Lord Louis Mountbatten (June 25, 1900- August 27, 1979) was a British Royal Navy Admiral and the Viceroy of British India during World War II. His noble title is 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
Louis Mountbatten was born on June 25, 1900 in Great Britain. He joined the British Royal Navy in 1913 and saw his combat debut in the First World War. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and 1940, he led British Royal Navy Convoys in the Norwegian Campaign against Nazi Germany's invasion of Norway. He also organized the St. Nazaire Raid and led Allied Naval Forces in the Battle of the Atlantic against the Nazi Kriegsmarine. In 1943, Mountbatten was appointed commander of the South-East Asia Command to command Allied Forces in the South-East Asia theatre against The Imperial Japanese Forces and their collaborators and Vichy France. Mountbatten oversaw the liberation of Burma from the Imperial Japanese Army by General William Slim.
On 27 August 1979, Mountbatten was assassinated by IRA member Thomas McMahon. That day, Mountbatten went lobster-potting and tuna fishing in his 30-foot (9.1 m) wooden boat, Shadow V, which had been moored in the harbour at Mullaghmore. IRA member Thomas McMahon had slipped onto the unguarded boat the previous night and attached a radio-controlled bomb weighing 50 pounds (23 kg). When Mountbatten and his party had taken the boat just a few hundred yards from the shore, the bomb was detonated. The boat was destroyed by the force of the blast and Mountbatten's legs were almost blown off. Mountbatten, then aged 79, was pulled alive from the water by nearby fishermen, but died from his injuries before being brought to shore.
Also aboard the boat were his elder daughter Patricia, Lady Brabourne; her husband Lord Brabourne; their twin sons Nicholas and Timothy Knatchbull; Lord Brabourne's mother Doreen, Dowager Lady Brabourne; and Paul Maxwell, a young crew member from Enniskillen in County Fermanagh. Nicholas (aged 14) and Paul (aged 15) were killed by the blast and the others were seriously injured. Doreen, Dowager Lady Brabourne (aged 83), died from her injuries the following day.
On 5 September 1979, Mountbatten received a ceremonial funeral at Westminster Abbey, which was attended by Queen Elizabeth II, the royal family, and members of the European royal houses. Watched by thousands of people, the funeral procession, which started at Wellington Barracks, included representatives of all three British Armed Services, and military contingents from Burma, India, the United States (represented by 70 sailors of the US Navy and 50 US Marines), France (represented by the French Navy) and Canada. His coffin was drawn on a gun carriage by 118 Royal Navy ratings. During the televised service, his great-nephew Charles (Future King Charles III) read the lesson from Psalm 107. In an address, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Donald Coggan, highlighted his various achievements and his "lifelong devotion to the Royal Navy". After the public ceremonies, which he had planned himself, Mountbatten was buried in Romsey Abbey. As part of the funeral arrangements, his body had been embalmed by Desmond Henley.