View source for Lord Leopold Mountbatten

{{Short description|British noble and army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox noble
| image        = Prince Leopold Mountbatten 05363v.jpg
| image_size   = 220px
| caption      = 
| full name    = Leopold Arthur Louis Mountbatten
| honorific_suffix = [[Royal Victorian Order|GCVO]]
| noble family = [[Battenberg family|Battenberg]] (until 1917) <br> [[Mountbatten family|Mountbatten]] (from 1917)
| father       = [[Prince Henry of Battenberg]]
| mother       = [[Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom]]
| birth_name   = Prince Leopold of Battenberg
| birth_date   = 21 May 1889
| birth_place  = [[Windsor Castle]], [[United Kingdom]]
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1922|4|23|1889|5|21|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Kensington Palace]], [[United Kingdom]]
| burial_date  = 1 May 1922
| burial_place = Royal Vault, [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle]]<br/>23 October 1928<br/>[[Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore]]
| module       = {{Infobox military person | embed=yes
   |nickname=
   |allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}}
   |branch= {{army|United Kingdom}}
   |serviceyears= 1909–1920
   |rank=[[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]]
   |unit=[[Isle of Wight Rifles]]<br>[[King's Royal Rifle Corps]]
   |commands=
   |battles=
{{tree list}}
* [[First World War]]
** [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]
*** [[Ypres Salient]]
{{tree list/end}}
   |awards=
   |relations=
   |signature = }}
}}
'''Lord Leopold Arthur Louis Mountbatten''' (21 May 1889 – 23 April 1922) was a [[British Army]] officer and a descendant of the [[Hesse|Hessian]] princely [[Battenberg family]] and 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 German titles during [[World War I]], and the Battenberg family changed their name to [[Mountbatten]].

==Early life==
{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2016}}
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 (1823–1888)|Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine]] and [[Julia, Princess of Battenberg]]. His mother was [[Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom]], the fifth daughter and the youngest child of [[Queen Victoria]] and [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]].

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.
[[File:Winchester Cathedral, memorial to Leopold (1889-1922) and Maurice (1981-1914) Battenberg Mountbatten.jpg|thumb|[[Winchester Cathedral]], memorial to Leopold and his brother [[Prince Maurice of Battenberg|Maurice]].]] 
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 of precedence|royal warrant]] passed by Queen Victoria in 1886.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25655|date=14 December 1886|page=6305}}</ref>  He was baptised at [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle]] on 29 June 1889. His godparents were [[Leopold II of Belgium]] (his first cousin twice removed, represented by the [[Edward VII|Prince of Wales]], his maternal uncle), the [[Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn|Duke of Connaught and Strathearn]] (his maternal uncle, represented by [[Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein|Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein]], his first cousin), [[Prince Louis of Battenberg]] (his paternal uncle, represented by the [[John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll|Marquess of Lorne]], his maternal uncle), the [[Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll|Marchioness of Lorne]] (his maternal aunt), the [[Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont|Duchess of Albany]] (his maternal aunt) and [[Princess Marie of Battenberg|Princess Marie of Erbach-Schönberg]] (his paternal aunt).<ref>Queen Victoria's Journals - ''Saturday 29 June 1889''</ref> His father died of malaria in 1896.

Leopold was a [[haemophilia]]c, a condition [[Haemophilia in European royalty|he inherited]] through his mother. His namesake maternal uncle, [[Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany]], had died from the same condition.

==Military career==
Leopold was commissioned a lieutenant (supernumerary) on 16 October 1909 in the 8th Battalion of the [[Isle of Wight Rifles]], a [[Territorial Force]] unit.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28297|page=7567|date=15 October 1909}}</ref> On 19 October 1912, he received a regular army commission in [[The King's Royal Rifle Corps]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28654 |page=7687 |date=18 October 1912}}</ref> During service in the First World War, he was promoted to temporary lieutenant on 15 November 1914,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29001|supp=y|page=10559|date=8 December 1914}}</ref> to lieutenant on 30 April 1915<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29257|supp=y|page=7867|date=6 August 1915}}</ref> and finally to captain on 14 September 1916.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29798|page=10287|date=24 October 1916}}</ref>

