Figure 1.--This photo shows Prince Louis and his wife with their two daughters and Geoorgie, their oldest son. Dickie has not yet arrived. The portrait looks to be taken about 1897, well before World War I.

George was given the title of Earl of Medina at the end of World War I in order to obfuscate the German sounding Battenburg. He became the Marquess of Milforhaven on his father's death. George was the son of Prince Louis Battenberg and the daughter of Princess Victoria Alberta. Georgie as he was called in the family was born at the Alte Palais in Darmstadt. Queen Victoria kept careful account and entered him in as her 13th greatgrandchild. When his grandmother the Princess of Battenburg died, Georgie insisted on placing a pear at her side, insisting that she would prefer it to flowers. [Vickers, p. 40.] He followed his father into the Royal Navy. His letters show that he was much impressed with what his sister Prince Alice was going through in Greece. As his father rounced the German sounding title of Pfrince Louis of Battenberg, George lost his princely title and became Earl of Mediana. George married the Russian Countess Nadejda (Nada) Torby during World War I in 1916. She was the daughter of Grand Duke Michael and Countess Torby. Her father was quite wealthy and able to endow the newlyweds. [Vickers, p. 131.] Nada was a greatgrand daughter of Tsar Nicholas I. (Her father was the second son of the Tsar's fourth son.) This much releaved Georgie's parents who had very little to leave their children. After World War I George appealed to King George V to assist his sister Alice whose family was endangered because of the turmoil in Greece. Eventually the Royal Navy did pick them up and the party included a very young Prince Philip. George and Nada had two children: Lady Tatiana Elizabeth Mountbatten (1917- ) and David Mountbatten (1919- ), Third Marquess of Milford Haven. Alice was concerned how the family would take it when she adopted the OIrthodox faith. Dickie wrote his mother a nice letter, "Georgie & I feel identically about religiob as far as Alice is concerned and would willingly see her adopt the Shinto religion if she felt that way". [Vickers p. 199.] George and his wife aided by George's mother played a major role in looking after Prince Philip after he came to England in 1933. He attended boarding school, but on schol vacations when come to his grandmother or uncle. [Vickers, p. 210.] Georege was legally his guardian, but Philip spent a great deal of time with his grandmother. After returing from Duke Ernent's funeral, George collapsed. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the bone marrow. He died within days.

Sources

Vickers, Hugo. Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece (St. Martin's Press: New York, 2000), 477p.

Ziegler, Philip. Mountbatten (New York: Knopf: 1985).

Created: November 13, 2003
Last updated: November 13, 2003