World news – African Union – Lord Mountbatten: Behind the myth of Uncle Dickey, the ‘fixer of the royal family’

In the first episode of the new series from The Crown, the Queen is having lunch, with the family, at Buckingham Palace with Lord Mountbatten, played with taut magic by Charles Dance. As Prince Charles goes out to visit Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Queen asks her son, « How’s he doing, Dickie? » He talks to you more than anyone else.

Netflix’s big-budget series, whose highly anticipated fourth season is released today, identifies Charles’ « honorary grandfather » as central to royal family relations. But who was the real Mountbatten? In the same episode, a dispute between Charles and Mountbatten over the prince’s relationship with Camilla. Mountbatten urges him to search for « a bride without a past. ». Prince Charles accuses his mentor’s beloved personality of « playing for the other side. ». Being « a fifth columnist » shows he is a great ally.

Mountbatten, despite his connections and charisma, appears to have spent most of his life negotiating a tightrope between interference, manipulation and mediation.. This week saw the release of a documentary entitled Lord Mountbatten: Hero or Villain?. The charges include that he was a false propagandist, and his achievements in pushing Indian independence forward were hotly contested.. He was definitely a divisive character.

Queen Victoria’s grandson, born in 1900 and Prince Philip’s uncle, British Admiral of the Fleet, was tragically and brutally murdered by the Irish Republican Army in Ireland in August 1979 along with other members of the family. The royal family was devastated, and Charles, in particular, mourned the man who was his closest confidant. Mountbatten had a great influence in Philip’s marriage to Queen Elizabeth, and was instrumental in the royal family taking on the name Mountbatten.

But as writer Andrew Looney asks in his book The Mountbattens: “He [he] was one of the prominent leaders of his generation, or a man who was over promoted due to his royal birth, high-profile relationships, star-studded, cinematic appearance, and cruelty.. Self promotion?

When Mountbatten married the beautiful heiress Edwina Ashley in 1922, King George V, Queen Mary and most of the royal family attended, while Edward, then Prince of Wales, was the best man.. It was a source of bitter regret for Edward that when Wallis Simpson married in 1935, Dickie did not return the favor.. Although the abdication king wished his brothers were his best men, according to royal tradition, when the brutal realization prevailed that no member of his family would attend his wedding in France, he turned to his old friend, Dickie. .

Mountbatten and Edward became close in 1919 when Dickey acted as the titular ADC on a Royal Tour. According to Lownie: “It is not entirely fair to say that Mountbatten refused the prince, as Edward was initially too keen for his brothers to be, but Mountbatten kept himself prepared. When the royal family told him he couldn’t go to a Windsor wedding where everyone was banned, he quickly realized the side his bread was buttered on.. It was his immediate loyalty to the new king and queen.

Of course this was the wounded Edward, whom he forgave at a young age. A visionary Wallis did not prepare for Mountbatten, however, suspicious of his motives and apostate behavior..

“Mountbatten had a rather unusual relationship with the royal family,” explains Lonnie. He was the last child of Queen Victoria, was friendly with George VI in Cambridge, and was a minor mentor to the Queen when she came to power, but he was not in direct line to the throne. However, he was always writing himself in the text. He always believed that he was helping the royal family and courtiers. He had a strong sense of entitlement and saw himself as an assistant.

This was evident inappropriately after the death of the Duke of Windsor in 1972. At the duke’s funeral, the Duchess of Windsor sat between Prince Philip and Lord Mountbatten. « They both bent their ears on the artefacts and archive material that belonged to the royal collection, » says Lownie.. “Some say the trucks arrived in practice the next day and people took things from the Parisian house of Windsor. There is some confusion about the various meetings Mountbatten had with Wallis and whether things were taken with her permission or just acquired..

The former Secretary of the Duchess of Windsor and her best friend, Joanna Schutz, gave me the original, previously unpublished letter Mountbatten wrote to Wallis on February 19, 1973, a year after the Duke’s death. The Duchess inherited this, along with other private papers. Miss Schutz wanted me to have this clear example of Mountbatten’s machinations, she said, so that I could « better understand what happened and how much the Duchess would suffer again after the death of Her Royal Highness. ». .

It was clearly painful for Wallis, mired in grief, to put up with Mountbatten’s attempts to recover the family’s silver. In the letter, sent from his family’s home, Broadlands, Hampshire, to “Dear Wallis,” he wrote: “My only idea has always been to be as helpful as possible in the sad circumstances of David’s death, but everyone is up to your decision.. I know all David family members feel the same way and want to be helpful without interference. Amazingly, given their history, he continues. “Would it be helpful to offer my services as one of the doers of your will? I was David’s loyal friend and he was my best man and I would do it for you if you so desire. He pauses in a standing ovation: “Please take care of yourself and don’t break any more bones. Lots of love from your old friend, Dickie.

On the advice of Lord Mountbatten, the Duchess has already returned the Duke’s robes, uniforms, orders, and decorations to the Queen. Miss Schutz told me: « I had a huge chest full of diamond badges from the Emperor of India, which the Duchess brought back ». However, the frequent presence of Dickie at Wallis’ house, picking up valuables, and insisting that it should be returned to the royal family, unsurprisingly, brought her back.

“Mountbatten terrified the Duchess,” Miss Schutz said, “She was always very nervous before he came.. According to Mountbatten’s daughter, Mrs. Pamela Hicks, her father was adamant that some of the gold and silver kettle drums return to London, not with the Duchess in Paris..

Mrs. Pamela told her daughter India Hicks in a podcast: « We had a real fight when the Duke of Windsor went into exile.. He took a thing or two of his private belongings – actually pretty little boxes – that were his father or grandfather. My dad thought he shouldn’t have taken these because they became state things. My father fought an endless battle to try to convince Wallis to hand them over. It never worked because by then she had slipped into dementia, and she had that horrible lawyer who ruled her life..

While it is true that Wallis’s life ended pathetic at the hands of the Swiss attorney, Maitre Blume, who was in control of her affairs and suffered from lapses in old age, she was fully aware of Mountbatten’s methods of acquisition.. Jillian Tomkins, wife of the new British ambassador to Paris, Sir Edward Tomkins, told writer Caroline Blackwood in 1995: “The behavior of the royal family was completely unmistakable at this point. They had ignored the Duchess for years, and after the Duke was gone, they started making friendly overtures towards her because they wanted her jewelry and possessions.. The Duchess was so smart that she never saw through it. She always concealed royal swords before Mountbatten visited her.

At The Crown, Prince Charles and the Mountbatten royal family forgive his arrogant intervention. Wallis was, by bitter experience, more discerning.

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Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl of Mountbatten of Burma, Crown, British Royal Family, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Charles, Prince of Wales, Patricia Knatchpole, Second Countess Mountbatten of Burma