1954-02-06 — Page 7

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1954

THE” CHINA E MAIL,

THE "PLAYBOY" with the Rolls-Royce. It was a wedding present to Lord Louis

from his wife.

SECRETS OF LORD

Ο

no

LOUIS'

CHARM

It should

not be

supposed

auto- CONSETVA-

Indeed a case could be made

UR century will see object, when life never dropped

few more vivid per- below the level of large cars that birth and weath sonalities than the and polo and expensive parties, matically impose

Lord Louis worked almost five outlook. dynamic, handsome fanatically at his naval duties, figure, indelibly imprinted on His single-minded attention for the argument that most of

did not Earl (Lord to his career

rociat his times

reformers prevent the effective many of his contemporarios in our history have been Louis) Mountbatten.

from regarding him as a feck patricians, and where position

of the cocktail is so resoundingly assured The sheet-lightning of less ornament

in Lord Louis case, radical dramatic circumstance has

opinions become easier to up- played unceasingly round his

hold.

Like his head.

wife, his

over- whelming interest is in human beings as such.

During the first 20 years minor of his life he was a

era scion of royalty, in an of revolutionary change.

By the time he was 30

him public regarded

od

the

as one

the leading representa- and gilded tives of the apolit youth which had its fing

after the

the decade World War.

in

First

a

By the time he was 50 ho

28 not only had served

Vice Admiral than younger Nelson or Beatty and the in the youngest full Admiral recorded history of the Royal Navy, but the last and young- eat Viceroy in history, respoli- alble for implementing the gift India's of political freedom to

teeming millions,

circuit.

There was about him an air which some found burnished rather then polished and mega- iopolitan rather than urbane.

His car was a very large and very shiny Rolls-Royce, his inator-bout a great thundering, prize-winning monster, for which the members of the Royal Yacht Club at Cowes

black-balled him.

He was a leading'member of what the world of the 'thirties

Q3

THE

FABULOUS

MOUNTBATTENS

1

All the Mountbattens from the Prince who ran away with a commoner 100 years ago to the Duke of Edinburgh have been men of great personal charm. Earl Mountbatten is no exception. One of his secrets card index system-and a memory for names.

dividual rating and conveying occurred which was to make the Impression of his personal Mountbatten's name a household concern for him,

word.

May 9 the At nightfall on Kelly was leading the flotilla in search of a German mine-uying force which had been reported off the Dutch coast.

when

was a

In the family circle Prince Phlip's likely destiny became apparent long before the general pubite had any inkling of his the growing friendship with heiress to the throne. During the chief whole of this period the personal Influence in his life was that of his uncle.

In all his commands ho always had a card lodex pre- pared by his watch officers of every man on board, giving Buch personal and family characteristics as were avali- able.

In London events were stir- In a new ship he would

At was sighted. enemy ship

which were to lift Lord memorise the contents a score the same time look-outs

re- ring

Louls on the first rung of his rise to .world eminence and influence.

Visibility wis poor suddenly the outline of

at a time while shaving and ported the boiling woke of a then astound the men as they torpedo heading straight for, the astonishing came up for individual Inspec- Kelly. tion by his knowledge of their personal effairs.

It le a method which has stood him in good stend "in 1+ appoint- number of different ments and does not pall even though those introduced to him

know of it.

It is another example of his formidable personal organisa-

that

it

THE FIGHT

on

It hit her full amidship the port side, sending a scaring gout of name higher than the bridge. A hole sori tong had been blown in her side, extend-

arrange the contrived appears spontaneous,

in clarity so trained his mind of thought that many

a don coast. would exchange his degree for the gift.

We are not informed of the process of thought which led The Prime Minister to pluck out from among all his many senior contemporaries such young naval captain as head of the Combined Operations Com- mand.

In all things::

there is only

BOOTA'S

FINESTE

DRY GIN

ĐÓN LONDON

ONE

BEST

Choose

BOOTH'S

un.

of

Sple Distributors: ·

But Lord Louis was confirin- tion, which enables him so to ing from keel to waterline, and

she cettled down with a heavy ed in his appointment, with the and has ist, a

a few miles off the enemy rank of Commodore, Six months

the later he was granted For four days Lord Louls precedented parallel ranks fought to save his ship, as on Vice-Admiral, Lieutenant- unending stream of bombers Genetal and Air Marshal, roared over to administer the The dead hulk coup de grace. umped towards safety at the end of a low rope which parted three times.

It took a war to raise both Earl and Counters (Lord and Lady Louis) Mountbatten to their full stature, a process less surprising in his case because he was a professional in a fight-

ing service.

H.M.S. KELLY

He emerged as a ecol tactielan und & mad-keen fighting man. In the first few sorry months of an initially disastrous war ho

Although Lord Louls had to abandon the Kelty during the third night, he did not abandon on board hope, and returned with volunteer party the

3

Nothing had been seen ülke it since sprigs of royalty · were appointed to command armies in Marlborough's wars. The Ser- vice clubs positively effervesced with indignation.

next morning.

NEXT SATURDAY; More war Filthy, haggard and unshaven, stories of the Mountbattens. ・・・

Oerlikon Lord

Louis becomes Supreme ever ready to man an

Basist

securing la gun

in South-East Asia ... victory the tractious tow, 'he was

stili

and then the appointment on the bridge when the Kelly

or

under his command were well associated with courage and the aware of that.

The naval ratings who came became one of the rare named turched into the Humber. He as the last Viceroy of India

CARD-INDEX

k

Arc

men.

very They

spirit of the offensive.

For two years he served as a destroyer dotilla commander of Indomitable courage and energy, had his ship shattered

who under him four times and only

falled on the last occasion

to

his

by Cadrells.

the

This world copyright series of exploit earned him the DS.O.- articles is abridged

book "Manifest‹ ;Den by and an entirely new reputation.

His fame was then somewhat Brain Cònnell, and published dimmed by one of the most in- conclusive destroyer actions the war. While the Kelly was Naval ratings

in dry dock he transferred special breed of spoke of rather disapprovingly live in closer

command to other ships of the contact with bring her back to, port to fight notifla. While patrolling In the K17 the Fort Belvedere Sot, their officers than in any other again.

Javelin the flotilla intercepted which centred round the Prince Service, Arc able to observe of Wales.

of German destroyers out group their behaviour and reactions achieve the one naval ambition of Brest intent on harrying con in all circumstances in the denied to his father (Prince vey traffic. On the British side steel box which is their com-

Louts of Battenberg)--that of the whole action was a chapter munal home.

commanding one of His Majesty's of accidents, moat striking ships in action. Where Prince The German ships succeeded that can be drawn Louis had made his reputation in escaping behind ទ smoke Lord Louls and his with a cruiser squadron, his son

laid by accompanying does made his name in u destroyer motor torpedo boots,

flotilla, and in one destroyer in particular the Kelly,

names

ABDICATION

were

Both his own and his wife's constantly being around by society Bandied gossips as connected with this or that latest liaison.

and

It was impossible 10 down the possession

It is a record of achieve ment with few parallels, fulfilment almost without pre- cedent.

REASSURED

and become When he met engaged to Edwina Ashley, the richest heiress of the day, his mother is said to have had at first severe doubts about the wisdom of such a marriago

which the wife brought such an overwhelming share of the combined Income.

to

She was much reassured when she met. Edwina and found what a small part money had played in her life.

Nevertheless, the pattern of existence permitted by ber ob- immense fortune was to #cure for many years the truc qualities of both husband and wife,

In Lord Louis' case it tended to give a fetitious quality, to the unremitting energy he con tinued to lavish on his naval

career.

