Lord Louis Mountbatten and Edwina Ashley - 1922


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Marengo

Marengo

Administrator
Site Team
Joined
Aug 13, 2004
Messages
28,248
City
Amsterdam
Country
Netherlands
On 1922 lord Louis Mountbatten (until 1916 HSH Prince Louis of Battenberg), son of Prince Louis of Battenberg (Marquis of Milford Haven) and Princess Victoria of Hesse-Darmstadt, married Edwina Ashley, daughter of the future 1st Baron of Mount Temple and granddaughter of Sir Ernest Cassel. The couple married at St Margaret's, Westminster, London. The prince of Wales was best man:

louiswed2.jpg


==

copyrights expired
 
And two more:

louiswed3.jpg


louiswed.jpg


==
copyrights expired
 
Edwina was an interesting woman. Very cultured and articulate. Noted for her friendships with Nehru and Ghandi.
 
Very glamorous couple. Marengo you are working hard today. All these lovely pictures! Thank you:flowers:
 
Just gorgeous photos I would be thrilled if mine were that good all those years later thamks for this thread.
 
So four of the bridesmaids were Prince Philip's sisters, by the looks of it.
 
What is the tiara that Edwina is wearing? It looks beautiful and quite large.
 
Katrianna said:
What is the tiara that Edwina is wearing? It looks beautiful and quite large.
Click to expand...
I don't think that's a tiara but rather a headdress that was popular for fashionable brides during the 1920s. I've seen them in other wedding portraits from that time.
 
Thanks for loading those pics. Love seeing a wedding that is so of its time - proper 20's. Of the others of the era: Eliz B-L got it so wrong in her attacked by the lace number, and Pss Mary was better, but a bit plain. Edwina showed em, my God they were a glamorous couple weren't they? But then their marriage was fraught with infidelity and mistust. What price glamour eh, royal watchers?
 
I also think these pictures are gorgeous, and I'm a big fan of period fashion. I do, however, find the headwear of this bridal party a little...er...distressing.
 
Wow, the then POW was tiny. Look how much taller the bride is.
 
Beautiful pictures! The dress of the bride was amazing!
imgLetizia%20Ortiz3.jpg
 
This must have been the tallest couple in Britain back in the day!
Again, the low waistline of the wedding gown is so unflattering and the heavy headwear quite distressing indeed! The truth is that Edwina got it right with almost anything else she wore in her whole life! ;) She understood fashion and glamour for sure.
 
Considering the bride was a pretty social match for Louis, no shock:flowers:

Louis was of course related through his mother. As a daughter of Princess Alice, Victoria was first cousins with George V and his siblings. Louis grew up at Frogmore, among other distant relations. It wasn't surprising he was close to Edward VIII growing up or that Edward was his best man.

Edwina though was as well connected. Her father Wilfred Ashley was a prominent politician, made Baron Mount Temple. He was in parliament for Blackpool when they wed, but would later go on to be undersecratarry for state of war and minister of transport. But it was her mother's side that was more important. Edwina's mother was the only child of Sir Ernest Cassel. A converted Jew, he was a self-made millionaire who was at times a financial advisor to Edward VII, who along with Asquith and Churchill, were personal friends. He owned estates, art collections and race horses. He converted for his wife. When his daughter died, her husband remarried and Edwina was shipped off to boarding school with her sister. Edwina hated it and was taken in by her grandfather, later becoming his hostess. She nursed him through his old age, and he left the majority of his estate to her.


Queen Alexandra, Princess Mary, Lord Lascelles, George V and Mary, Prince Andrew and Alice of Greece and GD Michael of Russia and his wife all attended.
 
Today in Royal History is the 40th Death Anniversary of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma born Prince Louis of Battenberg who was assassinated and killed at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland by a bombing incident by the IRA.

After 40 years, his name is now under fire as FBI files exposed him as a pedophile who has 'lust for young boys.' A new book that was published on 22 August 2019 called The Mountbattens: Their Lives & Loves Book by Andrew Lownie links him to sexual abuse at Kincora boys' home in 70's.


https://www.irishcentral.com/news/lord-mountbatten-pedophile-allegations
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/world-news/ira-bombing-victim-lord-mountbattens-18961436
http://www.irishnews.com/news/north...en-to-sex-abuse-at-kincora-boys-home-1694271/
 
Last edited:
In India at a Vice-regal ball on St. Valentine's Day in 1922, between dances four and six, Louis Mountbatten asked Edwina to marry him. She accepted. :heartflower::heartflower:
 
They basically bonded over the deaths of his father and her grandfather Sir Ernest. That and the fact that neither of them had anything close to acceptable ancestry, just blood on his side and money/service (mostly money) on hers.

It seems Edwina didn't care for flowers. Her bouquet was no doubt très chic but looks a bit more like twigs, even for the Jazz Age.

The 'little prince' apparently got called that for good reason.
 
