Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma

Patricia Edwina Victoria Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, Baroness Brabourne,CBE,DStJ,MSC,CD(néeMountbatten; 14 February 1924 – 13 June 2017), was aBritish peeressand third cousin ofQueen Elizabeth II. She was the elder daughter ofAdmiral of the Fleetthe1st Earl Mountbatten of Burmaand of heiressEdwina Ashley(apatrilinealdescendant of theearls of Shaftesbury, first ennobled in 1661). She was the elder sister ofLady Pamela Hicks, the first cousin ofPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the last survivingbaptismal sponsorto her first cousin once removedKing Charles III. She was the great-great-granddaughter ofQueen Victoria.
Lady Mountbatten succeeded her father to theEarldom Mountbatten of Burmawhen hewas assassinatedin 1979, as his peerages had been created with specialremainderto his daughters and theirheirs male. This inheritance accorded her the title ofcountessand a seat in theHouse of Lords, where she remained until 1999, when theHouse of Lords Act 1999removed most hereditary peers from the House.
On 26 October 1946, she marriedJohn Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne(9 November 1924 – 23 September 2005), at the time an aide to her father in theFar East. They had met after Patricia, having served in theWomen's Royal Naval Service, was commissioned in 1945 as athird officerand was serving in the Supreme Allied Headquarters, South East Asia. The wedding took place atRomsey Abbeyin the presence of members of the royal family. Her bridesmaids werePrincess Elizabeth,Princess Margaret,Lady Pamela Mountbatten(the bride's younger sister), andPrincess Alexandra, daughter of theDukeandDuchess of Kent.
Later, they became one of the few married couples each of whom held apeeragein their own right, and whose descendants inherited titles through both. They had eight children:
As Lady Brabourne during her father's lifetime, her immediate family became closely involved in the consideration of a futureconsortfor her first cousin once removed,Charles, Prince of Wales. In early 1974, Lord Mountbatten began corresponding with the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip about a potential marriage to Lady Brabourne's daughter, Amanda.Charles wrote to Lady Brabourne (who was also hisgodmother), about his interest in her daughter, to which she replied approvingly, though suggesting that acourtshipwas premature.Amanda Knatchbull declined the marriage proposal of Charles in 1980, following theassassination of her maternal grandfather.
Patricia was educated inMalta, England, and at theHewitt SchoolinNew York City. In 1943, at age 19, she entered theWomen's Royal Naval Serviceas a Signal Rating and served in Combined Operations bases in Britain, includingHMSTormentor.She was then commissioned as athird officerin 1945 and serving in the Supreme Allied Headquarters, South East Asia.
In 1973 she was appointed Deputy Lieutenant for the County ofKent; she was also a serving magistrate and was involved with numerous service organisations includingSOS Children's Villages UK, of which she was a Patron; theOrder of St John, of which she was a Dame; and the Countess Mountbatten's OwnLegion of Frontiersmenof the Commonwealth, of which she was a Patron.
On 15 June 1974, she succeeded her distant cousin Lady Patricia Ramsay, formerlyHRHPrincess Patricia of Connaught, asColonel-in-ChiefofPrincess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, for whom the regiment was named when Princess Patricia's father, theDuke of Connaught, wasGovernor General of Canadaduring theFirst World War. Despite her succeeding to an earldom in her own right as Countess Mountbatten of Burma on the death of her father in 1979, she preferred that the officers and men of her regiment address her as Lady Patricia. She was succeeded byThe Right HonourableAdrienne Clarksonon 17 March 2007. On 28 August 2007, the Governor General ofCanadapresented her with the CanadianMeritorious Service Crossfor her services as Colonel-in-Chief of Princess Patricia's Light Infantry.
Patricia was in the boat which was blown up by theIRAoff the shores ofMullaghmore, County Sligo, in August 1979, killing her 14-year-old son Nicholas; her father; her mother-in-law, theDowager Baroness Brabourne; and 15-year-oldPaul Maxwell, a boat-boy fromCounty Fermanagh. She, her husband, and their son Timothy were injured but survived the attack.Following the incident the Countess became Patron and, later, President ofThe Compassionate Friends, a self-help charitable organisation of bereaved parents in the UK.
In June 2012, at the time ofQueen Elizabeth II's first visit to theRepublic of Ireland, Countess Mountbatten said the Queen had her full support for meetingMartin McGuinness, who had been a high-ranking member of theIRA. "I think it's wonderful ... I'm hugely grateful that we have come to a point where we can behave responsibly and positively", she is reported to have said.In September 2012, she unveiled a memorial to the work of the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties atHayling Islandin Hampshire.
Countess Mountbatten died at her home inMersham,Kent, aged 93. Her funeral service took place on 27 June 2017 atSt Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, and was attended by theQueen Elizabeth II,Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and other senior members of theroyal family. Her casket was borne by a party of pall bearers fromPrincess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, who were in London on public duties. She was buried in theKnatchbull familyplot in Mersham churchyard.