Lownie shows that Dickie believed that history was basically made by negotiations between important men. Only on the margins he criticizes that Mountbatten thus underestimated the ground level forces that formed politics in the 20th century. He provides, however, a drastic example: Mountbatten's idea that he could have prevented the partition of India had he known about Jinnah's cancer by protracting negotiations beyond the "founder of Pakistan's" death.
The books deals a lot with sexuality, not with sex, as Lownie always stops at the bedroom's threshold. Some reviewers complain about this, but actually this topic matters as the many extra-marital affairs of the couple - "open marriage" as we would say today - informed their image among the public and in the eyes of Queen Elizabeth.
While Lownie proceeds chronologically, he deals with the rumours about Dickie's homosexuality in an appendix chapter. He does not arrive at a definite conclusion, but after having read about his many affairs with women, the allegations do not appear very convincing.
June 25, 2020
This is an interesting and well-researched biography of Lord Louis Mountbatten (as he came to be known) and his wife, Edwina. As the title of the book suggests, it focuses on their turbulent marriage and the many extra-marital flings that first Edwina, and then Louis (known as ‘Dickie’) had. Edwina appears initially to have taken lovers to lighten her ennui of being married to the organised and Navy-focussed Dickie; indeed, Lownie portrays their incompatibility as arising very early on in their marriage. However, Edwina later thrives in caring for refugees, or families affected by war, carving a niche for herself which altered my perception of her from being a real-life Emma Bovary to a more decent human being. However, it isn’t long until both Edwina and Dickie have more flings (one of Edwina’s being Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister), the effects of these on their marriage and afterwards forming the bulk of the book.
The narrative also looks at Dickie’s roles in the Navy (before and after World War 2) and in becoming the Last Viceroy (and First Governor General) of India, immediately prior to Indian independence. His high standing within the Royal Family is also examined, Lownie showing how Dickie was a favourite of Prince Charles – almost becoming a surrogate father to him. Edwina’s globe-trotting lifestyle is also alluded to, with the book concluding with Mountbatten’s assassination, his legacy, and the many rumours that have circulated in more recent years about Dickie’s sexuality and potential links with paedophilia. In three separate sections throughout the book, there are sets of personal family photographs – some of these are Edwina’s lovers, some Dickie’s, while others show their children, or even a young Princess Elizabeth and Philip.
Having known very little about Louis Mountbatten before reading this book, I have learned a lot from it. The narrative style is accessible and engaging; at no point did it appear to drag on.
The narrative also looks at Dickie’s roles in the Navy (before and after World War 2) and in becoming the Last Viceroy (and First Governor General) of India, immediately prior to Indian independence. His high standing within the Royal Family is also examined, Lownie showing how Dickie was a favourite of Prince Charles – almost becoming a surrogate father to him. Edwina’s globe-trotting lifestyle is also alluded to, with the book concluding with Mountbatten’s assassination, his legacy, and the many rumours that have circulated in more recent years about Dickie’s sexuality and potential links with paedophilia. In three separate sections throughout the book, there are sets of personal family photographs – some of these are Edwina’s lovers, some Dickie’s, while others show their children, or even a young Princess Elizabeth and Philip.
Having known very little about Louis Mountbatten before reading this book, I have learned a lot from it. The narrative style is accessible and engaging; at no point did it appear to drag on.
March 27, 2020
This book is filled with all manner of sex and scandal. It is not clear whether these stories tell us about mores. To be honest, the sex and scandals in this book, with one particularly peculiar allegation, were they revealed today probably wouldn’t raise eyebrows to the same degree as they did years ago. Being a member of the royal family and the need to project an air of respectability probably did a great deal to surround the sexuality of the Mountbattens with an atmosphere of prurience. They certainly traveled in interesting circles to include Paul Robeson, Noel Coward, Nehru, and Shirley McLean.
The real argument advanced amidst this parallel narrative of sexual intrigue, is that Mountbatten’s list of achievements is pretty thin when subjected to scrutiny. Dieppe, the limited accomplishments in Burma, the partition of India, even a role as a potential coup plotter against Harold Wilson do not reflect well. The book is an argument against a book being written on Mountbatten.
The book also contains some serious arguments concerning bisexuality, and in the case of Lord Mountbatten, even pedophilia. While the author makes a case for bisexual activity for both, the pedophilia allegations seems based on thin evidence. Surely what should emerge is a biography where such allegations are subjected to a more critical examination. As for the couple’s bisexual and their alleged multi racial sexual activity, surely we have reached a point where we ought not regard such things as titillating or scandalous.
The real argument advanced amidst this parallel narrative of sexual intrigue, is that Mountbatten’s list of achievements is pretty thin when subjected to scrutiny. Dieppe, the limited accomplishments in Burma, the partition of India, even a role as a potential coup plotter against Harold Wilson do not reflect well. The book is an argument against a book being written on Mountbatten.
The book also contains some serious arguments concerning bisexuality, and in the case of Lord Mountbatten, even pedophilia. While the author makes a case for bisexual activity for both, the pedophilia allegations seems based on thin evidence. Surely what should emerge is a biography where such allegations are subjected to a more critical examination. As for the couple’s bisexual and their alleged multi racial sexual activity, surely we have reached a point where we ought not regard such things as titillating or scandalous.
November 10, 2021
A fine mix of political history and military history at a time cantering on topics such as the abdication crisis, World War II to assassination at the very heart of the British Establishment at the end of its Empire to a personal history of two privileged individuals who may not always be either morally upright and ethically sound though refreshingly human.
August 29, 2019
What lives they lived. Both edwina and Louis were as bad as each other. She had 18 affairs and he probably and equal number.
Compelling read and enjoyable.
Compelling read and enjoyable.
July 25, 2022
Some parts of this book were interesting but a lot was quite boring. 100 pages of acknowledgements at the end.
September 26, 2025
Once upon a gilded stage, two masterful players emerged — Dickie and Edwina — born not merely into privilege, but into the rarefied air of empire and myth. They glittered, both, from their first breath: he, a Mountbatten by royal blood and royal reinvention, she, Edwina Ashley — heiress, society starlet, part-Jewish, and the richest woman in England.
Dickie carried a father's disgrace like a flint in his heart — Prince Louis of Battenberg, once First Sea Lord, cast down at the onset of the Great War for the sin of sounding too German. The name Battenberg was scrubbed clean, replaced with the anglicized Mountbatten, as though a name could bury heritage. But the son would not forget. He rose, as if in vengeance, lifted not only by ambition but by the invisible wires of his dynastic web.
Edwina, bold and blazing, danced through high society with scandalous abandon. Her liaisons were many — so many the record becomes tiresome in its recounting — but one cannot help but pity her, for it took the apocalypse of World War II to awaken the best in her: a steely, tireless spirit in service to the wounded and the displaced.
Mountbatten’s naval command, too, was a stage, though the script was confusingly written. The HMS Kelly bore his flag, but he led a flotilla, not a single ship — a crucial detail the text nearly forgets. Playing Nelson in the dark, he signaled bravely — or foolishly — drawing fire that left the Kelly wrecked and lives lost. It would not be the last time Dickie’s flair for performance cost dearly. The Dieppe Raid — a catastrophe etched in Canadian blood — bears his fingerprints.
Brash, cocksure, and armored in royal entitlement, Mountbatten climbed ever higher through the ranks. His triumphs, some claimed, were more illusion than strategy — victories spun from risk, wrapped in ceremony, and shielded from consequence. Edwina mirrored his fire: imperious, elusive, tempestuous. Her lovers crossed boundaries of race and gender; her daughters bore the cold weight of neglect.
Yet war redeemed them both. Edwina found purpose in service, Dickie found glory in command. And after the guns fell silent, they found history waiting. Mountbatten, now Viscount, was crowned the last Viceroy of India — charged with unwinding an empire. He did so with both pomp and peril. Some call him a peacemaker; others, a butcher. Lownie walks this tightrope of legacy with restraint.
At his side, Edwina once again rose to the moment, ministering to the sick and displaced, her own legend entwined — perhaps intimately — with Nehru’s. Their Viceroyalty was theatre on a global stage, where politics and passion mingled in equal measure.
