David Michael Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Distinguished Service Cross, styled Viscount Alderney before 1921 and Earl of Medina between 1921 and 1938, was the son of the 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven and Countess Nadejda de Torby.
Background
Mountbatten was born in 1919. He was only son of George Mountbatten and Russian Countess Nadejda (Nada) Torby who wed in 1916. Therefore, he was a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria.
He is 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.
Education
They both attended Dartmouth Naval College.
Career
Early years and education He served as best man to the prince at Prince Philip"s marriage in November 1947 to the Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth World War II Navy and postwar social life During the Second World War Milford Haven served in the Royal Navy. 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. In 1943 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his work on Malta convoy operations.
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. 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. Marriage David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven died, aged 50, on 14 April 1970 in London.
His ashes were buried in the Battenberg Chapel at Saint Mildred"s Church, Whippingham, on the Isle of Wight (photo).
12 May 1919 - 11 September 1921: Viscount Alderney 11 September 1921 – 8 April 1938: Earl of Medina 8 April 1938 – 14 April 1970: The Most Honourable The Marquess of Milford Haven.