Prince Louis’ name is a tribute to much-loved royal family friend Lord Mountbatten
The naming of Prince Louis Arthur Charles today is a tribute to a much-loved friend of the royal family for decades.
Lord Louis Mountbatten was the brother of Alice of Battenberg – the Duke of Edinburgh’s mother (the Battenbergs adopted the anglicised name ‘Mountbatten’ when anti-German sentiment was high during World War I).
But Louis was more than just ‘Uncle Louis’ to the young Prince Philip – he was a surrogate father to him.
After fleeing Greece in the 1920s, Philip’s mother was consigned to a sanatorium in Switzerland, his father lived with his mistress in the south of France.
So Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (as he was known) spent much of his young life without his parents – and was being handed from one branch of his extended family to another.
It was Uncle Louis – often referred to by his nickname ‘Dickie’ – who spotted a determination and resilience in Philip and decided to be his guide and mentor.
He was also a matchmaker, arranging for the young naval cadet Philip to look after the younger Princess Elizabeth when King George VI and his family visited Royal Naval College Dartmouth in 1939.
That meeting – arranged by Mountbatten – lead to a marriage in 1947 and put Prince Philip on the path to becoming the consort to the next Monarch.
Pretty impressive work.
Mountbatten also took it upon himself to do the same with Prince Charles, when the heir to the throne was the most eligible bachelor in the country.
Prince Charles enjoyed a similarly close relationship with Mountbatten, finding a bond with him that he was often unable to make with his own father.
But Dickie was more than just a confident of the Royal Family.
He held the positions of both the last Viceroy of India and the First Sea Lord, the most senior position in the Royal Navy.
Lord Louis Mountbatten was murdered by the IRA who planted a bomb on his boat off the coast of County Sligo.
The 1979 bombing also killed one of his grandsons, his son-in-law’s mother and a 15-year-old local crew member.
His place in the history books of this particular Louis was assured long before his assassination.
He was a significant military figure and close friend of the House of Windsor.
It seems he now has a great-great-great nephew who will carry his name.
Source: ITV COM
Tags: #Prince #Louis #PrinceLouis #PrinceAlbertArthurCharles #Royals
Tags: Prince Louis, Prince Albert Arthur Charles, Royals
