Lord Leopold Mountbatten

Infobox British Royalty|highness
name = Lord Leopold Mountbatten
full name = Leopold Arthur Louis
titles = "Lord" Leopold Mountbatten
"Sir" Leopold Mountbatten
"HH" Prince Leopold of Battenberg
"HSH" Prince Leopold of Battenberg
royal house = House of Hesse
father = Prince Henry of Battenberg
mother = Princess Henry of Battenberg
date of birth = 21 May 1889
date of death = Death date and age|1922|4|23|1889|5|21|df=yes|

Lord Leopold Mountbatten (Leopold Arthur Louis; 21 May 1889 – 23 April 1922) was a descendant of the British Royal Family, a grandson of Queen Victoria. He was known as Prince Leopold of Battenberg from his birth until 1917, when the British Royal Family relinquished their Germanic titles during World War I.

Early life

Prince Leopold was born on 21 May 1889. 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 and 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, Leopold was styled as "His Serene Highness" Prince Leopold of Battenberg from birth. In the United Kingdom he was styled "His Highness" Prince Leopold of Battenberg under a Royal Warrant passed by Queen Victoria in 1886.

Leopold was a haemophiliac, a condition he inherited from his mother.

Relinquishment of titles

During World War I, anti-German feeling in the United Kingdom led Leopold's first cousin, George V to change the name of the royal house from the Germanic House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the more English-sounding House of Windsor. The King also renounced all his Germanic titles for himself and all members of the British Royal Family who were British citizens.

In response to this, Leopold renounced his title, through a Royal Warrant from the King, dated 14 July 1917, of a Prince of Battenberg and the style His Highness and became Sir Leopold Mountbatten, by virtue of him being a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. Under a further Royal Warrant in September 1917 he was granted the style and precedence of the younger son of a Marquess, and became Lord Leopold Mountbatten.LondonGazette|issue=30374|startpage=11592|endpage=11594|date=9 November 1917|accessdate=2007-11-15]

Lord Leopold died on Death date and age|1922|4|23|1889|5|21|df=yes, during a knee operation.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles

*21 May 1889–14 July 1917: "His Highness" Prince Leopold of Battenberg
**"in Germany": "His Serene Highness" Prince Leopold of Battenberg
*14 July–September 1917: "Sir" Leopold Mountbatten
*September 1917–23 April 1922: "Lord" Leopold Mountbatten

Honours

*KCVO: Knights of the Royal Victorian Order, "1911"
**GCVO: Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, "1915"

Military

*Capt: Captain, British Army

Ancestry

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1= 1. Lord Leopold Mountbatten
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)

References