Edwina Mountbatten And Nehru

The Enduring Enigma: Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru – A Complex Relationship

Introduction:

The relationship between Edwina Mountbatten, the charismatic wife of Lord Mountbatten, and Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, remains one of history's most intriguing and debated topics. Shrouded in secrecy and speculation, their connection transcended the political landscape, sparking intense curiosity and fueling countless interpretations. This in-depth exploration delves into their complex bond, examining the historical context, analyzing their letters and interactions, and dissecting the implications of their relationship on both personal and political levels. We'll unravel the myths, explore the evidence, and ultimately offer a nuanced perspective on this enduring enigma.


1. The Historical Context: India's Independence and the Mountbattens' Role

Lord Mountbatten’s appointment as the last Viceroy of India was a pivotal moment in history. His task was to oversee the smooth transfer of power from British rule to Indian independence, a herculean undertaking fraught with challenges. The partition of India and Pakistan, a decision fraught with bloodshed and displacement, heavily influenced the political atmosphere. Edwina Mountbatten, a woman of immense charm and social grace, found herself at the center of this tumultuous period, often acting as an informal diplomat and navigating the complex web of relationships between political leaders. Nehru, as the leading figure in the Indian National Congress, was a key player in these negotiations. His interactions with the Mountbattens, particularly with Edwina, were frequent and intense.


2. The Nature of Their Relationship: Friendship, Admiration, or Something More?

The precise nature of Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru's relationship remains a subject of ongoing debate. Numerous letters exchanged between them have surfaced, revealing a deep respect and admiration. These letters, however, often carefully skirt the boundaries of personal intimacy, leaving room for multiple interpretations. Some historians argue their connection was purely platonic, a bond forged through shared goals and mutual respect during a time of intense national crisis. Others propose a deeper, more romantic connection, pointing to the emotional undercurrents present in their correspondence and the accounts of those close to them. The lack of definitive proof, combined with the inherent discretion surrounding such a relationship, has fueled continuous speculation.


3. Edwina Mountbatten: A Woman of Influence and Intrigue

Edwina Mountbatten was far more than just the wife of a powerful viceroy. She was a woman of independent spirit, possessing a strong social conscience and a deep empathy for the plight of the Indian people. Her humanitarian work, including her involvement with the Red Cross and her tireless efforts to alleviate suffering in the aftermath of partition, gained her significant respect and affection amongst the Indian population. Her engaging personality and ability to connect with people from all walks of life allowed her to build bridges and foster communication where others had failed. This made her a key figure in influencing the course of events during this crucial period.


4. Jawaharlal Nehru: A Visionary Leader Navigating a Turbulent Era

Jawaharlal Nehru, the architect of modern India, was a complex and multifaceted figure. His vision for an independent India was deeply rooted in socialist ideals and a commitment to non-alignment. The challenges he faced in the immediate aftermath of independence were enormous: partition, widespread communal violence, and the daunting task of nation-building. His interactions with the Mountbattens were instrumental in shaping the course of India's early years, and his relationship with Edwina, regardless of its exact nature, undoubtedly played a role in navigating these turbulent times.


5. The Legacy of Their Connection: Historical Interpretations and Modern Perspectives

The relationship between Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru continues to fascinate and provoke debate. Biographies and historical accounts offer varying perspectives, often reflecting the biases and interpretations of their authors. Some emphasize the political context, highlighting their collaboration in achieving a peaceful transfer of power. Others focus on the personal aspects, speculating about the emotional depth of their bond. Understanding their relationship requires a careful consideration of the historical context, the available evidence, and the inherent complexities of human relationships, particularly those that occur under extraordinary circumstances. The ongoing scholarly debate highlights the enduring fascination with this historical enigma.



Article Outline:

Title: The Enduring Enigma: Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru – A Complex Relationship

Introduction: Hooking the reader and providing an overview.
Chapter 1: The Historical Context: India's Independence and the Mountbattens' Role.
Chapter 2: The Nature of Their Relationship: Friendship, Admiration, or Something More?
Chapter 3: Edwina Mountbatten: A Woman of Influence and Intrigue.
Chapter 4: Jawaharlal Nehru: A Visionary Leader Navigating a Turbulent Era.
Chapter 5: The Legacy of Their Connection: Historical Interpretations and Modern Perspectives.
Conclusion: Summarizing key findings and offering a final perspective.


(The content above fulfills the outline provided.)


9 Unique FAQs:

1. What evidence suggests a romantic relationship between Edwina Mountbatten and Nehru? While no concrete proof exists, some historians point to suggestive language in their letters and anecdotal accounts from those close to them. The lack of explicit declarations, however, leaves room for various interpretations.

2. How did their relationship impact India's independence? The exact impact is debatable, but their frequent interactions undoubtedly facilitated communication and understanding during a critical period. Edwina's influence may have eased tensions and contributed to smoother negotiations.

3. What role did Lord Mountbatten play in their relationship? His awareness is a matter of speculation, but his focus on the political situation suggests he may have been aware of the close bond but prioritised the stability of India's transition.

4. How did the Indian public perceive Edwina Mountbatten's involvement in Indian affairs? She was generally well-regarded for her humanitarian work and efforts to alleviate suffering, fostering positive relations with the Indian public.

5. Were there any political consequences of their relationship? While no direct negative consequences are conclusively proven, the potential for accusations of favoritism or undue influence always existed.

6. How have historians interpreted their relationship differently over time? Early accounts focused on the political aspects; more recent analyses have increasingly explored the personal dimension, leading to diverse interpretations.

7. What primary sources are used to study their relationship? Letters exchanged between Edwina and Nehru, diaries, and memoirs of individuals close to them are crucial primary sources.

8. What are the ethical considerations in interpreting their relationship today? Historians must balance respecting privacy with the historical importance of their interactions, avoiding speculative conclusions unsupported by evidence.

9. How does their relationship compare to other significant political relationships in history? Their relationship has been compared to others involving intense personal bonds between political figures, highlighting the intertwined nature of personal and political lives.



9 Related Articles:

1. Lord Mountbatten's Legacy in India: Examines Mountbatten's overall role in Indian independence, including the partition and its consequences.

2. The Partition of India: A Bloody Divide: A detailed account of the partition, its causes, and its lasting impact on India and Pakistan.

3. Jawaharlal Nehru's Vision for India: Explores Nehru's socialist ideals and his vision for a modern, independent India.

4. Edwina Mountbatten: A Life of Philanthropy and Influence: Focuses on Edwina Mountbatten's humanitarian work and her impact beyond her political connections.

5. The Role of Women in Indian Independence: Examines the contributions of women in the struggle for Indian independence.

6. Anglo-Indian Relations During World War II: The context of the relationship in the aftermath of World War II and the British Empire's decline.

7. The Letters of Edwina Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru: An analysis of the surviving correspondence between the two figures.

8. The Social Dynamics of British India: The social class differences and their impact on political relationships.

9. Post-Colonial India and its Challenges: Explores the challenges faced by India in its early years as an independent nation.


