Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma

Edwina's mother, Amalia Mary Maud Cassel (1879–1911), was the only child of the international magnate Sir Ernest Cassel (1852–1921), friend and private financier to the future King Edward VII.

Cassel had been born in Cologne, Prussia, of Jewish origin.

He was one of the richest and most powerful men in Europe.

Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, (' Ashley'''; 28 November 1901 – 21 February 1960), was an English heiress, socialite, relief worker and the last vicereine of India as the wife of (the then) Rear Admiral The 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma.

Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley was born in 1901, the elder daughter of Wilfrid Ashley (later 1st Baron Mount Temple), who was a Conservative member of Parliament.

Her younger sister was Mary Ashley (Lady Delamere).

Patrilineally, she was a great-granddaughter of the reformist 7th Earl of Shaftesbury.

After Wilfred Ashley's remarriage in 1914 to Molly Forbes-Sempill (ex-wife of Rear-Admiral Arthur Forbes-Sempill), Edwina Ashley was sent away to boarding schools, first to the Links in Eastbourne, then to Alde House in Suffolk, at neither of which was she a willing pupil.

Edwina was unhappy during the time because, in addition to a sour relationship with her stepmother, she was bullied at school on account of her grandfather being rich, German, and Jewish.

She later described her experience at school as 'sheer hell'.

Her grandfather, Sir Ernest, solved the domestic dilemma by inviting her to live with him and, eventually, to act as hostess at his London residence, Brook House.

Later, his other mansions, Moulton Paddocks and Branksome Dene, would become part of her Cassel inheritance.

By the time she first met Louis Mountbatten, a relative of the British royal family and a nephew of Empress Alexandra of Russia, in 1920, Edwina Ashley was a leading member of London society.

Her maternal grandfather died in 1921, leaving her £2 million (equivalent to £0 million in ), and his palatial London townhouse, Brook House, at a time when her future husband's naval salary was £610 a year (equivalent to £0 in ).

Later, she inherited the country seat of Broadlands, Hampshire, from her father, Lord Mount Temple.

Ashley and Mountbatten married on 18 July 1922 at St Margaret's, Westminster.

The wedding attracted more than 8,000 people, including members of the royal family such as Queen Mary, Queen Alexandra, and the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII).

It was dubbed "wedding of the year".

There followed a honeymoon tour of European royal courts and America which included a visit to Niagara Falls (because "all honeymooners went there").

During their honeymoon in California, the newlyweds starred in a silent home movie by Charlie Chaplin called Nice And Friendly, which was not shown in cinemas.

The Mountbattens had two daughters, Patricia (14 February 1924 – 13 June 2017) and Pamela (born 19 April 1929).

In 1941, she visited the United States, where she expressed gratitude for efforts to raise funds for the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance Brigade.

In 1942, she was appointed Superintendent-in-Chief of the St John Ambulance Brigade, serving extensively.

She was appointed a CBE in 1943 and made a Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (DCVO) in 1946.

She also received the American Red Cross Medal.

Drew Pearson described Edwina in 1944 as "one of the most beautiful women in England".

She was known to have had affairs throughout the marriage, doing little to hide them from her husband.

He became aware of her lovers, accepted them and even developed friendships with some of them – making them "part of the family".

Her daughter Pamela Hicks wrote a memoir in which she describes her mother as a man eater and her mother's many lovers as a succession of "uncles" throughout her childhood.

In her memoir Pamela describes Edwina as a detached, rarely seen mother who preferred travelling the world with her current lover to mothering her children.

Her affair with Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India, both during and after their post-war service has been widely documented.

Edwina and her sister-in-law, the Marchioness of Milford Haven (wife of Lord Milford Haven), were extremely close friends and the two frequently went together on rather daring adventures, travelling rough in difficult and often dangerous parts of the world.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Mountbatten acquired a new purpose.

In 1945, she assisted in the repatriation of prisoners of war in South East Asia.

Edwina Mountbatten was the last vicereine of India, serving during the final months of the British Raj and the first months of the post-Partition period (February 1947 to June 1948) when Louis Mountbatten was the last viceroy of India and then, after the partition of India and Pakistan in June 1947, the governor-general of India, but not of the Dominion of Pakistan.

It was at this time that a serious relationship between Edwina Mountbatten and Nehru, the new prime minister of India, began.

Whether the romance was ever consummated is not known; however, their mutual fondness was evident and caused widespread speculation.

From 28 October 1947 onwards, Edwina Mountbatten was styled as the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, after her husband was elevated to an earldom.

In 2012, Edwina's daughter, Lady Pamela Hicks, accepted that there was a romance between her mother and Jawaharlal Nehru, which she mentioned in the book Daughter of Empire: Life as a Mountbatten.

British historian Philip Ziegler, with access to the private letters and diaries, concludes the relationship: