Was Mountbatten a paedophile?

While rumours of Mountbatten's mistresses have consistently been dismissed by his family over the years, his affairs had been as open a secret as their marriage. In The Mountbattens, though, Lownie a historian, journalist and publisher whose books include biographies of the author John Buchan and the secret agent Guy Burgess, dedicates an entire chapter to rumours that include his alleged attraction to underaged boys and includes interviews with two of victims who identify themselves as Sean and Amal. "There had been rumours that Mountbatten was a paedophile but it didn't fit with his character and I dismissed it but I found the two boys—now men of almost sixty—who live abroad. At first, they were reluctant to talk but they did open up about their experiences. They were not paid and have nothing to gain from their interview." Lownie says. "Can I be certain it was Mountbatten who abused them? Of course not but the detail they gave about Classiebawn, his Irish home where they were abused, rings true and the interest in young men was confirmed by the FBI files."

Lownie quotes extensively from biographies, FBI files, accounts of people who'd served with Mountbatten in the Royal Navy and newspaper reports. "I (also) found love letters to Mountbatten from his tutor as a teenager and speculate Mountbatten was abused himself," he says. Lownie also says that Mountbatten who "always wanted a son and had two daughters... developed a very close, almost unhealthy, relationship with his elder daughter Patricia."

Andrew Lownie

In public, though The Mountbattens were the kind of couple Britain's always been obsessed with and, at one point, were more glamorous than the otherwise dull royal family. "Both were very complex and contradictory characters." Lownie says, "After her racy youth, Edwina's reputation as a humanitarian saint is pretty established." Dickie used this to his advantage on many occasions, especially during the Partition when he deployed his wife's charms to bring around Nehru to accepting his plan.

His high opinion of himself notwithstanding, Mountbatten was no doubt someone with connections in high places and had the ability to make things happen.

"[The Mountbattens'] private and public lives are intertwined and controversial and many questions remain, in particular, about him," Lownie says, "He may have exaggerated some achievements, taken credit where it was not entirely due, have carefully shaped his legacy but he was a substantial figure with a strong work ethic and sense of public duty."

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!