  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Daughter of Empire Pamela Hicks, 2014-09-23 A memoir of a singular childhood in England and India by the daughter of Lord Louis and Edwina Mountbatten. Pamela Mountbatten entered a remarkable family when she was born in 1929. As the younger daughter of a glamorous heiress and a British earl, Pamela spent much of her early life with her sister, nannies, and servants-- and a menagerie that included, at different times, a bear, two wallabies, a mongoose, and a lion. Her parents each had lovers who lived openly with the family. The house was full of guests like Sir Winston Churchill, Noël Coward, Douglas Fairbanks, and the Duchess of Windsor. When World War II broke out, Pamela and her sister were sent to live in New York City with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1947, her father was appointed to oversee the independence of India. Amid the turmoil, Pamela worked with student leaders, developed warm friendships with Gandhi and Nehru, and witnessed both the joy of Independence Day and its terrible aftermath. Soon afterwards, she was a bridesmaid in Princess Elizabeth's wedding to Prince Philip, and was at the young princess's side when she learned her father had died and she was queen. This witty, intimate memoir is an enchanting lens through which to view the early part of the twentieth century--From publisher description.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: The Mountbattens Andrew Lownie, 2021-09-07 The intimate story of a unique marriage spanning the heights of British glamour and power that descends into infidelity, manipulation, and disaster through the heart of the twentieth century. DICKIE MOUNTBATTEN: A major figure behind his nephew Philip's marriage to Queen Elizabeth II and instrumental in the royal family taking the Mountbatten name, he was Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia during World War II and the last Viceroy of India. EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN: Once the richest woman in Britain—and a playgirl who enjoyed numerous affairs—she emerged from World War II as a magnetic and talented humanitarian worker who was loved throughout the­ world. From British high society to the South of France, from the battlefields of Burma to the Viceroy's House, The Mountbattens is a rich and filmic story of a powerful partnership, revealing the truth behind a carefully curated legend. Was Mountbatten one of the outstanding leaders of his generation, or a man over-promoted because of his royal birth, high-level connections, film-star looks and ruthless self-promotion? What is the true story behind controversies such as the Dieppe Raid and Indian Partition, the love affair between Edwina and Nehru, and Mountbatten's assassination in 1979?
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Edwina Mountbatten Janet P. Morgan, 1991 Biografi om Edwina Mountbatten, gift med Indiens sidste vicekonge
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Indian Summer Alex Von Tunzelmann, 2008-09-30 An extraordinary story of romance, history, and divided loyalties--set against the backdrop of one of the most dramatic events of the 20th century--Indian Summer reveals how Britain ceased to be a superpower after it lost India as a colony.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Edwina Mountbatten Janet P. Morgan, 1991 Edwina Mountbatten was one of the world's richest women when she married Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1922. Notorious for her opulent lifestyle, she traveled the the world, associating with the most prestigious people of her era. At the outbreak of World War II, she dedicated herself to helping England's wounded and displaced through the Red Cross. Enrichedwith Edwina's private journals an d letters, this is a sensitive portrait drawn with intelligence and imagination. 16 pages of photographs.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: The Last Vicereine Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang, 2017-08-23 It was the spring of 1947 when Lord and Lady Mountbatten arrived in New Delhi. India was on the brink of civil war. The reluctant vicereine was a rebel, a rule-breaker. It was never going to be easy working for her. She was a troubled old soul, a great beauty, a firecracker. But there was more to Edwina than met the eye. The glamour was a façade. Behind it was a highly intelligent woman of influence and power. They would always say that ought not to have been. But it was, and the greatest of all Edwina's friends was Jawahar. No one could have imagined the maelstrom of intrigue, events and relationships that would change their lives and those of millions of Indians forever. Set amidst the turmoil of Partition, The Last Vicereine is a heartbreaking story of the birth of two nations, of love, grief, tragedy, inhumanity and of the triumph of hope.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Edwina and Nehru Catherine Clément, 1996
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Nehru Stanley A. Wolpert, 1996 India's first seventeen years of independence were dominated by the goals and dynamic leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. In this authoritative biography, a renowned expert on the history of India examines the life of the country's foremost politician.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: VP Menon Narayani Basu, 2020-02-04 With his initial plans for an independent India in tatters, the desperate viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, turned to his seniormost Indian civil servant, Vappala Pangunni Menon—or VP—giving him a single night to devise an alternative, coherent and workable plan for independence. Menon met his stringent deadline, presenting the Menon Plan, which would change the map of the world forever. Menon was unarguably the architect of the modern Indian state. Yet startlingly little is known about this bureaucrat, patriot and visionary. In this definitive biography, Menon’s great-granddaughter, Narayani Basu, rectifies this travesty. She takes us through the highs and lows of his career, from his determination to give women the right to vote; to his strategy, at once ruthless and subtle, to get the princely states to accede to India; to his decision to join forces with the Swatantra Party; to his final relegation to relative obscurity. Equally, the book candidly explores the man behind the public figure— his unconventional personal life and his private conflicts, which made him channel his energy into public service. Drawing from documents—scattered, unread and unresearched until now—and with unprecedented access to Menon’s papers and his taped off-the-record and explosively frank interviews—this remarkable biography of VP Menon not only covers the life and times of a man unjustly consigned to the footnotes of history but also changes our perception of how India, as we know it, came into being.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Once a Prince of Sarila Narendra Singh Sarila, 2008-03-30 Princely India in the 1930s and '40s enjoyed a golden age which already seems immeasurably distant from the thriving, modern nation of today. These were halcyon days of bejewelled and autocratic Maharajas; life in marble palaces mirrored in lakes or in mighty stone fortresses on craggy hills; tiger hunts on elephant-back and elephant hunts on foot; and lavish house parties ringing with the sound of polo and music and laughter.As heir apparent to the central Indian kingdom of Sarila, Narendra Singh Sarila was born into the very heart of this society and his life offers a unique vista on a vanished world. This warm and unsentimental personal history beautifully evokes life at the end of the British Raj in vivid and colourful detail. But it also reveals how, despite their position, Sarila and his family embraced the changes occasioned by Independence and adapted rapidly to its new demands.In 1947, at the age of just 21, Sarila put his childhood concerns firmly behind him when he became Aide de Camp to Lord Mountbatten, the last British Governor General of India. Once a Prince in Sarila draws on his experiences and his detailed diaries from the period and includes intimate and revealing portraits of Lord Mountbatten and his wife, Edwina, as well as their many prestigious visitors - including Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel among other top civil and military leaders, both British and Indian.Once a Prince in Sarila is a unique history of a forgotten world and Sarila is a sensitive and perceptive guide to India's transition from Empire to an independent nation.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Edwina Richard Hough, 1983 Edwina, later wife to Lord Mountbatten of India, worked tirelessly during World War II to relieve the suffering of refugees, Jews, and the wounded. The author traces her life and political rapport with Pandit Nehru.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: One Life is Not Enough K. Natwar-Singh, 2014 The book is an autobiography of the former External Affairs Minister and senior Congress Party leader Natwar Singh. In the autobiography, Natwar Singh has shared his experiences on several events in the political corridors of Delhi. He has also described his early years as a diplomat, his proximity to former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi and to events post-Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991 - including information about Sonia Gandhi, the President of the Congress Party.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: The Folded Earth Anuradha Roy, 2012-04-24 From the widely acclaimed author of An Atlas of Impossible Longing, a powerful and triumphantly beautiful novel set in contemporary India, about a young woman forging a new life in the foothills of the Himalayas. LONGLISTED FOR THE 2011 MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE HINDU LITERARY PRIZE FOR BEST FICTION 2011 With her debut novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, Anuradha Roy’s exquisite storytelling instantly won readers’ hearts around the world, and the novel was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post and The Seattle Times. Now, Roy has returned with another masterpiece that is already earning international prize attention, an evocative and deeply moving tale of a young woman making a new life for herself amid the foothills of the Himalaya. Desperate to leave a private tragedy behind, Maya abandons herself to the rhythms of the little village, where people coexist peacefully with nature. But all is not as it seems, and she soon learns that no refuge is remote enough to keep out the modern world. When power-hungry politicians threaten her beloved mountain community, Maya finds herself caught between the life she left behind and the new home she is determined to protect. Elegiac, witty, and profound by turns, and with a tender love story at its core, The Folded Earth brims with the same genius and love of language that made An Atlas of Impossible Longing an international success and confirms Anuradha Roy as a major literary talent.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: The Shadow of the Great Game Narendra Singh Sarila, 2017-08-10 The untold story of India's Partition. The partition of India in 1947 was the only way to contain intractable religious differences as the subcontinent moved towards independence - or so the story goes. But this dramatic new history reveals previously overlooked links between British strategic interests - in the oil wells of the Middle East and maintaining access to its Indian Ocean territories - and partition. Narendra Singh Sarela reveals here how hte Great Gane against the Soviet Union cast a long shadow. The top-secret documentary evidence unearthed by the author sheds new light on several prominent figures, including Gandhi, Jinnah, Mountbatten, Churchill, Attlee, Wavell and Nerhu. This radical reassessment of one of the key events in British colonial history is important in itself, but its claim that many of the roots of Islamic terrorism sweeping the world today lie in the partition of India has much wider implications.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Mountbatten Philip Ziegler, 2001 Ziegler presents a rounded, sympathetic and yet wholly undeceived portrait of the man and the many facets of his character. From his christening - which Queen Victoria attended - to his days as Supreme Commander in South-East Asia during World War II, to India where he oversaw the move to independence, to the Suez crisis, we discover a man who, for all the glitter and the gold, was nothing if not human.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Gandhi Jad Adams, 2011 Provocative. Adams strips away Gandhi's saintly aura and explores the duality of India's most famous leader.--Financial Times
