Prince Louis of Battenberg

Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, (24 May 1854 ? 11 September 1921), formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a minor German prince who married into the British Royal Family and pursued a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, eventually serving as First Sea Lord from 1912 to 1914. He was the father of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and the maternal grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Naval Career

In 1868, at the age of fourteen, Prince Louis became a naturalized British subject and joined the Royal Navy. He began his career as a midshipman on the Royal Alfred. In 1876, he accompanied the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII on his official tour of India. During the 1882 Egyptian intervention, he served as a lieutenant on Inconstant and was decorated with the Egyptian Medal and the Khedive Bronze Star. In September 1883, Queen Victoria appointed him lieutenant in her yacht, Victoria and Albert, which assured his promotion to commander two years later. Prince Louis rose to the rank of captain and became an aide-de-camp to the Queen in 1891. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1904, vice admiral in 1910, and admiral in 1912. During that time, he served as Director of Naval Intelligence (1902-1905), Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet (1908-1911), commander of the Third and Fourth Divisions of the Home Fleet (1911), and Second Sea Lord (1911). He became a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) in the military division in 1908, having received the K.C.B. and Knight Grand Cross (G.C.B.) in the civil division of the same order in 1884 and 1887, respectively.

Related Topics:
Royal Navy - Midshipman - King Edward VII - Director of Naval Intelligence - Commander-in-Chief

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On 9 December 1912, Prince Louis assumed the post of First Sea Lord, the senior uniformed officer in the Royal Navy. In that capacity, he was responsible to the First Lord of the Admiralty (at the time, Winston Churchill) for the readiness of the fleet and the preparation of naval strategy. However, with the outbreak of World War I, rising anti-German sentiment among the British public and newspapers forced him to resign as First Sea Lord on 29 October 1914. He held no official post for the remainder of the war and retired from the active list in the Navy in 1918.

Related Topics:
9 December - 1912 - First Lord of the Admiralty - Winston Churchill - World War I - First Sea Lord - 29 October - 1914

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