#George Mountbatten

[romanovsonelastdance]

Newspaper article announcing engagement of Nada de Torby and Prince George of Battenberg.

Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby was the daughter of exiled Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich and his morganactic wife, Sophie, Countess de Torby. Nada was a first cousin of Irina Alexandrovna and her brothers, as well as Nina and Xenia Georgievna. Prince George of Battenberg (later 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven) was the elder son of Louis of Battenberg and his wife, Princess Victoria of Hesse. He was a first cousin of OTMAA and elder brother of Maria's admirer, Dickie Mountbatten. They married on 15 November, 1916 and had two children, Tatiana (1917) and David (1919).

[epoque-victorienne]

[the-last-tsar]

Alix with Olga, Tatiana, George Mountbatten and the baby (probably Louis Mountbatten or Anastasia).

(source: 📷)

[ykzzr]

Princess Victoria of Battenberg and her husband Prince Ludwig of Battenberg and their children Louise and George with Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna.

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

Prince George of Battenberg joking around with his older sisters, 1901

[philibetexcerpts]

On 15 December 1948, Prince Charles was christened in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace.

[for-valour]

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Papa Bertie's beloved 'pride', and 97 today! (b. 21/04/1926) Thank you for your wisdom, your grace, and for your unfailing service, ma'am.

All together again as a family for your first celestial celebration :')

[graceofromanovs]

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia with his daughters, Prince George of Battenberg, and Alice, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark (nephew and niece of the Empress), and several ladies-in-waiting. Photographed by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna at Münzenberg Castle, Hesse, Germany in 1910.

[royally-obsessed]

on this day in 1939

Dartmouth Naval College aka the Beginning of a Crush

22nd July 1939. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth with their two daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret arriving at Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth. The Royal Family was to be escorted around the Naval College by Prince Philip of Greece.The photographs of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip together were taken for the first time on this day.

[krasivaa]

𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 🥹🫶

ᴍʏ ᴇᴅɪᴛ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ʙʏ ᴜsɪɴɢ ᴄᴀᴘᴄᴜᴛ <𝟹

[royal-confessions]

“Harry and meghan saying that lili looks like Diana! I wonder what they think when they look at William, George, Charlotte and Louis because those kids are the image of their grandmother” - Submitted by Anonymous

“Just imagine if Harry actually looked like Diana like William does! Harry would exploit his mother even more if they were carbon copies of each other” - Submitted by Anonymous

[romanovsonelastdance]

George Mountbatten and his wife Nadejda de Torby.

George was the son of Victoria of Hesse, elder sister of Elizaveta and Alexandra Feodorovna, making him the older brother of Dickie Mountbatten and a first cousin of OTMAA. Nadejda was the daughter of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich and his wife morganatic wife, Sophie of Merenberg. Nada was a first cousin of Irina Alexandrovna and her brothers, as well as Nina and Xenia Georgievna.

[heavyarethecrowns]

[justdonotaskmewhy]

The Crown fact-checked. Part 1/60

Before we begin I have to say a few words:

I understand that The Crown is a work of fiction and my goal is not to say "It's all lies!", we know it is full of stuff that has never happened, I just want to "do my own research" and see which facts were changed

I will try to be as unbiased as I possibly can. I can't promise you will like my stuff or agree with me, but my thoughts are just my thoughts, you can always decide for yourself

This being said, let's start our journey

Season 1. Episode 1. Wolferton Splash

King George's VI illness

The Crown's opening scene is that of the king spitting blood and coughing heavily. This theme of illness is recurring for the rest of the episode.

King George VI was a heavy smoker. The cigarettes were rather cheap after war and it is no wonder he developed such an unhealthy habit. Note: i phrased it badly but he started smoking much earlier than after the war ended, the cigarettes were just cheaper so it was even easier for him to get access to smoking.

Due to his smoking he had a lung cancer and coronary artery disease. Both of his illnesses appeared in the series.

2. Prince Philip renounces his royal titles

The series is true to the reality here. On the eve of his wedding to princess Elizabeth Prince Philip renounced his "foreign titles" of Greece and Denmark and was styled as "His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh,  Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London"

3. King stutters

It is no surprise to anyone who has ever watched "The King's Speech". King George stuttered ever since he was a child and attended speech therapy to get rid of it. He almost get rid of it and it is hard to notice it in his public speeches. You can listen to this if you're interested, the real speech King George VI delivered on September 3rd, 1939 addressing Britain's involvement in World War II.

