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A review by komet2020
The Mountbattens: Their Lives & Loves by Andrew Lownie
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
The Mountbattens: Their Lives & Loves is a well-researched, comprehensive dual biography of Lord and Lady Louis and Edwina Mountbatten, who were among the most prominent figures of the 20th century by virtue of their roles during World War II and in the partitioning and establishment of Pakistan and an independent India in August 1947.
Louis Mountbatten (1900-1979), a great-grandson of Queen Victoria and the uncle of Prince Philip (Queen Elizabeth II's husband), joined the Royal Navy shortly before World War I and went on to have a long career in government service, at sea and ashore. After having his ship, the destroyer HMS Kelly, sunk by German dive bombers during the Battle of Crete in May 1941, Mountbatten was placed in charge of Combined Operations in the UK through which the Allies mounted a raid on Dieppe, France, in August 1942, from which lessons were hard learned in staging a future seaborne invasion of Western Europe (as evidenced by the successful landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944), and devising various strategies and devices for use against Germany.
Subsequently, Mountbatten would take up the post of Supreme Commander of Southeast Asia Command in late 1943, through which he played a key role of strengthening British military power and resources in that theater of war through which the British would defeat Japanese forces in Burma, Borneo, and Malaya.
Yet, while Mountbatten had his strengths, Andrew Lownie makes clear that he was also "a man full of contradictions. Self-confident in public life, he was insecure when it came to his private life and relations with his wife. Able to think outside the box and see the big picture, he was obsessed with trivial detail - often to do with his own personal appearance or prestige."
Edwina Mountbatten (1901-1960) was one of the world's richest women at the time she married her husband in 1922. Within a few years of marriage, both felt somewhat ill-matched for while Mountbatten prided himself on being meticulous and detail-oriented to the nth degree, his wife was one who loved to be spontaneous and enjoy life. She and her husband would agree on having an open marriage because of her tendency to engage in affairs with men who caught her fancy. (Both would have discreet and sometimes not-so-discreet affairs throughout their marriage.)
But once World War II broke out in September 1939, Edwina was determined to carve out a meaningful role for herself in service to Britain. And so it was that she developed considerable organizational and administrative talents in a variety of humanitarian endeavors. Edwina became a "universally admired and loved" figure because of the reputation she earned for herself, both during the war and afterward on the Indian subcontinent. What was "[a]n aimless youth was transformed into a middle age of lasting accomplishments as a humanitarian. Difficult, complex, determined to emerge from the shadow of her husband, she proved herself more than his equal in intellect and achievement, and her influence on him in public life has been underrated."
I learned so much about both Mountbattens and recommend this biography highly to everyone.
Louis Mountbatten (1900-1979), a great-grandson of Queen Victoria and the uncle of Prince Philip (Queen Elizabeth II's husband), joined the Royal Navy shortly before World War I and went on to have a long career in government service, at sea and ashore. After having his ship, the destroyer HMS Kelly, sunk by German dive bombers during the Battle of Crete in May 1941, Mountbatten was placed in charge of Combined Operations in the UK through which the Allies mounted a raid on Dieppe, France, in August 1942, from which lessons were hard learned in staging a future seaborne invasion of Western Europe (as evidenced by the successful landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944), and devising various strategies and devices for use against Germany.
Subsequently, Mountbatten would take up the post of Supreme Commander of Southeast Asia Command in late 1943, through which he played a key role of strengthening British military power and resources in that theater of war through which the British would defeat Japanese forces in Burma, Borneo, and Malaya.
Yet, while Mountbatten had his strengths, Andrew Lownie makes clear that he was also "a man full of contradictions. Self-confident in public life, he was insecure when it came to his private life and relations with his wife. Able to think outside the box and see the big picture, he was obsessed with trivial detail - often to do with his own personal appearance or prestige."
Edwina Mountbatten (1901-1960) was one of the world's richest women at the time she married her husband in 1922. Within a few years of marriage, both felt somewhat ill-matched for while Mountbatten prided himself on being meticulous and detail-oriented to the nth degree, his wife was one who loved to be spontaneous and enjoy life. She and her husband would agree on having an open marriage because of her tendency to engage in affairs with men who caught her fancy. (Both would have discreet and sometimes not-so-discreet affairs throughout their marriage.)
But once World War II broke out in September 1939, Edwina was determined to carve out a meaningful role for herself in service to Britain. And so it was that she developed considerable organizational and administrative talents in a variety of humanitarian endeavors. Edwina became a "universally admired and loved" figure because of the reputation she earned for herself, both during the war and afterward on the Indian subcontinent. What was "[a]n aimless youth was transformed into a middle age of lasting accomplishments as a humanitarian. Difficult, complex, determined to emerge from the shadow of her husband, she proved herself more than his equal in intellect and achievement, and her influence on him in public life has been underrated."
I learned so much about both Mountbattens and recommend this biography highly to everyone.