Monday, August 13, 2007

The Mountbattens and Nehru

Photos: Nehru, Edwina, Lord Louis Mountbatten (Wikimedia)
Edwina Mountbatten, who had Jewish ancestry, is widely believed to have had an affair with Jawaharlal Nehru, India's Hindu leader.

Some have speculated that Lord Mountbatten may also have had an affair with Nehru.

Edwina's mother was Maude Cassel (1879-1911), daughter of the Jewish millionaire Sir Ernest Cassel, friend of Asquith, Churchill and the future King Edward VII.

It is suspected that Edwina may have had an influence on the boundaries that were set between Moslem Pakistan and India.

From 1946-1947, Edwina's husband, Lord Mountbatten, was in charge of Britain's colony of India. He was the Viceroy.

Various events had persuaded Moslem leaders that India should be split and that there should be a separate Moslem state called Pakistan.

The Radcliffe Boundary Commission was in charge of working out boundaries between India and Pakistan.

Ian Scott, deputy private secretary to Mounbatten, believes that Mounbatten "showed the final boundary recommendation to Nehru (leader of the Congress Party) who objected to the Punjab line of demarcation, which Mounbatten then adjusted." (BASAS Newsletter 2:4)

Some people suspect that Edwina Mounbatten, who was reportedly having a passionate relationship with Nehru at the time, may have persuaded Lord Mountbatten to adjust the boundaries in a way that outraged the Moslems (the Muslim League).

Partly as a result of the disputed boundaries, India and Pakistan became involved in three wars, in 1948, 1965, and 1971.

Reportedly both Lord Mountbatten and Edwina Mountbatten were bisexual. Allegedly, Lord Mountbatten was sometimes referred to as Lord Mountbottom. (Partitioning India over lunch)

Did Lord Mountbatten have an affair with Nehru?

Prof Stanley Wolpert, author of Nehru: A Tryst With Destiny "implies that Nehru had several homosexual encounters during his early years in Allahabad, and later at Harrow and Cambridge.
"He also describes instances when Nehru dressed in drag 'Wearing his wig, made up with lipstick, powder and eye shadow, his body draped in silks and satins..." (HVK Archives: Nehru may have had gay tendencies, reveals biographer)


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