This article is about the first Marquess of Milford Haven. For his son, see Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Admiral of the Fleet The Most Honourable
The Marquess of Milford Haven
GCB GCVO KCMG PC ADC
Portrait by Philip de László, 1909
First Sea Lord
In office 8 December 1912 – 28 October 1914
Prime Minister
H. H. Asquith
Preceded by
Sir Francis Bridgeman
Succeeded by
The Lord Fisher
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Hereditary peerage 7 November 1917 – 11 September 1921 Marquess of Milford Haven
Preceded by
New creation
Succeeded by
George Mountbatten
Personal details
Born
Count Louis Alexander of Battenberg
(1854-05-24)24 May 1854 Graz, Austrian Empire
Died
11 September 1921(1921-09-11) (aged 67) Piccadilly, London, England
Resting place
St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, Isle of Wight
Spouse
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine
(m. 1884)
Children
Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark
Louise, Queen of Sweden
George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Parents
Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine (father)
Julia, Princess of Battenberg (mother)
Military service
Allegiance
United Kingdom
Branch/service
Royal Navy
Years of service
1868–1914
Commands
First Sea Lord (1912–14)
3rd and 4th Divisions, Home Fleet (1911)
Atlantic Fleet (1908–10)
2nd Cruiser Squadron (1905–07)
Naval Intelligence (1902–05)
HMS Implacable (1901–02)
HMS Majestic (1897–99)
HMS Cambrian (1894–97)
Battles/wars
Anglo-Egyptian War
Awards
See list
Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven (24 May 1854 – 11 September 1921), formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a British naval officer and German prince related by marriage to the British royal family.
Although born in Austria, and brought up in Italy and Germany, Louis enrolled in the British Royal Navy at the age of fourteen. Queen Victoria and her son the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) occasionally intervened in his career: the Queen thought that there was "a belief that the Admiralty are afraid of promoting Officers who are Princes on account of the radical attacks of low papers and scurrilous ones".[1] However, Louis welcomed assignments that provided opportunities for him to acquire the skills of war and to demonstrate to his superiors that he was serious about his naval career. Posts on royal yachts and tours arranged by Queen Victoria and Prince Edward actually impeded his progress, as his promotions were perceived as undeserved royal favours.[2]
After a naval career lasting more than forty years, in 1912 Louis was appointed First Sea Lord, the professional head of the British naval service. With the First World War looming, he took steps to ready the British fleet for combat, but his background as a German prince forced his retirement once the war began, when anti-German sentiment was running high. He changed his name and relinquished his German titles, at the behest of King George V, in 1917. The King made Louis Marquess of Milford Haven.
Louis married Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. They had four children: Alice, Louise, George, and Louis. Louise later became Queen of Sweden, while the younger Louis served as First Sea Lord, like his father, from 1954 to 1959. The Marquess and Marchioness of Milford Haven were the maternal grandparents of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
^Queen Victoria to First Lord of the Admiralty Lord George Hamilton, 5 September 1891, quoted in Hough, Richard (1984), Louis and Victoria: The Family History of the Mountbattens. Second edition, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, p. 171, ISBN 0-297-78470-6
^Hough, p. 173
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