He was the only son of George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven (who had been born as Prince George of Battenberg), and Russian Countess Nadejda (Nada) Torby, who wed in 1916.
His paternal grandparents were Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine.
Therefore, he was a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria.
His maternal grandparents were Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia and Countess Sophie von Merenberg.
He was also a descendant of the Russian writer Aleksandr Pushkin as well as Peter the Great's African protégé, General Abram Petrovich Gannibal.
He grew up at the family home in Holyport, Berkshire and enjoyed a close friendship with his first cousin Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later the Duke of Edinburgh.
They both attended Dartmouth Naval College.
1919
Lieutenant David Michael Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, (12 May 1919 – 14 April 1970), styled Viscount Alderney before 1921 and Earl of Medina between 1921 and 1938, was the son of George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven and Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna of Torby.
Lord Milford Haven was born in 1919.
1938
Upon the death of his father on 8 April 1938, he became the 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven and head of the House of Mountbatten.
During the Second World War Milford Haven served in the Royal Navy.
1942
In 1942 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for taking the destroyer Kandahar through a minefield in an attempt to rescue the cruiser Neptune.
1943
In 1943 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his work on Malta convoy operations.
1947
He served as best man to the prince at his marriage in November 1947 to the Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II.
1948
He retired from the Navy in 1948.
He subsequently joined The Castaways' Club, which enabled him to keep in close contact with many of his naval contemporaries.
1950
He then played a prominent part in the London demi-monde of the 1950s, which brought together a colourful mix of aristocrats and shadowy social climbers like osteopath Stephen Ward.
This hard-partying set formed the nucleus for the Profumo affair.
Milford Haven was married twice:
1970
Milford Haven died of a heart attack, aged 50, on 14 April 1970 in London.
His ashes were buried in the Battenberg Chapel at St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, on the Isle of Wight (photo).
