Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, received numerous titles, decorations and honorary appointments during his time as Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, in the Second World War, the last Viceroy and Governor-General of India, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, Chief of the Defence Staff, and owing to his close relation to the British royal family and numerous other European royal families.
Where two dates are shown, the first indicates the date of receiving the title or award (the title of Prince Louis of Battenberg being given as from his birth) and the second indicates the date of its loss, renunciation or when its use was discontinued.
Mountbatten was born a prince of Battenberg, a morganatic cadet branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, with the style of Serene Highness . On 14 July 1917, his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, dropped his German princely title due to anti-German feelings prevalent in Britain during World War I. Members of the Battenberg family living in Britain took the anglicized surname Mountbatten. [4] Until his father was created Marquess of Milford Haven on 7 November 1917, Mountbatten had no title besides his military rank. From then he had the courtesy title Lord prefixed to his Christian name. He continued being styled as such until being raised to the peerage himself, first as Viscount Mountbatten of Burma on 23 August 1946 and later as Earl Mountbatten of Burma, both with the style of The Right Honourable , on 28 October 1947. From 21 February 1947 to 21 June 1948, he carried the additional style of Excellency by virtue of his Indian viceregal positions.
Appointments (Shown in order in which appointments were made, not order of precedence)
Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters |
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![]() | 11 October 1920 | Member of the Fifth Class of the Royal Victorian Order [11] | ![]() | MVO |
18 July 1922 | Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order [12] | KCVO | ||
1 February 1937 | Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order [13] | GCVO | ||
1 January 1929 | Commander of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem [14] | ![]() | CStJ | |
21 June 1940 | Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem [15] | KStJ | ||
23 June 1936 | Personal Naval Aide-de-Camp to King Edward VIII [16] | ADC | ||
1 February 1937 | Personal Naval Aide-de-Camp to King George VI [17] | |||
March 1953 | Personal Aide-de-Camp to Queen Elizabeth II [5] | |||
1 January 1941 | Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [18] | ![]() | DSO | |
1943 | Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath [5] | ![]() | CB | |
10 April 1945 | Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath [19] | KCB | ||
9 June 1955 | Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath [20] | GCB | ||
![]() ![]() | 3 December 1946 | 897th Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter [21] | ![]() | KG |
![]() | 1947 | Member of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council [n 1] | PC | |
![]() | 21 February 1947 – 15 August 1947 | Grand Master of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India [2] [n 2] | ![]() | |
21 February 1947 | Knight Grand Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India [2] | GSCI | ||
21 February 1947 – 15 August 1947 | Grand Master of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire [2] [n 3] | ![]() | ||
21 February 1947 | Knight Grand Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire [2] | GCIE | ||
![]() | 16 July 1965 | Member of the Order of Merit, Military Division [22] | ![]() | OM |
Decorations (Shown in order in which appointments were made, not order of precedence)
Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 22 June 1911 | King George V Coronation Medal | ![]() | |
26 July 1919 | British War Medal | ![]() | ||
1 September 1919 | Victory Medal | ![]() | ||
6 May 1935 | King George V Silver Jubilee Medal | ![]() | ||
12 May 1937 | King George VI Coronation Medal | ![]() | ||
1945 | 1939–45 Star | ![]() | ||
1945 | Atlantic Star | ![]() | ||
1945 | Africa Star | ![]() | ||
1945 | Burma Star | ![]() | ||
1945 | Italy Star | ![]() | ||
1945 | Defence Medal | ![]() | ||
1945 | War Medal 1939–1945 | ![]() | ||
Naval General Service Medal | ![]() | |||
2 June 1953 | Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal | ![]() | ||
6 February 1977 | Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal | ![]() |
Appointments (Shown in order in which appointments were made, not order of precedence)
Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 1972 | Collar of the Most Honourable Order of the Distinguished Rule of Izzuddin [23] | ![]() |
Decorations (Shown in order in which appointments were made, not order of precedence)
Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 1949 | Indian Independence Medal | ![]() |
Appointments (Shown in order in which appointments were made, not order of precedence)
Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Grand Cross of the Grand Ducal Hessian Order of Louis [24] | ![]() | ||
![]() | 1922 | Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic [25] | ![]() | gcYC |
![]() | 1922 | Officer of the Order of the Nile [25] | ![]() | |