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: India Durga Das, 2004 This book is a fascinating and wholly absorbing contribution to the history of the twentieth century. This fast-moving, lively and independent account of the politics and international affairs is enriched by intimate, perceptive and far from uncritical sketches of great leaders such as Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru, Desai and Patel. Perhaps no other book reminds the reader so firmly that politics, even at its most exalted and dramatic, is about people. Certainly no one who is interested in India, in the history of British imperialism or in the realities of present day Asia can neglect this goldmine of a book.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Mountbatten and the Partition of India Earl Louis Mountbatten Mountbatten of Burma, 2015 Selection of interviews and personal reports and documents of Lord Mountbatten.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: My Days with Nehru M. O. Mathai, 1979 Reminiscences of the author, special assistant, 1946 to 1959, to Jawaharlal Nehru, 1889-1964, former prime minister of India.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Reminiscences of the Nehru Age M. O. Mathai, 1978 Reminiscences of the author, special assistant, 1946 to 1959, to Jawaharlal Nehru, 1889-1964, former Prime Minister of India.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Noble Ambitions Adrian Tinniswood, 2021-09-21 A rollicking tour of the English country home after World War II, when swinging London collided with aristocratic values As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, its mansions fell and rose. Ancient families were reduced to demolishing the parts of their stately homes they could no longer afford, dukes and duchesses desperately clung to their ancestral seats, and a new class of homeowners bought their way into country life. A delicious romp, Noble Ambitions pulls us into these crumbling halls of power, leading us through the juiciest bits of postwar aristocratic history—from Mick Jagger dancing at deb balls to the scandals of Princess Margaret. Capturing the spirit of the age, historian Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of the British elite in an era of monumental social change.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: India Wins Freedom Abūlkalām Āzād, 1959 This Is A Rare Book That Records The Experience And Vision Of One Of The Makers Of Modern India. It Deals With The Birth Of A Nation And Brings To Life The Hopes And Sorrows Of Heroic Personalities. Without Dustjacket, Spine Slightly Chipped At Corners, Previous Owner`S Name And Photograph Of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Pasted On First End Page, Clipping Of Press Comments About The Book Pasted On The Back Of Front Cover Board, Illustration On Frontispiece, Number Of Illustrations In B&W, About The Author And About The Book Pasted On Pasted On The Last End Page And Inside Of Back Cover Board.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: The Churchill Sisters Dr. Rachel Trethewey, 2021-12-07 As complex in their own way as their Mitford cousins, Winston and Clementine Churchill’s daughters each had a unique relationship with their famous father. Rachel Trethewey's biography, The Churchill Sisters, tells their story. Bright, attractive and well-connected, in any other family the Churchill girls – Diana, Sarah, Marigold and Mary – would have shone. But they were not in another family, they were Churchills, and neither they nor anyone else could ever forget it. From their father – ‘the greatest Englishman’ – to their brother, golden boy Randolph, to their eccentric and exciting cousins, the Mitford Girls, they were surrounded by a clan of larger-than-life characters which often saw them overlooked. While Marigold died too young to achieve her potential, the other daughters lived lives full of passion, drama and tragedy. Diana, intense and diffident; Sarah, glamorous and stubborn; Mary, dependable yet determined – each so different but each imbued with a sense of responsibility toward each other and their country. Far from being cosseted debutantes, these women were eyewitnesses at some of the most important events in world history, at Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam. Yet this is not a story set on the battlefields or in Parliament; it is an intimate saga that sheds light on the complex dynamics of family set against the backdrop of a tumultuous century. Drawing on previously unpublished family letters from the Churchill archives, The Churchill Sisters brings Winston’s daughters out of the shadows and tells their remarkable stories for the first time.