Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

George Louis Victor Henry Serge Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, (6 November 1892Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: ''901''; Laufende Nummer: ''150'' – 8 April 1938), born Prince George of Battenberg, styled Earl of Medina between 1917 and 1921, was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

officer and the elder son of

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven Admiral of the Fleet Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, (24 May 185411 September 1921), formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a British naval officer and German prince related by marriage to the British ...

(Prince Louis of Battenberg), and

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (Victoria Alberta Elizabeth Mathilde Marie; 5 April 1863 – 24 September 1950), later Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven, was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rh ...

Biography

Prince George of Battenberg, as he then was, was born at

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

in the

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 18 ...

, then ruled by his maternal uncle

Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse , spouses = , issue = , house = Hesse-Darmstadt , father =Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine , mother =Princess Alice of the United Kingdom , birth_date = , birth_place = New Palace, Darmstadt, Grand ...

. From birth, he was a prince of the Hessian royal family, albeit of a

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

branch. His siblings were Princess Alice (mother of

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

, to whom he was a mentor in Philip's adolescence), Queen Louise of Sweden and Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (who assumed the role of Philip's mentor after George's death). George followed his father into the

, and after passing out from the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, was promoted to sub-lieutenant on 15 January 1913. He was promoted to lieutenant on 15 February 1914, and served in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1917, his father and several of his relations relinquished their German names, styles and titles in exchange for British peerages at the behest of

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

. Accordingly, Prince George dropped the style of ''

Serene Highness His/Her Serene Highness (abbreviation: HSH, second person address: Your Serene Highness) is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. Over the past 400 years, it has also used as a style for senior members ...

'' and his surname was anglicised to "Mountbatten." When his father was created

Marquess of Milford Haven Marquess of Milford Haven is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. History The marquessate of Milford Haven was created in 1917 for Prince Louis of Battenberg, the former First Sea Lord, and a relation by marriage to the British Royal ...

in late 1917, George received the courtesy title of ''Earl of Medina'', succeeding to his father's peerage after his death in September 1921. During the war, George's aunt

Empress Alexandra of Russia german: Alix Viktoria Helene Luise Beatrixrussian: Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova , house = Hesse-Darmstadt , father = Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine , mother = Princess Alice of the United Kingdom , birth_name ...

along with his uncle by marriage

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...

, five cousins and another aunt Elisabeth were killed by communist

revolutionaries A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

. Lord Milford Haven, as George was now known, remained in the Royal Navy after the war; he was promoted to lieutenant-commander on 15 February 1922 and to commander on 31 December 1926. In 1932, he retired from active service at his own request, with effect from 9 December of that year. On 6 November 1937, shortly before his death, he was promoted to the rank of captain on the retired list. An accomplished mathematician, the Marquess "could work out complicated gunnery problems in his head" and "read books on

calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithm ...

casually on trains". Queen Elizabeth II, his niece-in-law, considered him "one of the most intelligent and brilliant of people".

Marriage and issue

Prince George of Battenberg, as he then was known, married Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby (daughter of Russian Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich Romanov and his

wife, Countess Sophie von Merenberg) on 15 November 1916 at the Russian Embassy, Welbeck Street,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. They lived at Lynden Manor at

Holyport Holyport (pronounced ''Hollyport'') is a suburban village in the civil parish of Bray (where at the 2011 Census the population was included), about 2 miles south of Maidenhead town centre in the English county of Berkshire. Etymology The nam ...

in Berkshire and had two children: * Lady Tatiana Elizabeth Mountbatten (

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, 16 December 1917 – Northampton,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, 15 May 1988) * David Michael Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven (

, 12 May 1919 –

14 April 1970).

Death

Lord Milford Haven died of

bone marrow cancer Tumors of the hematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (American English) or tumours of the haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues (British English) are tumors that affect the blood, bone marrow, lymph, and lymphatic system. Because these tissues are all ...

, aged 45, and was buried in Bray Cemetery, Bray, Berkshire.

Legacy to the British Museum

Lord Milford Haven left artifacts, including a collection of pornography, to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Honours

* Knight Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

, 1916
''Milford Haven (1917)'' ''Cracroft's Peerage''. Retrieved 3 January 2014. *

Order of St Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir (russian: орден Святого Владимира) was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptize ...

, 4th class, with Swords, authorised to wear 5 June 1917 * Knight of the

Military Order of Savoy The Military Order of Savoy was a military honorary order of the Kingdom of Sardinia first, and of the Kingdom of Italy later. Following the abolition of the Italian monarchy, the order became the Military Order of Italy. History The origin o ...

, authorised to wear 11 August 1917 * Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 1932

Arms

Ancestry

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Milford Haven, George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess Of 1892 births 1938 deaths Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Deaths from multiple myeloma Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom People from Bray, Berkshire Royal Navy officers of World War I

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

German princes Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class Marquesses of Milford Haven German emigrants to the United Kingdom