Battenberg
Battenberg (Eder) is a town of 5000 inhabitants in Northern Hesse, Germany. It is situated in the upper Eder valley, 380m above sea level. First mentioned in a document of 1232. The early-gothic church dates from 1249.
Battenberg was also the surname and title given to, the wife of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, Countess Julia von Hauke. Prince Alexander 1823 - 1888 was the third son of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse and the Rhine and his wife Wilhelmina of Baden
Julia von Hauke was considered to be of insufficient rank to marry the son of a Grand Duke of Hesse, hence the marriage was morganatic. Thus Battenberg became the name of a cadet branch of the Grand Ducal family of Hesse.
Julia von Hauke was given the defunct title Countess of Battenberg by her brother-in-law, Grand Duke Ludwig III of Hesse and the Rhine in 1851 and was elevated to 'non royal' Princess of Battenberg in 1858 . As a result of this final elevation the children of this union were also elevated to prince or Princess, and addressed as 'Serene Highness'.
The couple had five children:-
- Prince Louis of Battenberg 1854 - 1921
- Princess Marie of Battenberg 1852 - 1923
- Prince Alexander of Battenberg, 1857 - 1893
- Prince Henry of Battenberg 1858 - 1896
- Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg 1861 - 1924
On son of this marriage Prince Henry of Battenberg married Princess Beatrice the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria their daughter Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg became Queen Consort of Spain. In order for this to be possible her uncle Edward VII had to elevate her to 'Royal Highness' in order for her to have the necessary royal status to marry into the Spanish royal house.
Another son Alexander was made Sovereign Prince of Bulgaria he was later kidnapped and forced to abdicate.
During World War I Alexander and Julia's eldest son Prince Louis of Battenberg, became a British Subject and due to anti-German feelings prevalent at the time anglicised his name to Mountbatten. This branch of the family also renounced all German titles, and were granted peerages by their cousin King George V. The Marquesssate of Milford Haven belongs to this family;
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, is the son of Prince Louis of Battenberg's daughter Alice. Prince Louis's youngest son was Earl Mountbatten of Burma
In 1952 on the accession of Queen Elizabeth there was a fear that certain members of the Mountbatten family wished to change the name of the Windsor dynasty to Mountbatten. Queen Mary (the new Queen's grandmother) expressed her aversion to this idea to the then Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
Queen Mary's objection was based on the fact that Prince Philip, was in fact as the son of Prince Andrew of Greece a Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg and only a Mountabatten through his mother Princess Alice of Battenberg. Prince Philip had only taken the more 'English sounding' surname when joining the British navy on the advice of his ambitious uncle Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Queen Mary was also of the generation who considered a morganatic surname to carry some stigma, and therefore did not want it tainting the name of the British Royal House.
Winston Churchill raised the matter in Parliament where it was decided that the name of the Royal House would remain Windsor, as decreed in perpetuity by Queen Mary's husband King George V.
However, in 1960, it was decreed that the surname Mountbatten will in future generations be incorporated into the cadet branches of the British Royal Family.
