Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = The Countess Mountbatten of Burma

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DStJ}} {{post-nominals|country=CAN|MSC|CD|size=100%}}

| image = Patricia, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma.jpg

| caption = Knatchbull in 1941

| office = Member of the House of Lords

| status = Lord Temporal

| term_label = as a Hereditary peer

| term_start = 27 August 1979

| term_end = 11 November 1999

| predecessor = The 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

| successor = Seat abolished{{efn|Seat abolished by the House of Lords Act 1999.}}

| birth_date = {{birth date|1924|2|14|df=y}}

| birth_place = Westminster, London, England {{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=3GnZp2MX6S4ud05CFBFu9A&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=20 September 2016|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|6|13|1924|2|14|df=y}}

| death_place = Mersham, Kent, England

| birth_name = {{nowrap|Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten}}

| spouse = {{marriage|John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne|26 October 1946|23 September 2005|end=died}}

| children = Norton Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Hon. Michael-John Knatchbull
Hon. Anthony Knatchbull
Lady Joanna Knatchbull
Lady Amanda Ellingworth
Hon. Philip Knatchbull
Hon. Nicholas Knatchbull
Hon. Timothy Knatchbull

| parents = Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Edwina Ashley

| module = {{Infobox military person | embed=yes

| nickname =

| allegiance = United Kingdom

| branch = Royal Navy

| serviceyears = 1943–1945

| rank = Third officer

| unit = Women's Royal Naval Service

| commands =

| battles = Second World War

| awards =

| relations =

| signature = }}

}}

Patricia Edwina Victoria Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, Baroness Brabourne, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}}, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DStJ}}, {{post-nominals|country=CAN|sep=,|MSC|CD|size=100%}} (née Mountbatten; 14 February 1924 – 13 June 2017), was a British peeress and third cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. She was the elder daughter of Admiral of the Fleet the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and of heiress Edwina Ashley (a patrilineal descendant of the earls of Shaftesbury, first ennobled in 1661). She was the elder sister of Lady Pamela Hicks, the first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the last surviving baptismal sponsor to her first cousin once removed King Charles III. She was the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Lady Mountbatten succeeded her father to the Earldom Mountbatten of Burma when he was assassinated in 1979, as his peerages had been created with special remainder to his daughters and their heirs male. This inheritance accorded her the title of countess and a seat in the House of Lords, where she remained until 1999, when the House of Lords Act 1999 removed most hereditary peers from the House.

Marriage and children

On 26 October 1946, she married John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne (9 November 1924 – 23 September 2005), at the time an aide to her father in the Far East. They had met after Patricia, having served in the Women's Royal Naval Service, was commissioned in 1945 as a third officer and was serving in the Supreme Allied Headquarters, South East Asia. The wedding took place at Romsey Abbey in the presence of members of the royal family. Her bridesmaids were Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Lady Pamela Mountbatten (the bride's younger sister), and Princess Alexandra, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent.{{cite web|title=Wedding of Lady Patricia Mountbatten 1946|url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/wedding-of-lady-patricia-mountbatten/query/Elizabeth|publisher=British Pathe}}

Later, they became one of the few married couples each of whom held a peerage in their own right, and whose descendants inherited titles through both. They had eight children:

