Lord and Lady Mountbatten at Captain Cook Dock, 1946
Lord Mountbatten (1900–79) was the youngest child of Prince Louis of Battenberg, who married Princess Victoria of Hesse, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Prince Louis was First Sea Lord 1912–14. A career in the navy was a natural choice for his son: from destroyers in the 1930s, he moved to Combined Operations, 1941–3. He was Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia Command, 1943–6; the last Viceroy of India in 1947 and the first Governor General of the new state in 1947–8. He returned to naval service, becoming First Sea Lord in 1955, and Chief of the Defence Staff, 1959–65.
