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Burke's Peerage records "The Mountbattens are a branch of one of the oldest traceable families in Christendom, the House of Brabant". Certainly their line can be traced back to the 9th century and to Charlemagne. At that time their lands were in Brabant and Lorraine and it was not until the 13th century that the son of the reigning Duke of Brabant inherited the Principality of Hesse where his descendants continued to rule until the German Revolution of 1918. 
Prince Alexander of Hesse was the third son of Grand Duke Louis 11 of Hesse. In 1851 he married Countess Julie of Hauke who was created Princess of Battenberg. Their eldest son was Prince Louis of Battenberg. 
In 1884 he married his cousin, Princess Victoria, the eldest daughter of the Grand Duke Louis of Hesse and the Grand Duchess Alice, Queen Victoria's second daughter. They had four children, the youngest of whom was Prince Louis Francis of Battenberg. When the British royal family took the name of Windsor in 1917, Prince Louis renounced his title and the name of Battenberg. He took the name Mountbatten and was granted the title Marquess of Milford Haven. His wife Victoria renounced her royal title at the same time. Louis and Victoria became the first Mountbattens. Their younger son became Lord Louis Mountbatten. Lord Louis received the title of Earl Mountbatten of Burma for services in the war and in India. Since he had no son he was granted the privilege of passing the earldom to his elder daughter, Patricia. She will in turn be succeeded by her eldest son, the Hon. Norton Knatchbull, now Lord Romsey, a television and film producer, who inherited Broadlands on his grandfather's death. In October, 1979 he married Penelope Eastwood in Romsey Abbey. They live here with their children Nicholas and Alexandra. Their other daughter, Leonora, died of cancer in October 1991 when she was five years old. |
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