Norton Louis Philip Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born 8 October 1947), married Penelope Meredith Mary Eastwood (born 16 April 1953) on 20 October 1979 and have three children.
The Hon. Michael-John Ulick Knatchbull (born 24 May 1950), producer and editor, married Melissa Clare Owen (born 12 November 1960), daughter of judge Sir John Arthur Dalziel Owen, on 1 June 1985 and had one daughter; divorced in 1997; married Susan Penelope "Penny" Jane Henderson née Coates (born 23 October 1959), daughter of Stephen Cedric Coates, a civil engineer and businessman, on 6 March 1999 and had one daughter; divorced on 13 February 2006.
The Hon. Anthony Knatchbull (born/died 6 April 1952)
Lady Joanna Edwina Doreen Knatchbull (born 5 March 1955), married French Baron Hubert Pernot du Breuil (2 February 1956 – 6 September 2004) on 3 November 1984 and had one daughter; divorced in 1995; married Azriel Zuckerman (born 18 January 1943 in Bucharest, Romania, and educated at the University of Oxford) on 19 November 1995 and had one son.
Lady Amanda Patricia Victoria Knatchbull (born 26 June 1957), married Charles Vincent Ellingworth (born 7 February 1957) on 31 October 1987 and had three sons.Willis, Daniel A., The Descendants of King George I of Great Britain, Clearfield Company, 2002, p. 719. {{ISBN| 978-0806351728}}
The Hon. Philip Wyndham Ashley Knatchbull (born 2 December 1961), married Atalanta Vereker née Cowan (born 20 June 1962), daughter of John Cowan, on 16 March 1991 and had two daughters, including Daisy Knatchbull; married Wendy Amanda Willis née Leach (born 20 July 1966), daughter of Robin H. Leach, of Ugley Park, Ugley, Essex, on 29 June 2002 and had two sons.{{cite web |url=https://www.tatler.com/article/freddy-knatchbull-made-in-chelsea-interview#intcid=recommendations_tatler-bottom-recirc-v4_45f1c92a-88b7-4c12-8b3a-98942e3702c1_text2vec1 |title=Actually made in Chelsea: meet reality TV's first real aristocrat Freddy Knatchbull |last=Forbes |first=Sacha |date=25 September 2024 |website=Tatler |access-date=21 October 2024}}
The Hon. Nicholas Timothy Charles Knatchbull (18 November 1964 – 27 August 1979), killed by an IRA bomb.
The Hon. Timothy Nicholas Sean Knatchbull (born 18 November 1964), married Isabella Julia Norman (born 9 January 1971), a great-great-granddaughter of the 4th Earl of Bradford, on 11 July 1998 and had five children.{{cite news|title=It's heir kissing| url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/It's+heir+kissing.-a060753642| access-date=15 June 2013| newspaper=Sunday Mail| location=Glasgow| date=12 July 1998}}

As Lady Brabourne during her father's lifetime, her immediate family became closely involved in the consideration of a future consort for her first cousin once removed, Charles, Prince of Wales. In early 1974, Lord Mountbatten began corresponding with the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip about a potential marriage to Lady Brabourne's daughter, Amanda.Dimbleby, pp. 204–206 Charles wrote to Lady Brabourne (who was also his godmother), about his interest in her daughter, to which she replied approvingly, though suggesting that a courtship was premature.Dimbleby Amanda Knatchbull declined the marriage proposal of Charles in 1980, following the assassination of her maternal grandfather.{{cite web |url=http://www.express.co.uk/pictures/royal/11602/Prince-Charles-relationships-Princess-Diana-Camilla-Parker-Bowles-pictures/Lady-Amanda-Knatchbull-The-granddaughter-of-the-Earl-of-Mountbatten-turned-down-a-proposal-from-Prince-Charles-in-1980-225190 |title=Prince Charles and his girlfriends through the years |newspaper=Daily Express |location=London |date=16 March 2017 |access-date=7 June 2020}}

Activities

Patricia was educated in Malta, England, and at the Hewitt School{{cite journal| last1=Reginato| first1=James|title=The Raj Duet| url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2013/09/princess-diana-discoing-mountbatten-memoir| access-date=11 January 2018| date=September 5, 2013| journal=Vanity Fair}} in New York City. In 1943, at age 19, she entered the Women's Royal Naval Service as a Signal Rating and served in Combined Operations bases in Britain, including {{HMS|Tormentor|WWII shore establishment|6}}.{{cite book |last=Hicks |first=Pamela |date=2014 |title=Daughter of Empire. My Life as a Mountbatten |publisher=Simon&Schuster|isbn=9781476733821}} She was then commissioned as a third officer in 1945 and serving in the Supreme Allied Headquarters, South East Asia.{{cite web|url=https://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/ppcliladybrabourne.htm|title=Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess of Mountbatten of Burma CBE MSC CD|publisher=British Empire| access-date=1 May 2022}}

In 1973 she was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Kent; she was also a serving magistrate and was involved with numerous service organisations including SOS Children's Villages UK, of which she was a Patron; the Order of St John, of which she was a Dame; and the Countess Mountbatten's Own Legion of Frontiersmen of the Commonwealth, of which she was a Patron.{{cite web|url=https://www.lordmountbattenofburma.com/patricia-countess-mountbatten-pg4|title=Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma |publisher=Lord Mountbatten of Burma| access-date=1 May 2022}}

On 15 June 1974, she succeeded her distant cousin Lady Patricia Ramsay, formerly HRH Princess Patricia of Connaught, as Colonel-in-Chief of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, for whom the regiment was named when Princess Patricia's father, the Duke of Connaught, was Governor General of Canada during the First World War. Despite her succeeding to an earldom in her own right as Countess Mountbatten of Burma on the death of her father in 1979, she preferred that the officers and men of her regiment address her as Lady Patricia. She was succeeded by The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson on 17 March 2007. On 28 August 2007, the Governor General of Canada presented her with the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross for her services as Colonel-in-Chief of Princess Patricia's Light Infantry.{{cite web|url=https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2007/08/excellency-right-honourable-michaelle-jean-presentation-meritorious-service-cross-lady-patricia-countess-mountbatten-burma.html|title=Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean on the Presentation of the Meritorious Service Cross to Lady Patricia, The Countess Mountbatten of Burma|date=28 August 2007|publisher=Government of Canada| access-date=1 May 2022}}

Patricia was in the boat which was blown up by the IRA off the shores of Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in August 1979, killing her 14-year-old son Nicholas; her father; her mother-in-law, the Dowager Baroness Brabourne; and 15-year-old Paul Maxwell, a boat-boy from County Fermanagh. She, her husband, and their son Timothy were injured but survived the attack.{{Cite magazine |title=Britain: A Nation Mourns Its Loss |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920606,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003053535/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920606,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 October 2008 |magazine=Time |date=10 September 1979 |access-date=20 September 2012}} Following the incident the Countess became Patron and, later, President of The Compassionate Friends, a self-help charitable organisation of bereaved parents in the UK.{{cite web|url=https://www.tcf.org.uk/news/tcf-news/death-announced-of-countess-mountbatten-passionate-supporter-of-the-compassionate-friends/|title=Death announced of Countess Mountbatten, passionate supporter of The Compassionate Friends|date=15 June 2017|publisher=The Compassionate Friends|access-date=1 May 2022}}

In June 2012, at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's first visit to the Republic of Ireland, Countess Mountbatten said the Queen had her full support for meeting Martin McGuinness, who had been a high-ranking member of the IRA. "I think it's wonderful ... I'm hugely grateful that we have come to a point where we can behave responsibly and positively", she is reported to have said.{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/9361048/Queen-meets-McGuinness-Its-a-wonderful-moment-says-daughter-injured-by-IRA-Mountbatten-bomb.html| title=Queen meets McGuinness: It's a wonderful moment, says daughter injured by IRA Mountbatten bomb| newspaper=The Daily Telegraph| date=28 June 2012| last=Rayner| first=Gordon| access-date=7 September 2020| url-access=subscription}} In September 2012, she unveiled a memorial to the work of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties at Hayling Island in Hampshire.{{cite news| title=Secret WWII unit memorial stone in place in Hayling Island| url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-18813482| work=BBC News| date=12 July 2012}}

Death and funeral

Countess Mountbatten died at her home in Mersham, Kent, aged 93. Her funeral service took place on 27 June 2017 at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, and was attended by the Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and other senior members of the royal family. Her casket was borne by a party of pall bearers from Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, who were in London on public duties. She was buried in the Knatchbull family plot in Mersham churchyard.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/27/queen-leads-mourners-funeralof-countess-mountbatten/ |last=Furness |first=Hannah |title=Queen leads mourners at funeral of Countess Mountbatten |date=27 June 2017 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=7 September 2020 |url-access=subscription}}

Colonelcy-in-chief

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (formerly, now The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson{{cite news| agency=Canadian Press| newspaper=The Globe and Mail| location=Toronto| title=Clarkson named colonel-in-chief of PPCLI| date=7 February 2007| url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/clarkson-named-colonel-in-chief-of-ppcli/article1069977/| access-date=7 September 2020}})