Returned to Britain, now the Earl and Countess of Burma, they continued their dual careers — brilliant, public, promiscuous. Their marriage endured not through fidelity, but through mutual ambition and strange loyalty. Edwina died suddenly in 1960. Dickie lived on, fading into the long shadow of his own myth, until that final, brutal act: assassinated by the IRA in 1979, on a fishing trip he had been warned against. Ever the showman, he had already planned his own funeral.
Andrew Lownie, seeking truth in a hall of mirrors, is thwarted by locked archives and royal silences. The question lingers like smoke: Was Mountbatten a genius of command or merely a privileged fool in uniform? Was Edwina a restless narcissist or a woman who redeemed herself through compassion?
What is certain is this: they were creatures of spectacle, forged in empire, consumed by war, and immortalized in contradiction. Medals, not reckoning, were Dickie’s reward. And even in death, the curtain fell with a flourish.
Dickie carried a father's disgrace like a flint in his heart — Prince Louis of Battenberg, once First Sea Lord, cast down at the onset of the Great War for the sin of sounding too German. The name Battenberg was scrubbed clean, replaced with the anglicized Mountbatten, as though a name could bury heritage. But the son would not forget. He rose, as if in vengeance, lifted not only by ambition but by the invisible wires of his dynastic web.
Edwina, bold and blazing, danced through high society with scandalous abandon. Her liaisons were many — so many the record becomes tiresome in its recounting — but one cannot help but pity her, for it took the apocalypse of World War II to awaken the best in her: a steely, tireless spirit in service to the wounded and the displaced.
Mountbatten’s naval command, too, was a stage, though the script was confusingly written. The HMS Kelly bore his flag, but he led a flotilla, not a single ship — a crucial detail the text nearly forgets. Playing Nelson in the dark, he signaled bravely — or foolishly — drawing fire that left the Kelly wrecked and lives lost. It would not be the last time Dickie’s flair for performance cost dearly. The Dieppe Raid — a catastrophe etched in Canadian blood — bears his fingerprints.
Brash, cocksure, and armored in royal entitlement, Mountbatten climbed ever higher through the ranks. His triumphs, some claimed, were more illusion than strategy — victories spun from risk, wrapped in ceremony, and shielded from consequence. Edwina mirrored his fire: imperious, elusive, tempestuous. Her lovers crossed boundaries of race and gender; her daughters bore the cold weight of neglect.
Yet war redeemed them both. Edwina found purpose in service, Dickie found glory in command. And after the guns fell silent, they found history waiting. Mountbatten, now Viscount, was crowned the last Viceroy of India — charged with unwinding an empire. He did so with both pomp and peril. Some call him a peacemaker; others, a butcher. Lownie walks this tightrope of legacy with restraint.
At his side, Edwina once again rose to the moment, ministering to the sick and displaced, her own legend entwined — perhaps intimately — with Nehru’s. Their Viceroyalty was theatre on a global stage, where politics and passion mingled in equal measure.
Returned to Britain, now the Earl and Countess of Burma, they continued their dual careers — brilliant, public, promiscuous. Their marriage endured not through fidelity, but through mutual ambition and strange loyalty. Edwina died suddenly in 1960. Dickie lived on, fading into the long shadow of his own myth, until that final, brutal act: assassinated by the IRA in 1979, on a fishing trip he had been warned against. Ever the showman, he had already planned his own funeral.
Andrew Lownie, seeking truth in a hall of mirrors, is thwarted by locked archives and royal silences. The question lingers like smoke: Was Mountbatten a genius of command or merely a privileged fool in uniform? Was Edwina a restless narcissist or a woman who redeemed herself through compassion?
What is certain is this: they were creatures of spectacle, forged in empire, consumed by war, and immortalized in contradiction. Medals, not reckoning, were Dickie’s reward. And even in death, the curtain fell with a flourish.
August 9, 2020
As an Indiaphile, I'm naturally very interested in the Mountbattens and their role as the last Viceroy and Vicereine of pre-Independence India. I was thrilled to get approved for a free ARC from Netgalley as I was keen to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of this charismatic and controversial couple.
The Mountbattens and Edwina's home at Broadlands, were part of my childhood because my Grandparents lived not too far from Romsey, and my Grandfather had served in Burma with the Military Police in WW2 so he often made (rather disparaging but oddly admiring) comments about 'Mountbatten of Burma'. I remember his death at the hands of the IRA.