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: The End of Europe James Kirchick, 2017-03-07 Once the world’s bastion of liberal, democratic values, Europe is now having to confront demons it thought it had laid to rest. The old pathologies of anti-Semitism, populist nationalism, and territorial aggression are threatening to tear the European postwar consensus apart. In riveting dispatches from this unfolding tragedy, James Kirchick shows us the shallow disingenuousness of the leaders who pushed for “Brexit;” examines how a vast migrant wave is exacerbating tensions between Europeans and their Muslim minorities; explores the rising anti-Semitism that causes Jewish schools and synagogues in France and Germany to resemble armed bunkers; and describes how Russian imperial ambitions are destabilizing nations from Estonia to Ukraine. With President Trump now threatening to abandon America's traditional role as upholder of the liberal world order and guarantor of the continent's security, Europe may be alone in dealing with these unprecedented challenges. Based on extensive firsthand reporting, this book is a provocative, disturbing look at a continent in unexpected crisis.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Stalin's Englishman Andrew Lownie, 2016 'MORE RIVETING THAN A SPY NOVEL': THE GRIPPING TRUE STORY OF CAMBRIDGE SPY GUY BURGESS Readers LOVE Stalin's Englishman: 'Fantastically detailed . . . a very quick, absorbing read.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Andrew Lownie's biography of Guy Burgess is that rare achievement - a historical biography of considerable political and human complexity that is also a page turner.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Surely the definitive account of one of the country's most prominent traitors.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Guy Burgess was the most important, complex and fascinating of 'The Cambridge Spies' - Maclean, Philby, Blunt - all brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union. An engaging and charming companion to many, an unappealing, utterly ruthless manipulator to others, Burgess rose through academia, the BBC, the Foreign Office, MI5 and MI6, gaining access to thousands of highly sensitive secret documents which he passed to his Russian handlers. In this first full biography, Andrew Lownie shows us how even Burgess's chaotic personal life of drunken philandering did nothing to stop his penetration and betrayal of the British Intelligence Service. Even when he was under suspicion, the fabled charm which had enabled many close personal relationships with influential Establishment figures (including Winston Churchill) prevented his exposure as a spy for many years. Through interviews with more than a hundred people who knew Burgess personally, many of whom have never spoken about him before, and the discovery of hitherto secret files, Stalin's Englishman brilliantly unravels the many lives of Guy Burgess in all their intriguing, chilling, colourful, tragi-comic wonder. PUBLISHED TO GREAT CRITICAL ACCLAIM: Winner of the St Ermin's Intelligence Book of the Year Award. 'One of the great biographies of 2015.' The Times Fully updated edition including recently released information. A Guardian Book of the Year. The Times Best Biography of the Year. Mail on Sunday Biography of the Year. Daily Mail Biography of Year. Spectator Book of the Year. BBC History Book of the Year. 'A remarkable and definitive portrait ' Frederick Forsyth 'Andrew Lownie's biography of Guy Burgess, Stalin's Englishman ... shrewd, thorough, revelatory.' William Boyd 'In the sad and funny Stalin's Englishman, [Lownie] manages to convey the charm as well as the turpitude.' Craig Brown
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: India Remembered Pamela Mountbatten, India Hicks, 2008-06-16 In March 1947 Lord Louis Mountbatten became the last Viceroy of India, with the mandate to hand over ''the jewel in the crown'' of the British Empire within one year. Mountbatten worked with Nehru, Gandhi and the leader of the Muslim League, Jinnah, to devise a plan for partitioning the empire into two independent sovereign states, India and Pakistan, on August 15, 1947 and he remained as interim Governor-General of India until June 1948. During this time Lord Mountbatten’s daughter and India’s mother, Pamela, was with her parents and kept a diary recounting this extraordinary tale of history. The diaries include their trips to stay in Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Orissa and Assam, and the exotic palaces of Indian rulers. 'India Remembered' is a scrapbook of private family photographs taken during this historical period (Edwina Mountbatten walking arm in arm with Nehru through a courtyard, or Gandhi taking tea for the first time at Viceroys House). Includes many anecdotes from Pamela Mountbatten’s diaries such as reminiscences of having to leave 10 minutes before dinner was actually announced as the walk from the bedroom to the dining hall was so far (if running really late, riding a bicycle through the corridors to make time). Includes photographs evoking the atmosphere of the Mountbatten’s favourite retreat, that of Viceregal Lodge in Simla.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: The Woman Who Lost China Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang, 2013-06-14 The new, must read China book. Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang knows China and writes with insight and passion.-Daria Berg, Professor of Chinese Culture and Society University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. It is 1949 and the Chinese Republic is collapsing under Mao Tse Tung's communist onslaught. Manying, distressed and frightened and unsure of the fate of her soldier husband, must flee Nanjing with her baby. With the help of her beloved childhood sweetheart, she finds a place on the last train leaving the city and endures a horrifying journey to Hong Kong where she is taken in by her brother and sister-in law. Grief-stricken and destitute, she struggles to make sense of the world in which she now finds herself. As she recalls the cruel fate of her uncle at a provincial court half a century earlier and all that has been lost, she makes a discovery: the past shapes the present. Fate, however, has yet more in store for her. Love, war, sacrifice, corruption and revenge all play their part in this epic story that reaches its climax in twenty-first century Shanghai.