It has become

a common- place to dismiss the first 40

Lord Louis' life' oz) years of the story of a plássuro-sooking? individual with priceless. cort

Band: an Immensely. wealthy

by

of

one

that

Perhaps the parallel between father-and them utmost credits the genuine loyalty they inspired In their ships live companies.

und affection

મ A naval rating is wholly un- millionaire's income except, as impressed by title or rank, they were both to and later "apart from the demands of in life, by acting as if you discipline, and will never pull neither had it nor needed it. out that extra something for

an officer for whom he has personal regard. Yot

whether by, calculation or chance Lord Loufs never bo- camo so closely identified dur ing these years with any group that a celipse involved his

own.

This was particularly true of the events that led up to the had Crisis. He Abdication long been very close to King Edward VIII, and he was sub clently quixotic in his loyalty to offer to accompany the Duke of Windsor on hi Bolt- ary voyage of exile across the Channel.

But abnost immediately in the now reign he Was re- navni appointed personal A.D.C. to his other second cousin, King George VI, who all his life retained a lasting affection for hia brillant relative.

FRIENDSHIPS

Indeed, it is said that Lord Louis become

much closer to monarch

the

good, devoted who tore out his heart in a tasic that taxed his every fibre, than he had been to his endlied

hy wife who emerged some permutation of circum stence as the dashing and máčcessful commander of a brother. destroyer flotilla,

J

The simplicity of such an appraisal doer him mach leas than justice,

BLACK-BALLED

His familytes were, doubt Jess one of the factors which sabled him to make much marriago, Xot many lower men have married: much les money and been content to sink backlito dedenfortable and wholly ineffectian) Use,

him in

than

Where are we to sock in "all" this Lord Louis growing and now developed concern with those less fortunately, endowed.

himacitt His contacts were by no means, confined to the representatives of the social .class

of which he was a member,

Lord Louls had.. by now, a wide elrelo of

acquaintance, thong public men, ite was a close friend of progres Tories like hir. Anthony if and the then, Lord Granboy "He", alio: Jnew – Bir

lope well, 'and had me

ways

Lord Louis was able to

screen

The story of his exploits

in

OLD GIBES

4

In

Mounbaiten came in for much

her provides the waterafted Lord Louis' Life. It was his nilsfortune that the least im portant of his activities had criticism.

Но been the most chronicled. was regarded as a play-boy, an evalution that wan

shortly to undergo a sharp revision.

He handled his

destroyer

This can be earned in many by many different types of allicer. It is characteristic flotilla from the start with rare of Lord Louls that he added to dash and enterprise. The Kelly a charm of which he was fully was in the evacuation of Nor- conscious a precise routine for way, and during the latter part

this operation showing his interest in an in- of

the action

}

The old service club gibes of "There is nobody better to be in a tight spot with and nobody.

h ilkely to get you into one sooner

All theory and no practice" said of and "It can never be Dickie Mountbatten that he learns from experience, because he never does the same thing

twice were revived.

It was said that he had ex- hibited complete recklessness, employed faulty tactics, that his ships and teen deployed in the wrong formation and that he had delayed opening fire idr three critical minutes..

Service comment, was suffi ciently unfavourable for his career to have been adversely affected.

the However, hlas report on action WEB endorsed by the C.-C., Plymouth, and with a leta controversial Agure, than Mountbatten there would prob ablý have been much jess criticism.

The episode was soon forgot- ten when the Kelly went on her last commission to the Mediter ranean during the terrible days of Crete, defeat in the desert and

German Air: supremacy. Fighting desperate rear- guarded action,

ion, the destroyers bore the brunt of the Navy's share in blinting the German'a placer drive on the

thrand The cost was high."

Suez

Kally" was sunk, turning turtle at thirty knots aiter a direct hit: Mountbatten was one

Güthe survivoraz

HIS DESTINY

Although he could not know it,” he had held” bis inst

artium, sen-going command.

irvivorst leave in Alexandz

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