Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess Of Carisbrooke

Alexander Albert Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke (born Prince Alexander Albert of Battenberg) was born on 23 November 1886 at Windsor Castle in Berkshire. He died on 23 February 1960. He was a member of the Battenberg family, a Princely house of Hesse and by Rhine, which was distanced from German associations during World War I, adopting the surname Mountbatten. He was the last surviving grandson of Queen Victoria.

His parents were Prince Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom. Prince Henry was the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julia, Countess of Hauke. Princess Beatrice was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Alexander was known colloquially as Drino.

At birth, Alexander was styled His Serene Highness Prince Alexander of Battenberg due to his father’s morganatic marriage, which rendered his status ineligible for the "Grand-Ducal Highness" style. Three weeks after his birth, on 13 December 1886, Queen Victoria issued a Royal Warrant allowing him to be styled His Highness. He was baptized at Windsor Castle on 18 December 1886, with godparents including Queen Victoria, Prince Alexander of Hesse, the Prince of Wales, Prince Alexander of Battenberg, and Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine. He had familial connections to Spain through his sister’s marriage to King Alfonso XIII.

Alexander received education at Wellington College and the Britannia Royal Naval College. He entered naval service in 1902, joining HMS Britannia at Dartmouth and serving until 1908. He became a member of The Castaways’ Club in 1910. On 11 July 1908, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Hessian Merit Order of Philip the Magnanimous.

In 1909, Alexander joined the British Army, specifically the Grenadier Guards, as a Second Lieutenant (on probation), confirmed in his rank in 1911, and promoted to Lieutenant in 1913. During World War I, he was seconded to serve as an aide-de-camp and promoted to captain in 1915. He was authorized to wear the Russian Order of St Vladimir, fourth class, with swords, in 1917, for distinguished service to the Allied cause. He resigned his commission in 1919 but received several foreign honours, including orders from Spain, Belgium, Russia, Egypt, Romania, and France.

During World War II, despite his age, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1941, serving as an acting pilot officer and later as a flying officer. He was attached to staff officer duties under Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory. He relinquished his commission in 1945, holding the rank of flight lieutenant.

The royal family renamed itself during World War I; in 1917, King George V changed the family name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor, and the Battenberg family adopted the surname Mountbatten. On 7 November 1917, Alexander was created Marquess of Carisbrooke, Earl of Berkhamsted, and Viscount Launceston.

He married Lady Irene Denison on 19 July 1917 at the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace. She was the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Londesborough. They had one daughter, Lady Iris Mountbatten, born in 1920.

Alexander worked outside the royal family, becoming the first royal to work in the commercial sector. He started as a clerk at Lazard Brothers, then managed housing estates and served as a director for Lever Brothers and other corporations.

He died in Kensington Palace in 1960 at age 73. His ashes were interred at the Battenberg Chapel at St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, Isle of Wight. With no male heirs, the title Marquess of Carisbrooke became extinct upon his death.