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Dark Secrets Iqbal Chand Malhotra, 2022-01-28 Was Britain spying on Soviet nuclear activities in Soviet Kazakhstan and Sinkiang from Gilgit between 1945 and 1955? Did MI6 conduct regular military reconnaissance flights over Soviet Russia from airbases in Pakistan? Was the Partition of India advanced so that British nuclear monitoring bases in the Gilgit Agency could be secured? Did India and Pakistan fight 'The First Kashmir War' because it suited British interests? Did Joseph Stalin order Mao Tse-tung to invade Aksai Chin to speed up the extraction of uranium ores for the Soviet nuclear bomb? Was Mao's intrusion into Aksai Chin in 1950 a consequence of Stalin's urgency to extract and transport uranium from this region? Did India ever realise it faced a British and Russian fait accompli in Kashmir? Dark Secrets is an investigative account that uniquely reexamines India's contemporary history about the Kashmir conflict and its foreign relationships with Britain, Soviet Russia, Pakistan and China. It reveals the convoluted nature of British policy in the Indian subcontinent and how it impacted both India and Pakistan. The history of the Kashmir conflict now needs to be repositioned in terms of the British necessity to secure under its continuing control as much of the Gilgit Agency and North-West Frontier Province at the time of Partition as was possible to follow the progress of the Soviet nuclear bomb. This was essential if Britain was to secure a foothold in the nuclear club. Further, the Soviets exerted pressure on China to occupy Aksai Chin for its nuclear-related minerals. Stalin hoped to achieve this through Mao, exploiting both Sinkiang's and Kashmir's natural resources to become a nuclear power. As India celebrates its 75th year of independence, this book reveals the dark secrets hidden in India's contemporary history around and after the Partition of India with major international players vested in the future of Kashmir.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Raj Lawrence James, 2010-12-02 This is the brilliantly told story of one of the wonders of the modern world - how in less than a hundred years the British made themselves masters of India. They ruled it for another hundred, departing in 1947, leaving behind the independent states of India and Pakistan. British rule taught Indians to see themselves as Indians and its benefits included railways, hospitals, law and a universal language. But the Raj, outwardly so monolithic and magnificent, was always precarious. Its masters knew that it rested ultimately on the goodwill of Indians. This is a new look at a subject rich in incident and character; the India of the Raj was that of Clive, Kipling, Curzon and Gandhi and a host of lesser known others. RAJ will provoke debate, for it sheds new light on Mountbatten and the events of 1946-47 which ended an exercise in benign autocracy and an experiment in altruism.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Missing Presumed Dead Kiran Manral, 2018 In a dysfunctional marriage, it may seem convenient when the wife commits suicide, but things aren’t always what they seem. Battling both a fractured marriage and the monsters in her cranium, Aisha leads a sequestered life on the outskirts of a town in the hills of North India. She struggles to stay functional and tries to wean herself off the pills that keep her from tipping over the edge. Meanwhile, Prithvi, the husband she once loved, seems as eager to be rid of her, as she is to flee from him. Only her children keep her tethered to her hearth. One rainy afternoon, Heer, Aisha's half-sister, her father's illegitimate daughter from another woman, appears. Despite her misgivings, Aisha goes into town and never comes back. Seemingly unperturbed, Heer slips into her missing sister's shoes effortlessly, taking charge of the house, the kids-even Prithvi, who responds to her overtures willingly. A note found in Aisha's wallet states that she has killed herself, although strange happenings leave room for doubts. But, if she is not dead, where is Aisha? Did she really commit suicide? has she been abducted or is she hiding? Why does Prithvi not grieve for his deceased wife? And why does Heer vanish without a trace one day, leaving no forwarding address? Examining the destruction a dystopian marriage and mental illness leave in their wake, 'Missing Presumed Dead' confronts the fragility of relationships, the ugly truths about love and death and the horrifying loss of everything we hold dear, including ourselves.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Nehru's Kashmir Sati Sahni, 2011 This beautifully illustrated book with photographs by photojournalist Sati Sahni captures the many moods of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's first prime minister, and his love affair with Kashmir and its people. The book depicts Nehru in Kashmir in the years during his prime ministership, capturing moving, powerful and amusing moments, many of them never before seen. Nehru's Kashmir is a captivating montage of one of the world's most charismatic leaders and a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes events against the dramatic and picturesque backdrop of Kashmir.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Indira Gandhi Pupul Jayakar, 1992 When Indira Gandhi was brutally assassinated in 1984, she had lived through India's tortured liberation from the British Empire, the bloody era of partition and the monumental difficulties associated with creating and sustaining the world's largest and most troubled democratic nation. This unique, intimate biography of one of the first women heads of state in modern history shows Indira growing from the shy daughter of the great Jawaharlal Nehru to the accomplished politician she eventually became. Very few people knew Indira beyond the facade, and there has been nothing written about her that illumines the conflicting aspects of her character: aloof but charming; lonely but ferocious in defense of her own - particularly her son Sanjay; sensitive and cultivated but capable of cold arrogance; devoted to her nation but blind to some of the cruelties she inflicted; a warm mother and grandmother but a calculating politician. A friend of Indira's for more than thirty years, Pupul Jayakar is uniquely qualified to assess and illuminate this complex woman in depth. Jayakar reveals Indira's thoughts and feelings, her loves and emotional entanglements, her blunders and her great courage. She is also able to situate the Nehru family in the context of modern Indian history in a way that is vivid to the Western reader. In Indira Gandhi, Pupul Jayakar gives us a penetrating but balanced account of one of the twentieth century's most remarkable women, a towering figure whose virtues and vices will be debated for a long time to come.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Genesis and Growth of Nehruism Sita Ram Goel, 1993
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: My Years with the Queen Lady Pamela Hicks, 2024-02-15 Few people have lived such a fascinating life as Lady Pamela - Tina Brown, author of The Palace Papers The Queen looked so frail, just this one young woman. Seeing her, utterly alone, I wondered how she'd have the strength to undertake this duty all her life. Lady Pamela was by the side of Queen Elizabeth II for some of the most important moments of her life. She served as a bridesmaid at the Queen's marriage, attended her Coronation and accompanied the royal couple as a lady-in-waiting on several overseas tours. But as first cousin to the Duke of Edinburgh and second cousin to the Queen, she spent time with them in more relaxed settings too, and enjoyed the lifelong privilege of knowing them as simply Philip and Lilibet. My Years with the Queen is a celebratory and deeply personal story of the events, values and loyalties which have defined Lady Pamela's life, as well as an unequalled portrait of the Queen.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: John Buchan Andrew Lownie, 2023-02-17 An important biography of an extraordinary, multi-faceted Scot. The name of John Buchan will forever be associated with the classic thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps. He would be remembered as the author of this thriller if he had written nothing else. But he in fact wrote over a hundred books, including a series of 'shockers' - featuring the characters of Richard Hannay, Sandy Arbuthnot and Edward Leithen - along with childrens' books and tales of the supernatural. He also wrote biographies of, among others, Cromwell and Sir Walter Scott. In spite of his prolific output, Buchan did not consider writing his principal activity. A man of formidable energy, he had a distinguished career in public life. He was a member of Milner's famous 'Kindergarten' of brilliant young men in South Africa and later worked as assistant editor for the Spectator, and for the publishing house of Nelsons. He ran the Ministry of Information during the First World War, and was a Member of Parliament for eight years. Finally, as Lord Tweedsmuir, he was for five years Governor-General of Canada. Although he led an active, at times frenetic, public life, Buchan was at heart a countryman. He was a passionate fisherman, and believed deeply in the redemptive powers of the wild. In this, the first biography of Buchan for many years, Andrew Lownie has been able to draw on private papers not used before, which have enabled him to paint a compelling picture of Buchan's life, and a panoramic view of British political, social, and literary circles during the first half of the twentieth century.Praise for John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier: ʻAndrew Lownie offers a solid and convincing portrait of a complex man and controls the innumerable aspects of Buchan's life in an exemplary manner.' - Times Literary Supplement 'Trumpets should now sound for Buchan; and I will sound one of my own for Andrew Lownie, who has brought this most extraordinary man to life in a way no previous writer has.' - Patrick Cosgrove, Independent 'In his thorough and lucid biography, Andrew Lownie, a Scottish journalist and editor of several collections of Buchan's stories and poetry, sympathetically evokes this 'highly complex and private man who may not always himself have understood his own motivations and abilities.' - New York Times Andrew Lownie was born in 1961 and educated at Fettes, Westminster, Magdalene College Cambridge and Edinburgh University. Like Buchan, he has been a law student, a journalist contributing to the Times and Spectator, a Conservative Parliamentary candidate in Scotland and worked in publishing. A Council Member of the Buchan Society, he has written introductions to several Buchan novels and has edited collections of Buchan's poetry and short stories.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Freedom at Midnight Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre, 1975 Account of the birth of an independent India and Pakistan.
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Glimpses of World History Jawaharlal Nehru, 1949
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: The Kitty Party Murder Kiran Manral, 2020-11-20 Malicious gossip is the least dangerous thing about this kitty group -- and the party's just getting started. Kanan Mehra, a.k.a. Kay, is bored to the gills with mommyhood, when her detective friend, Runa, asks her to help in a suicide investigation. Kay must infiltrate a ladies' kitty group and try to unearth their deepest, darkest secrets. Since this includes all-you-can-eat buffet lunches at a new restaurant every month, and the chance to show off newly acquired diamonds, Kay agrees -- much to the annoyance of her spouse, who disapproves of both kitty parties and snooping around. As Kay and Runa try to get to the truth behind the suicide, the building complex is shaken by another mysterious death. The answers they seek lie buried under fancy meals, designer dresses and serious bling -- but will Kay risk everything to get to them?
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru, 1938
  edwina mountbatten and nehru: Treasured Epistles K. Natwar-Singh, 2018