![]() | 1922 | The Order of the Rising Sun, Fourth Class [24] | ![]() | |
![]() | 1924 | Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Romania [25] | ![]() | |
1937 | Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania [25] | ![]() | ||
![]() | 1943 | Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit [26] | ![]() | |
![]() | 1945 | Special Grand Cordon of the Order of the Cloud and Banner [27] | ![]() | |
![]() | 21 January 1946 | Knight Grand Cross of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant [28] [29] | ![]() | PCh (KCE) |
![]() | 10 May 1946 | Member of the First Class of the Most Refulgent Order of the Star of Nepal [28] | | |
![]() | 3 June 1946 | Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour [28] [30] | ![]() | |
![]() | 1946 | Grand Cross (Military) of the Royal Order of George I [31] | ![]() | |
![]() | 1948 | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion [32] | ![]() | |
![]() | 1951 | Grand Cross of the Military Order of Saint Benedict of Aviz [25] | ![]() | GCA |
![]() | 1952 | Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim | ![]() | RSerafO |
![]() | 1956 | Grand Commander of the Most Glorious Order of Truth [26] | ![]() | |
![]() | 1962 | Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog [25] | ![]() | S.K. |
![]() | 1956 | Grand Cordon of the Order of the Seal of Solomon [25] | ![]() |
Decorations (Shown in order in which appointments were made, not order of precedence)
Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | 1941 | War Cross [33] | ![]() | |
![]() | 1945 | Distinguished Service Medal [34] | ![]() | |
1945 | Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal | ![]() | ||
![]() | 3 June 1946 | 1939–1945 War Cross | ![]() | |
![]() | 24 February 1975 | King Birendra Coronation Medal | ![]() |
Awards that were worn regularly by Mountbatten are noted in the above tables and were worn in accordance with customary British conventions applicable to the occasion, the location and to the form of dress worn. Awards not specifically noted were worn by Mountbatten on appropriate occasions relating to the country that made the award, again in accordance with UK conventions. The ribbons worn by Mountbatten at the time of his death were as follows: Displayed as they would be worn on a uniform shirt.
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Mountbatten was one of the few persons eligible to wear four stars of British orders of knighthood. On his uniform, he wore the stars of the orders of the Garter, Bath, Star of India and the Royal Victorian Order. No other British national was again eligible until his nephew Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 2017. Mountbatten wore the riband of the Garter, except on collar days, when he wore the Garter collar with the riband of his second highest order, the Order of the Bath. He was the last person to publicly wear the insignia of a Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India. Having been appointed personal aide-de-camp to three sovereigns, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II, he bore the unusual distinction of being allowed to wear three royal cyphers on his epaulettes. [35] [36]
Country | Date | Organisation | Position |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | 1948 | Christ's College, Cambridge | Honorary Fellow [43] |
![]() | 1968 | Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge | Fellow [44] |
![]() | 1965 | Institution of Electrical Engineers | Honorary Member [45] |
Country | Date | Organisation | Position |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | 1957 | Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society | Patron |
![]() | 1966–1972 | British Academy of Film and Television Arts | President |
International | 1968–1977 | United World Colleges | President [46] |
Country | Date | Institution | Degree |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | 1946 | University of Cambridge | Doctor of Law (LLD) [43] |
![]() | 1946 | University of Oxford | Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) [47] |
![]() | 1948 | University of Delhi | Doctor of Science (DSc) [24] |
![]() | 1948 | Patna University | Doctor of Science (DSc) [24] |
![]() | 1950 | University of Leeds | Doctor of Law (LLD) [24] |
![]() | 1954 | University of Edinburgh | Doctor of Law (LLD) [42] |
![]() | 1955 | University of Southampton | Doctor of Law (LLD) [24] |
![]() | 1960 | University of London | Doctor of Law (LLD) [24] |
![]() | 1963 | University of Sussex | Doctor of Law (LLD) [24] |
![]() | 1968 | Heriot-Watt University | Doctor of Science (DSc) |
![]() | 1972 | University of Pennsylvania | Doctor of Law (LLD) [48] |
Admiral of the Fleet Albert Victor Nicholas Louis Francis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma was a British statesman, naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. He was born in the United Kingdom to the prominent Battenberg family. He was a maternal uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a second cousin of King George VI. He joined the Royal Navy during the First World War and was appointed Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command, in the Second World War. He later served as the last Viceroy of India and briefly as the first Governor-General of the Dominion of India.
