Power, privilege and relationships

This is the story of one of the twentieth century’s most powerful and influential couples – Lord Louis (Dickie) Mountbatten and his wife Edwina. He was very ambitious, connected with the royal family (uncle to Prince Philip and a close friend of the royals) and married to a very rich woman. He was a senior naval officer and later the last Governor of India before partition and was assassinated by the IRA.

In The Mountbattens by Andrew Lownie the author covers the professional life of the couple and their position in society but concentrates primarily on their relationships, especially those which were romantic. Both parties were serial adulterers with Edwina having an affair with Nerhu, the first Prime Minister of independent India. The author looks at how these relationships, including Dickie’s habit of using younger sailors who he commanded for sexual liaisons, affected how they were seen and what they did.

It’s a fascinating tale and it seems obvious that their connections made the couple more influential that they might otherwise have been and that Dickie was excused a number of very serious misjudgements which would have derailed other men’s careers.

Edwina was obviously unhappy in her marriage and unfulfilled by motherhood and the pair lived mostly separate lives but her efforts in the war have been recognised as influential and the result of a lot of hard work. Dickie was either very popular with people or very unpopular. He seemed to enjoy the company of young women with whom he had affairs and sex with young men which was obviously never talked about. The author has uncovered some evidence that Dickie was involved in having sex with very young men and boys and although this is not absolutely confirmed he shows how that could affect the legacy of the couple.

These two people lived an amazingly privileged life, one that most of us could only dream of, and had all the advantages and disadvantages of being in the public eye. Their private life, however, seems to have been a mess and neither of them found lasting fulfilment in relationships or sex. This is a fascinating book.