Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke

Infobox British Royalty|none


name =Alexander Mountbatten
title =Marquess of Carisbrooke
spouse =Irene, Marchioness of Carisbrooke
issue =Lady Iris Mountbatten
full name =Alexander Albert Mountbatten
titles ="The Most Hon" The Marquess of Carisbrooke
Sir Alexander Mountbatten
"HH" Prince Alexander of Battenburg
royal house =House of Hesse
father =Prince Henry of Battenberg
mother =Princess Beatrice
date of birth =birth date|1886|11|23|df=y
place of birth =Windsor Castle, Berkshire
date of death =death date and age|1960|2|23|1886|11|23|df=y
place of death =Kensington Palace, London
place of burial =Whippingham Church, Isle of Wight|

Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCB, GCVO (formerly Prince Alexander of Battenberg; Alexander Albert Mountbatten; 23 November 1886 – 23 February 1960) was a member of the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria. He was a prince from his birth until 1917, when the British Royal Family relinquished their Germanic titles during the First World War.

Early life

Prince Alexander was born in 1886 at Windsor Castle in Berkshire and was educated at Wellington College. His father was Prince Henry of Battenberg, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julie Therese née Countess of Hauke. His mother was Princess Henry of Battenberg (nèe The Princess Beatrice), the fifth daughter and the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

As he was the product of a morganatic marriage, Prince Henry of Battenberg took his style of "Prince of Battenberg" from his mother, Julia von Hauke, who was created Princess of Battenberg in her own right. As such, Alexander was styled as "His Serene Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg" from birth (because the child of a morganatic marriage is ineligible for "royal highness" status). In the United Kingdom he was styled "His Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg" under a Royal Warrant passed by Queen Victoria in 1886.

Marquess of Carisbrooke

Anti-German feeling during the First World War led King George V to change the name of the Royal House in July 1917 from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the House of Windsor. He also relinquished, on behalf of his various relatives who were British subjects, the use of all German titles and styles.

The Battenberg family relinquished their titles of "Prince and Princess of Battenberg" and the styles of "Highness" and "Serene Highness". Under Royal Warrant, they instead took the surname "Mountbatten", an Anglicised form of Battenberg. As such, Prince Alexander became Sir Alexander Mountbatten.LondonGazette|issue=30374|startpage=11593|linkeddate=1917-11-09|accessdate=2007-11-15] On 7 November 1917, he was created Marquess of Carisbrooke, Earl of Berkhampsted and Viscount Launceston.LondonGazette|issue=30374|startpage=11594|linkeddate=1917-11-09|accessdate=2007-11-15]

Marriage

On 19 July 1917, he married Lady Irene Denison (4 July 1890 – 16 July 1956), only daughter of the 2nd Earl of Londesborough, at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace. Lord and Lady Carisbrooke had one daughter:

* "The Lady Iris Victoria Beatrice Grace Mountbatten" (13 January 1920 – 1 September 1982) She married three times: first, on 15 February 1941 (div. 1946), to Hamilton O'Malley; second, on 5 May 1957 (div. 1957), to Michael Bryan; and third, on 11 December 1965, to William Kemp. Lady Iris lived in Canada and died in Toronto. She had one son, Robin Alexander Bryan (born 20 December 1957), from her second marriage.

Death

Lord Carisbrooke died in 1960, aged seventy-three, at Kensington Palace, and was buried at the Battenberg Chapel in Whippingham Church on the Isle of Wight. He was the last living male grandchild of Queen Victoria. The title 'Marquess of Carisbrooke' became extinct upon his death.

Titles, styles and honours

*1886-1910: "His Serene Highness" Prince Alexander of Battenberg/"His Highness" Prince Alexander of Battenberg (effective in the United Kingdom, not in Germany)
*1910-1911: "His Serene Highness" Prince Alexander of Battenberg KCVO/"His Highness" Prince Alexander of Battenberg, KCVO
*1911-1917: "His Serene Highness" Prince Alexander of Battenberg GCVO/"His Highness" Prince Alexander of Battenberg, GCVO
*1917: Sir Alexander Mountbatten, GCVO
*1917-1927: "The Most Hon" The Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCVO
*1927-1960: "The Most Hon" The Marquess of Carisbrooke, GCB, GCVO

Ancestry

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1= 1. Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke
2= 2. Prince Henry of Battenberg
3= 3. Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom
4= 4. Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine
5= 5. Julia von Hauke
6= 6. Albert, Prince Consort
7= 7. Victoria of the United Kingdom
8= 8. Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse
9= 9. Princess Wilhelmine of Baden
10= 10. John Maurice von Hauke
11= 11. Sophie la Fontaine
12= 12. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
13= 13. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
14= 14. Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
15= 15. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
16= 16. Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse
17= 17. Landgravine Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt
18= 18. Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden
19= 19. Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt
20= 20. Friedrich Karl Emmanuel von Hauke
21= 21. Maria Salome Schweppenhäuser
22= 22. Franz Leopold la Fontaine
23= 23. Marie-Therese von Kornély
24= 24. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
25= 25. Princess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf
26= 26. Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
27= 27. Duchess Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
28= 28. George III of the United Kingdom
29= 29. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
30= 30. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (= 24)
31= 31. Princess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf (= 25)

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References