I know their role in the Partition of India well having read and reread Alex von Tunzelman's stunning book about the Mountbattens in India as well as Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre's excellent 'Freedom at Midnight'. I've also read their daughter Pamela's account of the same period. Personally, I prefer to leave the status of the relationships between the Mountbattens and Nehru as ambiguous and unresolved as earlier biographers have done.
I found the book to be overly detailed in some parts (the references and bibliography run to almost 20% of the book) and annoyingly repetitive in others. I also found the prurient interest in what the two got up to and who they got up to it with, annoying and intrusive. Judge them by what they did, not WHO they did. And apparently, the WHO was a very long list.
When writing a book about people who've already had several biographies written about them, it's tempting to think you need to say something 'new'. The book seems determined to lift the lid on Louis' homosexuality or bisexuality. Whilst such things might have mattered whilst he was alive, we now live in an era when the vast majority of readers neither know nor care about the sexuality of others. I don't consider the author has proven anything. I also don't consider it was a necessary topic to address. Let him do what and who he wanted to. So long as the Russians weren't blackmailing him (and frankly, he and Edwina slept with so many and different people that they didn't have that much of a reputation to protect) did it really matter? Snippy little comments about Mountbatten liking younger women with long, slender thighs just made me wonder if this was really supposed to be a serious biography or an extract from the News of the World. There are also disturbing claims about the abuse of young boys from the Kincora children's home that made me think the author had better have cast iron proof or should expect to end up with a libel case against him.
With all the nasty focus on infidelity and sexuality, what really shone through from the letters between Dickie and Edwina was just how fond of each other they were
The Mountbattens and Edwina's home at Broadlands, were part of my childhood because my Grandparents lived not too far from Romsey, and my Grandfather had served in Burma with the Military Police in WW2 so he often made (rather disparaging but oddly admiring) comments about 'Mountbatten of Burma'. I remember his death at the hands of the IRA.
I know their role in the Partition of India well having read and reread Alex von Tunzelman's stunning book about the Mountbattens in India as well as Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre's excellent 'Freedom at Midnight'. I've also read their daughter Pamela's account of the same period. Personally, I prefer to leave the status of the relationships between the Mountbattens and Nehru as ambiguous and unresolved as earlier biographers have done.
I found the book to be overly detailed in some parts (the references and bibliography run to almost 20% of the book) and annoyingly repetitive in others. I also found the prurient interest in what the two got up to and who they got up to it with, annoying and intrusive. Judge them by what they did, not WHO they did. And apparently, the WHO was a very long list.
When writing a book about people who've already had several biographies written about them, it's tempting to think you need to say something 'new'. The book seems determined to lift the lid on Louis' homosexuality or bisexuality. Whilst such things might have mattered whilst he was alive, we now live in an era when the vast majority of readers neither know nor care about the sexuality of others. I don't consider the author has proven anything. I also don't consider it was a necessary topic to address. Let him do what and who he wanted to. So long as the Russians weren't blackmailing him (and frankly, he and Edwina slept with so many and different people that they didn't have that much of a reputation to protect) did it really matter? Snippy little comments about Mountbatten liking younger women with long, slender thighs just made me wonder if this was really supposed to be a serious biography or an extract from the News of the World. There are also disturbing claims about the abuse of young boys from the Kincora children's home that made me think the author had better have cast iron proof or should expect to end up with a libel case against him.
With all the nasty focus on infidelity and sexuality, what really shone through from the letters between Dickie and Edwina was just how fond of each other they were
July 20, 2023
What a book and what a life! My local book store has a Royals Book Club and sometimes I am able to go. This book is this month's selection. I only knew a few things about Dickie Mountbatten- he was Prince Philip's Uncle, he wanted his granddaughter to marry Prince Charles, and how he died. I was nervous because I am not always that good with reading biographies. I can find them very boring and I was only going to have a week to read the book. I read it in four days. Dickie and Edwina are anything but boring! Edwina constantly had affairs and Dickie was sad about them but he understood and when she would bring lovers to the house he would make himself scarce. What?! How awkward. Now he also had affairs after awhile. I mean why wouldn't you? But then Edwina would become friends with his lovers. And he would be friends with her lovers. Again What?! I'll just say that Dickie had a huge lifelong career in the Navy and Edwina used her inheritance to travel the world and help charitable organizations. This author definitely did his research. I really enjoyed it!