Lady Edwina carried a bouquet of Madonna lilies. :heartflower::heartflower:
 
James in London said:
Thanks for loading those pics. Love seeing a wedding that is so of its time - proper 20's. Of the others of the era: Eliz B-L got it so wrong in her attacked by the lace number, and Pss Mary was better, but a bit plain. Edwina showed em, my God they were a glamorous couple weren't they? But then their marriage was fraught with infidelity and mistust. What price glamour eh, royal watchers?
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t say they were an unhappy couple regardless of the infidelities, they both had “fun” with whoever they wanted and they loved each other still.
 
Countessmeout said:
Considering the bride was a pretty social match for Louis, no shock:flowers:

Louis was of course related through his mother. As a daughter of Princess Alice, Victoria was first cousins with George V and his siblings. Louis grew up at Frogmore, among other distant relations. It wasn't surprising he was close to Edward VIII growing up or that Edward was his best man.

Edwina though was as well connected. Her father Wilfred Ashley was a prominent politician, made Baron Mount Temple. He was in parliament for Blackpool when they wed, but would later go on to be undersecratarry for state of war and minister of transport. But it was her mother's side that was more important. Edwina's mother was the only child of Sir Ernest Cassel. A converted Jew, he was a self-made millionaire who was at times a financial advisor to Edward VII, who along with Asquith and Churchill, were personal friends. He owned estates, art collections and race horses. He converted for his wife. When his daughter died, her husband remarried and Edwina was shipped off to boarding school with her sister. Edwina hated it and was taken in by her grandfather, later becoming his hostess. She nursed him through his old age, and he left the majority of his estate to her.


Queen Alexandra, Princess Mary, Lord Lascelles, George V and Mary, Prince Andrew and Alice of Greece and GD Michael of Russia and his wife all attended.
Click to expand...
I get this is an old thing, but I will still make my point, I wouldn’t necessarily say that Edwina’s mother (Amalia Maud Cassel) was more important, she was just a newly wealthy Anglo-German heiress who married a man from a well-established and politically prominent family ( not to say that the money wasn’t appreciated especially because he was a junior son with little chances of inheriting much) . Edwina’s father, Wilfrid Ashley-Cooper was from the Ashley-Cooper family, Earls Shaftesbury and the second surviving son of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, a social reformer.

Edwina’s stepmother didn’t not like her or her sister, so she had them purposely sent to Boarding school and Edwina really struggled. She was of course blessed for her loving grandfather from who she inherited a great fortune.
 
Prinsara said:
They basically bonded over the deaths of his father and her grandfather Sir Ernest. That and the fact that neither of them had anything close to acceptable ancestry, just blood on his side and money/service (mostly money) on hers.

It seems Edwina didn't care for flowers. Her bouquet was no doubt très chic but looks a bit more like twigs, even for the Jazz Age.

The 'little prince' apparently got called that for good reason.
Click to expand...
But it was good match for both of them because she got a companion and supporter and Louis got someone to be his sugar mummy or piggy bank given the Battenbergs were impoverished.
 
Edwina also had a fairly ghastly (and racist to boot) time growing up, and was almost the archetypical poor little rich girl. Someone as (overly) secure and confident as Dickie must have seemed very welcome, or at least taught her another way to deal with her insecurities.

Considering she could have gotten anyone with her money (and quickly learned she could get anyone, anyway), it's safe to say they were in love with each other, at least for a little while.
 
Prinsara said:
Edwina also had a fairly ghastly (and racist to boot) time growing up, and was almost the archetypical poor little rich girl. Someone as (overly) secure and confident as Dickie must have seemed very welcome, or at least taught her another way to deal with her insecurities.

Considering she could have gotten anyone with her money (and quickly learned she could get anyone, anyway), it's safe to say they were in love with each other, at least for a little while.
Click to expand...
Yes and considering that Dickie was a viceroy, it kept her on her toes doing stuff and not being idle. I think for Edwina she just wanted someone who would be supportive and understand her and I think Louis allowed her to be herself and he gave stability in some way. As for the status issue and money, considering the man she married, I think it’s safe to say she wasn’t to bothered about status too much.
 
SirGyamfi1 said:
Yes and considering that Dickie was a viceroy, it kept her on her toes doing stuff and not being idle. I think for Edwina she just wanted someone who would be supportive and understand her and I think Louis allowed her to be herself and he gave stability in some way. As for the status issue and money, considering the man she married, I think it’s safe to say she wasn’t to bothered about status too much.
Click to expand...

She married a relative of the royal family. I don't think Edwina was bothered about status too much, but it's safe to say she married up. Grandpa Sir Ernest would have been thrilled.
 
Let’s not forget either that Louis had been Prince Louis until 1917, not that many years before Louis and Edwina’s marriage. And he was a close friend of David the POW, and a relative of his. That alone guaranteed membership of the set around the Prince of Wales which Edwina probably thought quite amusing.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
Death and Funeral of the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma: June 13 and 27, 2017
2
Replies
31
Views
9K
Denville
D
Marengo
Georg Donatus of Hesse-Darmstadt and Princess Cecilie of Greece & Denmark - 1931
Replies
16
Views
16K
CyrilVladisla
CyrilVladisla
J
Prince Juan Carlos of Spain & Princess Sofia of Greece 1962
4 5 6
Replies
164
Views
125K
An Ard Ri
An Ard Ri

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom