Auction reflects Mountbatten family’s close links with India

By Amit Roy

FAMILY treasures belonging to Patricia Mountbatten, the elder daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India, are to be auctioned by Sotheby’s on March 24.

More than 350 lots “spanning jewellery, furniture, paintings, sculpture, books, silver, ceramics & objets d’art” reflect the Mount­batten family’s close links with India.

The heirlooms include an Indian dia­mond bracelet once owned by Queen Vic­toria; bejewelled elephants from Jaipur, gifted by Lord Mountbatten to his wife, Edwina, on their wedding anniversary; and an Indian inlaid miniature bu­reau made by Thomas Chippendale, which is said to be “a celebration of the link between England and India”. Originally made for £4, its price esti­mate is £40,000-£60,000.

There is also the Imperial Order of the Crown of India, with the dec­oration mounted with dia­monds, pearls and turquois­es (est £15,000-20,000).

“This rare Anglo-Indian or­der, still in its original case, was an award that could only be bestowed by the Mon­arch to a female recipient,” according to the auction house.

“The diamond, pearl and turquoise-set decoration would have been worn at state occasions by Doreen, Lady Brabourne, Pa­tricia’s mother-in-law. The only person who still wears this order today, and the last to hold it, is Her Majesty the Queen.”

Patricia was born in London on Febru­ary 14, 1924. She died at Newhouse, her home in Mersham, near Ashford, Kent, on June 13, 2017.

Her mother, Edwina, who accompanied Lord Mountbatten to India in 1947 during the transfer of power, died in 1960. She was buried at sea in a ceremony attended by the Indian Navy frigate INS Trishul, sent by then Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who had a wreath cast into the wa­ters in her memory.

Patrica also had close links with India through her film producer husband, John Brabourne, the seventh Baron Brabourne, who died in 2005. His credits include the David Lean-directed A Passage to India (1964) and the Agatha Christie adapta­tions, Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Death on the Nile (1978). As a captain in the armed forces, John had once worked for Patricia’s father in India.

John’s father, Michael Herbert Rudolf Knatchbull, the fifth Baron Brabourne, was governor of Bombay when he laid the foun­dation stone at Brabourne Stadium in 1936. In 1938, he served for four months as In­dia’s youngest viceroy. He was also gover­nor of Bengal and, after his death in 1939, was buried at St John’s Churchyard in Cal­cutta (now Kolkata). After his elder son, Norton, died, the title passed to his younger son, John.

When Patricia and John married in 1946, the newlyweds spent several months in In­dia as part of their honeymoon. Princess Elizabeth (who would later become Queen Elizabeth II) was been a bridesmaid at their wedding, which was attended by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

When her father was assassinated by the IRA in 1979, his title passed exceptionally to Patricia, who became Lady Mountbatten.

According to Sotheby’s, many items in the auction – estimates vary from £80 to £100,000 – “were inherited from her ances­tors, and share connections with India, a place that was very special to the family”.

A statement from the Mountbatten fam­ily said: “Our overriding desire when or­ganising our mother’s affairs is to honour her wishes and celebrate the memory of both our mother and our father. They had discussed these arrangements with us, and we are simply putting their plans into effect. We are, of course, keeping many things and important among these are objects which are of sentimental value and much loved.”

Harry Dalmeny, Sotheby’s chairman, UK & Ireland, said: “Lady Mountbatten’s resi­dence, Newhouse, was a private place for entertaining only the closest of family and friends. Through her belongings... collec­tors have the chance to see the story of the 20th century unfold and acquire evocative vestiges of a glittering way of life.”

Sotheby’s said of Lord Mountbatten’s role in India: “Patricia’s father Louis had been appointed Britain’s last viceroy of India, with a mandate to oversee the British withdraw­al from the country, and the family grew close to the great leaders, Mahatma Gandhi and prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.”

About the bejewelled elephants, it said: “Inscribed in Lord Mountbatten’s hand­writing; ‘Edwina from Dickie’ and ‘18 July 1946’, these gold enamel elephants made in Jaipur were a gift from Lord Mountbatten to his wife Edwina commemorating their 24th wedding anniversary.

“The loving gift is an insight into their marriage – one that had brought together two of the most glamorous and adventur­ous figures of the period – and testament to the importance of India to both of them. 1946 was the year Lord Mountbatten was made a viscount and this gift anticipates the news of his appointment as viceroy the following year.”

Also on offer is a handbag which had once belonged to Edwina – “an unusual and amusing gem-set gold mesh purse by Lacloche Frères, Paris, circa 1905 (est. £2,000-3,000)”.

It is pointed out: “This extraordinary handbag comes in the form of a large pig, its spine, tail and trotters set with dia­monds. The Mountbatten family loved ani­mals and had a veritable menagerie of pets wherever they lived, from a horse gifted to Edwina and Louis by the Maharajah of Jaipur on the occasion of their wedding, to a lion cub that Edwina brought home from South Africa when Patricia was 13.”