MOUNTBATTEN Eighty years in pictures

MOUNTBATTEN Eighty years in pictures Boek met harde linnen blauwe kaft met gouden letteropdruk met stofomslag met ilustratie met zwart/witte letteropdruk in perfecte conditie; 226 pagina's met tientallen kleuren- en zwart/wit foto's; Earl Mountbatten of Burma has played a leading role in many of the great events of this century. As last Viceroy of India, Supreme Commander South East Asia and as a member of the Royal Family Lord Mountbatten has a unique view of our times. From his vast collection of photographs, Lord Mountbatten has made a personal selection which provides a pictorial record of an extraordinary career. He was born into the Victorian world and the first photograph shows him on the knee of Queen Victoria who was his godmother and. his great-grandmother. This world was soon to be shattered by the Great War in which he served as a midshipman. Then followed the Russian Revolution and the deaths of his close relations, the Russian Imperial Family with whom he had spent many happy holidays. Better times followed when he accompanied his cousin and great friend, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), on two world tours visiting New Zealand, Australia, the West Indies, Japan and Imperial India. It was during World War II that he became known to a much wider public, first as Captain of the renowned HMS Kelly, then as Chief of Combined Operations responsible for planning the invasion of Europe and later as Supreme Commander South East Asia. Having presided over the surrender of the Japanese at Singapore he and Lady Mountbatten returned home as war heroes. Then as last Viceroy of India and its first Governor-General he played a critical part in the momentous events surrounding the birth of independent India and Pakistan. In 1955 Lord Mountbatten achieved his great ambition and became First Sea Lord. This was the first time a father and son had both held the highest appointment in the Royal Navy and both were appointed by Winston Churchill. In recent years he has continued to travel extensively. He has taken an active interest in many charitable organizations especially in international education and continues a lifelong connection with the world of entertainment through the Variety Clubs International. There is, as Lord Mountbatten writes, great pleasure to be had from leafing through a family album. Turn these pages and you will be taken on a journey through the twentieth century that no other rival. Contents Foreword A Royal Childhood A Naval Education Friend to the Prince of Wales 'My Real Love' A Serving Officer The Road to War Combined Operations Supreme Commander The Last Viceroy The Mediterranean and After Epilogue: The Man and his Achievement Bibliographical Note Acknowledgments Index / have always refused to authorize any biography during my lifetime and I certainly never intended to write any memoirs myself. However, in 1967 I did agree to the television series about my Life and Times, and much of the personal film I had collected over the years was used. This was a great success and has been shown in over forty countries, and in some several times over, and I personally dubbed it into both French and German. In recent years I have spent a considerable amount of time sorting out the thousands oj photographs / have amassed in my Archives, and from time to time have enlisted the help of some of my personal friends to help with the task of putting them into albums in some sort of order. Several of them remarked that it was a great pity that such a large number of these photographs would never be made public and suggested I should consider allowing another series of my Life and Times, this time in still-life pictures. They pointed out that even though a biography of my life may be produced after my death, it would only be possible to include a fraction of my personal photographs, and in any case the photographs themselves would be infinitely more interesting if I were to describe the events behind them. I somewhat reluctantly agreed to consider the possibility and as I went into it in greater depth I soon realized I had such a fast number of photographs covering the past seventy-nine years that there would certainly be no problem in producing a pictorial view of my lifetime; the great difficulty would be in deciding which photographs to leave out. This is not, oj course, a complete biography in pictures but I have personally selected those pictures which I hope will give an insight into the many varied, interesting and sometimes historic events in which I have been involved. What I thought would be a chore has turned out to be a task which has given me tremendous pleasure. There can be few people who have not enjoyed the fun of turning the pages of a family album. I hope that some of them will enjoy turning the pages of mine. Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my Secretary, John Barratt, who has done invaluable research for the captions to the photographs, and to my archivist, Mrs Mollie Travis. Copyright © Emberdove Limited 1979 First published 1979 by MACMILLAN LONDON LIMITED London and Basingstoke Associated Companies in Delhi, Dublin, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Lagos, Melbourne, New York, Singapore & Tokyo Reprinted November 1979 This book was designed and produced by GEORGE RAINBIRD LTD 36 Park Street, London WIY 4DE Designer: Trevor Vincent Photography: Derrick Witty Colour originated by Gilchrist Bros. Ltd, Leeds, West Yorkshire. Printed and bound by Jarrold and Sons Limited, Norwich