I knew the Royal family changed their name to Windsor during WWI and relinquished all German titles, but I did not know Prince Louis of Battenberg (Dickie's father) had to change his name to Mountbatten.
-Many felt the problem with Mountbatten was that, for all his bravery and leadership abilities, he lacked judgement and patience, and was too much the showman where style triumphed over substance.
-"He has great drive, personality and imagination but here lacks balance and is a most wishful thinker."
-"Dickie, you're so crooked that if you swallowed a nail, you'd shit a corkscrew." It was a remark that Mountbatten liked to repeat.
-He was good at dressing up his role and spinning his apparent influence, but he was really just a front of house manager to make sure everyone remained happy. The irony is that the strings were being pulled elsewhere.
(There was a little joke in our house. We finished building our house this year and we have board and batten siding and I kept calling it Mountbatten. My husband now knows who Mountbatten is.)
I knew the Royal family changed their name to Windsor during WWI and relinquished all German titles, but I did not know Prince Louis of Battenberg (Dickie's father) had to change his name to Mountbatten.
-Many felt the problem with Mountbatten was that, for all his bravery and leadership abilities, he lacked judgement and patience, and was too much the showman where style triumphed over substance.
-"He has great drive, personality and imagination but here lacks balance and is a most wishful thinker."
-"Dickie, you're so crooked that if you swallowed a nail, you'd shit a corkscrew." It was a remark that Mountbatten liked to repeat.
-He was good at dressing up his role and spinning his apparent influence, but he was really just a front of house manager to make sure everyone remained happy. The irony is that the strings were being pulled elsewhere.
(There was a little joke in our house. We finished building our house this year and we have board and batten siding and I kept calling it Mountbatten. My husband now knows who Mountbatten is.)
October 31, 2025
It dances with too much minutiae at times, and there are odd moments where the authors reveals a (shall we say) very 20th century attitude towards certain things...but it's not afraid to examine the Mountbattens, warts and all...and leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions. It's certainly never a boring story.
July 21, 2024
No matter if you agree or disagree with how these people chose to live their lives, they definitely had larger than life personalities. How they managed to do so much astonishes me. But I guess if you have the money and the connections, then anything is possible....what truly matters is what you do with all of that. I want to read about their children now.
October 15, 2025
Really interesting look behind the curtain of the Royals and Royal adjacent. Not too heavy with fine detail which i always appreciate.
October 3, 2021
Dickie Mountbatten, Prince Phillip's uncle, mentor to Prince Charles, Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia during WWII, and the last Viceroy of India, cousin to the murdered daughters of the Tsar of Russia, assassinated by the IRA, and a host of other things married the rich, beautiful, playgirl Edwina. They had a glamorous life and spent a good deal of time hopping in and out of bed with partners other than themselves. This was socially accepted as long as it didn't hit the newspapers. Dickie was one of the outstanding leaders of his time or a man who used his connections, royal birth, good looks, and self promotion, depending who was telling the tale. Edwina was a social butterfly, doing nothing important, until WWII changed her into a serious humanitarian. During their days in India she met Nehru and carried on a love affair with him until her death.
I enjoyed this book immensely but didn't need to see an entire chapter devoted to whether Dickie was gay or bisexual. The author carefully documents what others have said about the subject and I just didn't need this. But you can be the judge.
The author documents well the history of certain events (the Dieppe Raid and the partition of India) and explains them interestingly as well as gives information that hasn't been covered well by other authors.
I enjoyed the book.
I enjoyed this book immensely but didn't need to see an entire chapter devoted to whether Dickie was gay or bisexual. The author carefully documents what others have said about the subject and I just didn't need this. But you can be the judge.
The author documents well the history of certain events (the Dieppe Raid and the partition of India) and explains them interestingly as well as gives information that hasn't been covered well by other authors.
I enjoyed the book.
August 16, 2020
This is two books in one really - it's a very strange "love" story between two interesting individuals - and it's a socio political history of parts of the British royalty for the rump of the previous century.
It relies very heavily on papers made available to the author - so much so that often you feel the narrative is shoehorned in to make sense of some of the more obscure letters and diary entries he has got access to, and that a lot of what follows on from those quotes are very much thinly based suppositions rather than facts based on unequivocal evidence.