Earl Mountbatten of Burma is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1947 for Rear Admiral Louis Mountbatten, who in 1946 had been created the first Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. He was later promoted to Admiral of the Fleet.
Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a British naval officer and German prince related by marriage to the British royal family.
Marquess of Milford Haven is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:
The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:
The Mountbatten family is a British dynasty that originated as a British branch of the German princely Battenberg family. The name was adopted on 14 July 1917, three days before the British royal family changed its name from "Saxe-Coburg and Gotha" to "Windsor", by members of the Battenberg family residing in the United Kingdom, due to rising anti-German sentiment among the British public during World War I. The name is a direct Anglicisation of the German Battenberg, or Batten mountain, the name of a small town in Hesse. The titles of count and later prince of Battenberg had been granted in the mid-19th century to a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, itself a cadet branch of the House of Hesse.
Patricia Edwina Victoria Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, Baroness Brabourne,, was a British peeress and a third cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. She was the elder daughter of Admiral of the Fleet the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and of heiress Edwina Ashley. She was the elder sister of Lady Pamela Hicks, a first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the last surviving baptismal sponsor to King Charles III. She was a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
The Battenberg family is a non-dynastic cadet branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, which ruled the Grand Duchy of Hesse until 1918. The first member was Julia Hauke, whose brother-in-law Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse created her Countess of Battenberg in 1851, with the style of Illustrious Highness (H.Ill.H.), at the time of her morganatic marriage to Grand Duke Louis's brother Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine. The name of the title refers to the town of Battenberg in Hesse. In 1858, the countess' title was elevated to Princess of Battenberg, with the style of Serene Highness (H.S.H.).
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, then Princess Louis of Battenberg, later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven, was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Lieutenant David Michael Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven,, styled Viscount Alderney before 1921 and Earl of Medina between 1921 and 1938, was the son of George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven and Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna of Torby.
Captain George Louis Victor Henry Serge Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven,, born Prince George of Battenberg, styled Earl of Medina between 1917 and 1921, was a Royal Navy officer and the elder son of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine.
Andrew Douglas Alexander Thomas Bruce, 11th Earl of Elgin and 15th Earl of Kincardine,, styled Lord Bruce before 1968, is a Scottish peer and Chief of Clan Bruce.
Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma,, was an English heiress, socialite, relief worker and the last vicereine of India as the wife of Rear Admiral The 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma.
Alexander Albert Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, was a British Royal Navy officer, a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the last surviving grandson of Queen Victoria.
Vice-Admiral Sir Ronald Vernon Brockman was a British senior officer of the Royal Navy. He served under Lord Mountbatten and participated in accepting the surrender of the Japanese Fleet in 1945. Sir Ronald was the elder son of Engineer Rear-Admiral Henry Stafford Brockman CB. He was descendant of the English Brockman family, and was Gentleman Usher to the Queen from 1967 to 1979.
Admiral Sir Alexander Robert Maule Ramsay, was a Royal Navy officer. He was the husband of Princess Patricia of Connaught, the youngest child of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third son of Queen Victoria. He served with distinction during the First World War. During the 1920s and 1930s, he held several important naval aviation commands.
Lord Leopold Arthur Louis Mountbatten was a British Army officer and a descendant of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the British royal family. A grandson of Queen Victoria, he was known as Prince Leopold of Battenberg from his birth until 1917, when the British royal family relinquished their German titles during World War I, and the Battenberg family changed their name to Mountbatten.
A bronze statue of Admiral of the Fleet Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma is located on Mountbatten Green, off Horse Guards Road, Whitehall, London, England. The sculptor was Franta Belsky and the work was cast by the Meridian Bronze Foundry. The memorial was unveiled on 2 November 1983.