4. Prince Philip gave up smoking because princess Elizabeth couldn't stand it

As any loving daughter would be, princess Elizabeth was preoccupied by her father's health. Seeing that smoking did not do him any good, she insisted prince Philip should give up the habit. He did and some sources state he didn't smoke once after his wedding day.

5. Limericks

As fun as it may sound the king was fond of dirty limericks. However The Crown faced a controversy as the king says the word "cunt" in the opening episode.

The full limerick is as follows:

There was an old Countess of Bray,

And you might think it odd when I say,

That despite her high station, rank and education.

She always spelled "Cunt" with a K!

6. Princess Margaret at princess Elizabeth's wedding

Princess Margaret was one of princess Elizabeth's bridesmaids. However she was shorter than her sister (Elizabeth was 163 cm tall, Princess Margaret was 155 cm).

7. Winston Churchill at princess Elizabeth's wedding. I Vow To Thee My Country

He and his wife attended the wedding and, in fact, caused a "false alarm" of applause by their arrival as everyone thought it was the princess who was cheered with such an enthusiasm.

However I Vow To Thee My Country apparently never played upon his arrival. But This song is indeed regarded as synonymous with Churchill, and it played at his funeral.

8. Hatred towards Mountbattens

Lord Louis Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of British India. In 1947 the partition of Pakistan was inevitable but it resulted in a blood bath. Million was killed, 15 millions were displaced.

Churchill was unsatisfied with Mountbatten's hurry to operate the situation and called it "a shameful flight" which was shown in The Crown.

9. Peter Townsend

Group Captain Peter Townsend was an equerry to King George VI. He indeed had an affair with Princess Margaret, the king's youngest daughter.

A gross fact but may I remind you: he was 33 and she was 17 in 1947 when their romance presumably began. We will discuss it further in later posts.

10. Nazis and the British Royal family

The British Royal family is notorious for its connections to nazis. We are not going to talk about Edward and Wallace (because we will talk about them later), but Prince Philip had four sisters, all of whom married members of the German aristocracy—three of those men became Nazis. One sister, Princess Theodora married Berthold, Margrave of Baden; they tried to keep their distance from Nazism.

His eldest sister, Princess Margarita, married Gottfried, the 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg—a German aristocrat who joined the Nazi party and served in World War II. He was involved in Operation Valkyrie, the plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944. 

Princess Cecilie, another sister, married German aristocrat Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse. They joined the Nazis in May 1937, but died in a plane crash months later. At her funeral, Prince Philip marched with their relatives who wore Nazi uniforms.

His youngest sister, Princess Sophie, married Prince Christoph of Hesse, an Oberführer in the Nazi Party and a director in the Third Reich's Ministry of Air Forces. Sophie said in her memoir of Hitler, "I have to say here, that, although Chri [Prince Chrisoph] and I changed our political view fundamentally some years later, we were impressed by this charming and seemingly modest man, and by his plans to change and improve the situation in Germany."

It is worth mentioning that Philip served Britain during World War II and did not himself support the nazi regime.

11. The royal family was against princess Elizabeth's marriage to Philip

It indeed happened but for an unexpected reason. Royal courtiers said that prince Philip "was too funny and had too many gaffes".

12. Lilibet

Lilibet was a nickname for princess Elizabeth. It is said that it was given by Princess Margaret who couldn't pronounce "Elizabeth" at a young age. Now it is prince Harry's daughter name, what a sweet continuity.

i stand corrected: according to this source its origin can be different. Elizabeth used to call herself Lilibet when she was a toddler.

13. Waving

Royalty way much slower than everyone else. This waving is easy to recognise, you've seen it multiple times. It is supposed that this particular style is safer for articulations, and this can be one of the reasons they wave like they do.

14. Princess Elizabeth's passion for filming

Though it is not clear whether she liked filming herself, she was clearly fond of watching clips filmed by her family members as it was shown in "Queen at 90"

15. Princess Margaret smoking habits

Princess Margaret had a reputation of a heavy smoker. Rightfully so, as she could smoke up to 60 cigarettes a day. Allegedly she started smoking in 1952 after the death of her father (she was 21 at the time). Smoking excessively could be a sign of untreated depression and mental health troubles which we will discuss in later posts.

Side note: Margaret's smoking was first noticed in her late teens when she became famous on the party circuit for her turtle shell cigarette holder.

16. King's operation

The operation to remove the lung indeed took place at the Buckingham Palace.

When the King's chest was suspected as the cause of his ill health, Sir John called in Geoffrey Marshall, 64, an expert on lung diseases, and Sir Robert Arthur Young, 80, grand old man of British chest experts. X rays by Radiologist Peter James Kerley and others showed what seemed to be a growth in the left lung. Australian-born Brigadier Sir Thomas Peel Dunhill, 75, who enjoys the title of Sergeant Surgeon to the King, agreed that an operation was necessary. The doctors decided that another Welshman, Chest Surgeon Clement Price Thomas, was the man to do the surgery.

17. Princess Elizabeth's curtsy to her mother and grandmother

A sweet gesture and a nice tradition to show respect which lasts up until this day.

Here is a clip of prince Harry bowing to his grandmother followed by kissing her on both cheeks.

18. Churchill elected the second time

Churchill became PM for a second time on October 26th, 1951. Fun fact: it happened month away from his 77th birthday.

19. Princess Elizabeth's Commonwealth tour

As the following episode will show the prince and the princess were on Commonwealth tour in 1952 when they received the news of king George's VI sudden death. They were in Kenya when it happened.

20. Carolers at Sandringham

Even though I can't find any reliable source about this scene, it is a decent metaphor. The king who learnt he is dying welcomes villagers who offer him a crown.

They sing "In a Bleak Midwinter" which I highly recommend to listen to closely.

The poem was written by an English poet Christina Rosetti.

What can I give Him, Poor as I am? — If I were a Shepherd I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man I would do my part, — Yet what I can I give Him, — Give my heart.

21. Prince Philip and Navy

Prince Philip's naval career began when he was 17. The Duke of Edinburgh’s active naval career ended as a commander in January 1953, after almost 14 years.

Despite his retirement from active service, Prince Philp remained both interested and involved in the Naval Service through official visits, patronage of, and association with, naval charities and clubs.

Useful links:

[ykzzr]

Hessian Royal family 1936-1937

Ludwig of Hesse, Cecilie of Hesse, Crown Princess Louise of Sweden, Georg donatus of Hesse, Sophie of Hesse, Eleonore of Hesse, Nadejda Mountbatten, Victoria Mountbatten, Princess Irene of Prussia hold Alexandar, Ernst Ludwig with his oldest grandson Ludwig.

[houseofbrat]

After watching the technicolor version of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, I no longer understand the conniption fits people are having over morning dress versus white tie. Most of that won’t be seen on the footage of the ceremony anyway.

The peers were never going to be a major part of the ceremony as they were in 1953. Most of the peerage is not even attending anyway. Did people miss the changes to the House of Lords before the millennium? Why would all of the peerage show up in jewels at the coronation when they’ve been politically sidelined for more than twenty years?  

When I watched the actual ceremony, most and all of its pageantry will be coming from the Church of England, not duchesses in tiaras. I would expect all of the participants to be wearing ceremonial dress. 

I do not buy rumor that Camilla’s grandchildren will be holding up a canopy. However, if you told me that her grandchildren will be holding up the train for her robes, then I would buy that. Will Camilla even be wearing a robe with a very long train? I don’t know. I imagine it would very difficult for her to walk in something like that at the age of 75, almost 76. Remains to be seen. 

After watching the 1953 ceremony, I suspect those who are in the carriage procession--the Wales & their children, the Edinburghs (just Ed & Sophie), the Princess Royal & Sir Tim, the Gloucesters, and the Duke of Kent & Princess Alexandra--will be sitting in a version of the “royal box,” just as the Queen Mum and Princess Margaret did in 1953. Those in the “royal box” will be wearing tiaras and ceremonial dress. 

The difference between the Gloucesters & Kents versus Beatrice & Eugenie and James & Louise is that Richard, Edward, and Alexandra were born princes & princess and will die as princes & princess. Same with their HRHs. They are literally the grandchildren of George V, and Charles will allow them to keep their titles & styles because of that.  

However, Beatrice, Eugenie, James, Louise, Archie, and Lilibet are not the grandchildren of George V. They are either the grandchildren of Philip Mountbatten & Queen Elizabeth II, or they are grandchildren of Charles III. None of those six will ever be working royals. They have no actual use for titles and styles in the future, and King Charles does not need to allow them to have those titles and styles. Hence, those six that currently have them will cease to have them after the coronation. All six will be styled as the sons and daughters of a duke, which they all are.