Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma (née Ashley; 28 November 1901 – 21 February 1960), commonly known as Lady Mountbatten, was an English heiress, socialite, and relief worker. As the wife of Rear Admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, she served as the last vicereine of India during the reign of George VI and became a close relative by marriage of the British royal family. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1943 and a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1946 for her work with the St John Ambulance Brigade and the British Red Cross during World War II.
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Early life
Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley was born on 28 November 1901, the elder daughter of Wilfrid Ashley, later 1st Baron Mount Temple, and Amalia Mary Maud Cassel (1880–1911). Her younger sister was Mary Ashley (Lady Delamere). Through her father she was a great‑granddaughter of the reforming 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Her mother was the only child of the international financier Sir Ernest Cassel (1852–1921), a close friend and private adviser to the future King Edward VII. Cassel, born in Cologne, Prussia, to a Jewish family, became one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Europe.
Following her mother's death and her father's remarriage to Molly Forbes-Sempill (formerly the wife of Rear-Admiral Arthur Forbes-Sempill), Edwina was sent to boarding schools, first the Links in Eastbourne and later Alde House in Suffolk. She disliked both establishments. Alongside a strained relationship with her stepmother, she was bullied because her grandfather was rich, German, and Jewish. She later described her experience at school as "sheer hell". Her grandfather eventually intervened, inviting her to live with him and to act as hostess at his London residence, Brook House. His other properties, including Moulton Paddocks and Branksome Dene, later formed part of her inheritance.
Louis Mountbatten
Edwina first met Louis Mountbatten, a relation of the British royal family and nephew of Empress Alexandra of Russia, at a ball at Claridge's in October 1920. By then she was already a prominent figure in London society.
The couple married on 18 July 1922 at St Margaret's, Westminster. More than 8,000 people gathered to witness the event, which was attended by Queen Mary, Queen Alexandra, and the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII), who served as Mountbatten's best man. Contemporary newspapers dubbed it the "wedding of the year". Their honeymoon included visits to several European royal courts and a tour of the United States, during which they visited Niagara Falls because, as Edwina remarked, "all honeymooners went there". While in California they appeared in a private silent film made by Charlie Chaplin, Nice And Friendly, which was never commercially released.
Wealth and inheritance
On the death of her maternal grandfather in 1921, Edwina inherited a life interest in a trust fund derived from a 25/64 share of his residuary estate, valued at approximately £7,330,000 (about £390 million in 2023). After specific bequests, administrative costs, and death duties, the amount placed in trust for her benefit was about £1,600,000. She also inherited Brook House. At the time, her future husband's salary as a Royal Navy lieutenant was £310 a year (about £16,400 in 2023), supplemented by his private income. She later inherited Broadlands, the family seat in Hampshire, from her father.
During the 1930s Edwina and Mountbatten enjoyed a combined pre‑tax income of £113,000. Mountbatten later told their elder daughter that, before the Second World War, the couple sometimes struggled to spend their post‑tax income of £60,000 a year.
By the end of the war the highest rate of income tax in Britain had risen to 19s 6d in the pound (97.5 per cent), reducing the Mountbattens' post‑tax income from Edwina’s trust to £4,500. They sought parliamentary approval to amend the trust's restrictive terms, arguing that their extensive programme of public duties placed an exceptional burden on their private resources. The resulting "Mountbatten Estate Bill" was introduced in 1949. During committee hearings, Edwina's representative, Sir Walter Monckton KC, noted that she had enjoyed a post‑tax income of about £40,000 before the war.
The valuation of Edwina's trust fund was handled separately from her personal estate, with the trustees responsible for paying tax from the trust's assets; unlike her personal fortune, probate of the trust was not required to be published.
Second World War
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Edwina travelled to the United States, where she expressed gratitude for the fundraising efforts undertaken on behalf of the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance Brigade. In 1942, she was appointed Superintendent‑in‑Chief of the St John Ambulance Brigade, a role in which she served extensively. In 1945, she assisted in the repatriation of prisoners of war in Southeast Asia. She was appointed CBE in 1943 and advanced to Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO) in 1946. She also received the American Red Cross Medal.
In 1943, Edwina became president of the animal‑welfare organisation Our Dumb Friends' League.
Vicereine of India
At a rally in Singapore, Edwina was knocked over in a surge of people. Jawaharlal Nehru and Mountbatten linked arms and pushed through the crowd to help her. The incident led to the three dining together, and, as Mountbatten later recalled, they "talked about everything under the sun", marking the beginning of their friendship. Edwina's younger daughter, Pamela, denied the rumours that her mother was engaged in an affair with Nehru.
Shortly afterwards, Mountbatten was appointed the last Viceroy of India. Edwina served as the final vicereine during the closing months of the British Raj and the first months of the post‑Partition period (February 1947 to June 1948), when Mountbatten became Governor-General of India, though not of the Dominion of Pakistan.
From 28 October 1947 she was styled Countess Mountbatten of Burma, following her husband's elevation to an earldom. In the aftermath of the violence that accompanied Partition, Edwina's priority was to mobilise the large‑scale relief efforts required, work for which she was widely praised. She also organised cholera vaccinations and sanitation facilities for displaced people.
After her viceroyalty she continued her public service, including further work for the St John Ambulance Brigade. She became a governor of the Peckham Experiment in 1949.
Personal life
Edwina and Mountbatten had two daughters: Patricia (14 February 1924 – 13 June 2017) and Pamela (19 April 1929 – 5 June 2026). In 1944, the journalist Drew Pearson described Edwina as "one of the most beautiful women in England".
Edwina and her husband Louis Mountbatten were romantically estranged for most of their marriage while maintaining a strong socio-political partnership. Their daughter Pamela Hicks noted that while her parents had a 'tremendous partnership', it was not 'a domestic, lovey-dovey, clinging-together relationship'.Both partners pursued independent personal lives. While intense media speculation followed her relationship with India's first Prime Minister and Mountbatten family friend, Jawaharlal Nehru, her daughter Pamela and other contemporary observers note that it was intensely intellectual and spiritual bond, not a physical one.
She was extremely close to her sister‑in‑law, the Marchioness of Milford Haven, the wife of Lord Milford Haven. The two frequently travelled together on adventurous journeys, often in difficult or dangerous parts of the world.
Death
Edwina had been in poor health for several years with recurring headaches, flu and suffering from fatigue. A doctor had diagnosed her with angina and warned her not to overexert herself. Ignoring the medical advice her angina continued to worsen and in 1960, Edwina was told if she continued she would only have months left to live.
Edwina died in her sleep on 21 February 1960, aged 58, in Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu), North Borneo (now Sabah), while on an inspection tour for the St John Ambulance Brigade.
In accordance with her wishes, she was buried at sea off the coast of Portsmouth from HMS Wakeful on 25 February; Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated.
Nehru ordered the Indian Navy frigate INS Trishul, then in port for repairs, to escort Wakeful and cast a wreath.
Following Edwina's death, her gross personal estate was valued at £589,655, with a net value of £478,618. Death duties of £333,153 were levied on the estate; Mountbatten reportedly complained to friends that his net inheritance from his wife's estate would equate to about one shilling in the pound (5 per cent). Each of her daughters received 7.5 per cent of the personal estate after the payment of duties.
Honours
Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO) – 1 January 1946
Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (Dame Grand Cross: 1 January 1946; Commander: 19 December 1928)
Lady of the Imperial Order of the Crown of India (CI) -21 February 1947
Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE: 1 January 1948; CBE: 1 January 1943)
Service Medal of the Order of St John
King George V Silver Jubilee Medal
King George VI Coronation Medal
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
In popular culture
Lady Mountbatten of Burma has been portrayed by:
Jane Myerson in the 1982 epic biographical film Gandhi
Janet Suzman in the 1986 television drama Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy
Maria Aitken in the 1998 biographical film Jinnah
Gillian Anderson in Gurinder Chadha's drama film Viceroy's House (2017)
Lucy Russell in series 2 of The Crown (2017)