Sad news out of the UK today, Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten, cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh, godmother of the Prince of Wales, and a member of the extended British Royal Family has died aged 93 at her home in Kent on June 13th.
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The statement from her family read:
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of the Countess Mountbatten of Burma.
Patricia Mountbatten died peacefully on Tuesday 13th June at her home in Mersham, Kent, surrounded by her children. Her husband, the celebrated film producer Lord Brabourne, died in 2005.”
The Prince of Wales released a statement:
I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of my very special godmother, Lady Mountbatten whom I have known and loved ever since I can first remember.
She played an extremely important part in my life and I shall miss her presence most dreadfully.”
The eldest daughter of Lord & Lady Louis Mountbatten (later Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma), Patricia was the niece of Queen Louise of Sweden and Princess Andrew of Greece. During WWII, Patricia, along with her younger sister Pamela, stayed with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt III at her residence in New York City, returning to London after finishing her schooling and joining the Women’s Royal Naval Service. In 1946, she married John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne in the presence of members of the Royal family. The couple had eight children. Lady Brabourne didn’t accompany her parents when they were appointed the last Viceroy and Vicereine of India in 1947. However, she visited them multiple times, and after their return continued to appear at public events. In 1948, she was appointed Godmother to the Prince of Wales, and in 1979, Lady Brabourne was on a boat with her family in Ireland, when the IRA blew it up, killing her father, 14-year-old son, and mother-in-law. She survived, and succeeded her father as the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma. Lord Brabourne and Lady Mountbatten were one of the few married couples each of whom held a peerage in their own right, until his death in 2005. Until 2007, Lady Mountbatten was Colonel in Chief of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, taking over from her relative Lady Patricia Ramsay. She was last seen at the wedding of her granddaughter, the Hon. Alexandra Knatchbull last June. Lady Mountbatten has been succeeded by her eldest son, Norton Knatchbull, as the 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma, though he will not start using the title until his mother’s funeral. Learn about her life HERE.
