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'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.

Contents

Early life

Marquess of Carisbrooke

Marriage

Later life

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles

Honours

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. 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

In July 1917, anti-German feeling during the First World War led King George V to change the name of the Royal House 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 Anglised form of Battenberg. As such Prince Alexander became 'Sir Alexander Mountbatten'[1]. A few days later, on 7 November 1917, he was created Marquess of Carisbrooke.[2]

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:


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

Later life

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, honours and arms

Titles

★ '1886-1917': ''His Serene Highness'' Prince Alexander of Battenberg

★ '1886-1917': ''His Highness'' Prince Alexander of Battenberg (effective in the United Kingdom, not in Germany)

★ '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

Honours

'GCVO:' Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, ''1911''

''elevated from'' 'KCVO:' Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, ''1910''

'GCB:' Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, ''1927''