Honours

File:Order of St John (UK) ribbon.svg Dame of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (DStJ){{cite journal |title=THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER OF THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM |journal=The London Gazette |date=21 July 1981 |issue=48686 |page=9606 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/48686/page/9606 |access-date=22 January 2025}}
File:Order_of_the_British_Empire_(Civil)_Ribbon.svg Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE){{cite journal |title=Order of the British Empire (Civil Division) |journal=The London Gazette |date=15 June 1991 |issue=sup. 52563 |page=8 |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/52563/supplement/8 |access-date=22 January 2025}}
File:Defence Medal BAR.svg The British WW2 Defense Medal
File:War Medal 39-45 BAR.svg War Medal 1939–1945
File:UK_King_George_V_Silver_Jubilee_Medal_ribbon.svg King George V Silver Jubilee Medal
File:UK_King_George_VI_Coronation_Medal_ribbon.svg King George VI Coronation Medal{{London Gazette|issue=34453|page=7037|date=10 November 1937|supp=y}}
File:UK_Queen_EII_Coronation_Medal_ribbon.svg Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
File:UK Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal ribbon.svg Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
File:CAN Canadian Forces Decoration ribbon.svg Canadian Forces Decoration
File:CAN Meritorious Service Cross (military division) ribbon.svg Meritorious Service Cross

Arms

{{Infobox COA wide|image=Lady Mountbatten of Burma CBE arms.png|bannerimage=|badgeimage=|notes=The arms of the Lady Mountbatten of Burma consist of:|adopted=|crest=Crests of Hesse modified and Battenberg.|torse=|helm=Helms of Hesse modified and Battenberg.|escutcheon=Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Hesse with a bordure compony argent and gules; 2nd and 3rd, Battenberg; charged at the honour point with an inescutcheon of the British Royal arms with a label of three points argent, the centre point charged with a rose gules and each of the others with an ermine spot sable (Princess Alice, her great grandmother).* {{cite book |last= Lee |first= Brian |title= British Royal Bookplates |year= 1999 |publisher= Scolar Press |location= Aldershot |isbn= 978-0-85967-883-4|pp= 15, 135 & 136 }}.|supporters=|compartment=|motto=|orders=The Order of the British Empire ribbon.
For God & Country|other_elements=|banner=|badge=|symbolism=|previous_versions=|other_versions=File:Lord Brabourne and Lady Mountbatten joint Arms.png Arms of alliance of Lord Brabourne and Lady Mountbatten}}

Bibliography

{{Cite book | last=Dimbleby| first = Jonathan| author-link = Jonathan Dimbleby| title = The Prince of Wales: A Biography| location = New York| publisher=William Morrow and Company| year=1994| isbn=0-688-12996-X}}

Ancestry

{{Ahnentafel|collapsed=yes|align=center

|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;

|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;

|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;

|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;

|1= 1. Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma

|2= 2. Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

|3= 3. Edwina Ashley

|4= 4. Prince Louis of Battenberg

|5= 5. Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine

|6= 6. Wilfrid Ashley, 1st Baron Mount Temple

|7= 7. Amalia Cassel

|8= 8. Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine

|9= 9. Julia, Princess of Battenberg

|10= 10. Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse

|11= 11. Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

|12= 12. Evelyn Ashley

|13= 13. Sybella Farquhar

|14= 14. Sir Ernest Cassel

|15= 15. Annette Maxwell

}}

Notes

References

External links

{{Hansard-contribs | ms-patricia-knatchbull | the Countess Mountbatten of Burma }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20071226153530/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/na-canada/inf/914PPCLI.htm Regiments.org on Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry]
[http://www.tcf.org.uk/about-us/patrons About Us - Patrons of The Compassionate Friends]
[https://www.lordmountbattenofburma.com Tribute & Memorial Website to Louis, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma]

{{s-ttl|title=Countess Mountbatten of Burma|years=1979–2017|lords=1979–1999}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountbatten of Burma, Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess}}

Category:1924 births

Category:2017 deaths

Category:Military personnel from the City of Westminster

Knatchbull

Category:Dames of Grace of the Order of St John

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Daughters of British earls

Category:Hereditary women peers

Category:British countesses

Brabourne