On 7 April 1918, he was placed on the half-pay list "on account of ill-health contracted on active service."<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30639|supp=y|page=4722|date=16 April 1918}}</ref> From 23 July of that year until the following 6 January, he served as an extra aide-de-camp on the staff of the War Office.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30837|supp=y|page=9418|date=9 August 1918}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31268|supp=y|page=4350|date=1 April 1919}}</ref> He resigned his commission on 14 April 1920; at the special request of his cousin, George V, he was granted the honorary rank of major.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31862|supp=y|page=4415|date=13 April 1920}}</ref>

==Relinquishment of titles==
{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2016}}
During the [[First World War]], anti-German feeling in the United Kingdom led Leopold's [[cousin chart|first cousin]], [[George V of the United Kingdom|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 his being a Knight Grand Cross of the [[Royal Victorian Order]].<ref name=LondonGazette30374>{{London Gazette|issue=30374|pages=11592|date=9 November 1917}}</ref> Under a further warrant in September 1917 he was granted the style and precedence of the younger son of a [[Marquesses in the United Kingdom|marquess]], and became Lord Leopold Mountbatten.<ref name=":0">{{London Gazette|issue=13217|pages=834|date=5 March 1918|city=Edinburgh}}</ref>

==Death==
Lord Leopold died on {{Death date and age|1922|4|23|1889|5|21|df=yes}}, during a hip operation.<ref name=rodovid>[http://en.rodovid.org/wk/Person:49931 Leopold Arthur Louis Mountbatten profile], rodovid.org; retrieved 5 June 2010.</ref> After being initially interred in the Royal Vault at [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle]], he was buried in the [[Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/about-st-georges/royal-connection/royal-burials/royal-burials-chapel-since-1805/|title=Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805|work=College of St George - Windsor Castle|accessdate=5 March 2023}}</ref> A memorial tablet to him and his brother [[Prince Maurice of Battenberg|Maurice]] is in [[Winchester Cathedral]]. His will was sealed in London after his death in 1922. His estate was valued at £4,049 (or £160,600 in 2022 when adjusted for inflation).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Evans |first1=Rob |last2=Pegg |first2=David |title=£187m of Windsor family wealth hidden in secret royal wills |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/18/187m-pounds-of-windsor-family-wealth-hidden-in-secret-royal-wills |website=The Guardian |access-date=19 July 2022 |language=en |date=18 July 2022}}</ref>

== Honours ==
*'''KCVO''': [[Royal Victorian Order|Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]], ''19 June 1911''<ref name=LondonGazette28505>{{London Gazette|issue=28505|page=4595|supp=y|date=19 June 1911}}</ref>
*'''GCVO''': [[Royal Victorian Order|Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order]], ''1 January 1915''<ref name=LondonGazette29024>{{London Gazette|issue=29024|page=3|supp=y|date=1 January 1915}}</ref>
'''Foreign'''
*{{flag|Spain|1785}}: [[Order of Charles III|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III]], ''27 May 1906''<ref>{{citation|chapter-url=http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/issue.vm?id=0000993923&search=&lang=es|chapter=Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III|title=Guía Oficial de España|date=1907|access-date=13 January 2021|page=155|language=es}}</ref>

==Ancestry==
{{Ahnentafel
|align=center|collapsed=yes
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|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 (1823–1888)|Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine]]
|5= 5. [[Julia, Princess of Battenberg|Countess Julia Hauke]]
|6= 6. [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|7= 7. [[Queen Victoria|Victoria of the United Kingdom]]
|8= 8. [[Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse|Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine]]
|9= 9. [[Princess Wilhelmine of Baden]]
|10= 10. [[John Maurice Hauke|Count John Maurice Hauke]]
|11= 11. Sophie Lafontaine
|12= 12. [[Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|13= 13. [[Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1800–1831)|Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]]
|14= 14. [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn]]
|15= 15. [[Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld]]
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{NPG name}}

{{Battenberg family}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountbatten, Leopold}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1922 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials in Berkshire]]
[[Category:19th-century British people]]
[[Category:20th-century British people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Battenberg family|Leopold]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British people of German descent]]
[[Category:Burials at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore]]
[[Category:Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England]]
[[Category:Princes in the German Empire]]
[[Category:Haemophilia in European royalty]]
[[Category:People with haemophilia]]
[[Category:British royalty and nobility with disabilities]]
[[Category:King's Royal Rifle Corps officers]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Mountbatten family|Leopold]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Windsor, Berkshire]]
[[Category:Younger sons of marquesses]]
[[Category:Royal reburials]]