That Louis "Dicky" Mountbatten and his wife Edwina were two free spirits who led very sexually liberal lives is not really in doubt - but the who, what, when, where and why of it all is all a little tabloid for my liking....
The historical account of an unique individual, and in particular the role he had to play in the partition of India, is a lot more interesting and easier for the brain to digest - it's based on fact, and first hand accounts, without needing to extend too much into supposition - and it is much the better for being so.
But it really does fall between two stools as a book, never quite sure if it wants to be the historical biography of a very interesting military figure or....well, something a little bit seedy from the gossip columns.
It relies very heavily on papers made available to the author - so much so that often you feel the narrative is shoehorned in to make sense of some of the more obscure letters and diary entries he has got access to, and that a lot of what follows on from those quotes are very much thinly based suppositions rather than facts based on unequivocal evidence.
That Louis "Dicky" Mountbatten and his wife Edwina were two free spirits who led very sexually liberal lives is not really in doubt - but the who, what, when, where and why of it all is all a little tabloid for my liking....
The historical account of an unique individual, and in particular the role he had to play in the partition of India, is a lot more interesting and easier for the brain to digest - it's based on fact, and first hand accounts, without needing to extend too much into supposition - and it is much the better for being so.
But it really does fall between two stools as a book, never quite sure if it wants to be the historical biography of a very interesting military figure or....well, something a little bit seedy from the gossip columns.
April 16, 2022
I enjoyed this book even if the first part read like a supermarket scandal sheet. It describes the life styles of the rich and famous British aristocracy in the lead up to the marriage of Louis Mountbatten and the "beautiful" Edwina Ashley "the richest heiress in the world." Judging from the photographs in the book I'm not sure I agree with the "beauty" part but maybe you just had to be there. Their marriage consisted of a head-spinning series of affairs - Louis said, "Edwina and I spent all our married lives getting into other people's beds." I have to admit my boring bourgeois self was frankly shocked, but I gather it was the way things were done. The most intriguing part of the book for me was the history of Indian Independence and partition and the significant part played in it by the Mountbattens. Louis was the last Viceroy and Edwina finally found a purpose in life as a hardworking humanitarian and supporter of her husband's career. Mountbatten was a major player in 20th century British history. He was a complex figure with many talents but beset by pomposity and a tendency to self-aggrandizement with no compunctions to using his royal ties to his own advantage. The author provides an honest assessment of two of the most controversial figures of the time.
August 31, 2019
Has all the critical parts that Andrew Roberts covered in 'Great Churchillians' - the multiple affairs, the covering up disasters - almost sinking his ship and getting his heiress wife to pay for it to avoid a court-martial, the Dieppe disaster that he managed to 'spin' as a success, the multiple affairs with men and women of both him and his wife, Edwina.
However, it's more nuanced the Roberts and you come away thinking that they were a very flawed couple with some good virtues. It does touch on Mountbatten's suspected paedophilia, which of course is another matter.
Perhaps someone will get to the bottom of what exactly Mountbottom got up to in that department. At present, I'd say the Jury's out. Though he clearly was bisexual. Churchill once said that 'British Naval tradition consisted of rum, sodomy and the lash'!!
However, it's more nuanced the Roberts and you come away thinking that they were a very flawed couple with some good virtues. It does touch on Mountbatten's suspected paedophilia, which of course is another matter.
Perhaps someone will get to the bottom of what exactly Mountbottom got up to in that department. At present, I'd say the Jury's out. Though he clearly was bisexual. Churchill once said that 'British Naval tradition consisted of rum, sodomy and the lash'!!
July 23, 2020
I'm halfway through and am contemplating giving up. I'm finding the writing style rather plodding and more like a long list of facts rather than the content of a book. Mountbatten's war years, although interesting, read like even more lists of people and places (I'm struggling to remember who's who, he had so many cronies).
December 14, 2020
I nearly gave up on this book about midway through, but stuck through to the end. The second to last chapter discusses in depth (tinged with gossip) Lord Mountbatten's bisexuality, which quite frankly was the whole reason I wanted to read the book in the first place. If you are in a hurry to read something else, my advice is to skip ahead.
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