The Scandal That Shaped Partition: The House of Mountbatten
5/12/20265 min
Who was the last Viceroy of India and why was his marriage so unconventional? How many affairs did Edwina Mountbatten have? Why was Lord Mountbatten known as the “Master of Disaster” by senior Navy officials? In Episode 2 of Empire’s first members’ miniseries, Anita is joined once again by Alex Von Tunzelmann to discuss the origin story of the remaining two characters in the love triangle that shaped partition: Louis and Edwina Mountbatten. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Imogen Marriott Social Producer: Charlie Johnson Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 1· Host0:00
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Anita Anand· Host0:18
[upbeat music] This week on our Empire Club miniseries, we're going to c- carry on with the story of a scandal that shaped partition. Alex and I are discussing the unconventional marriage between the last Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, and his wife, Edwina Mountbatten. Now, last week you'll remember we set up Nehru's life before he fell in love with Edwina. This week we ask, how did the Mountbattens end up in India to begin with? Here's a clip from the episode where we discuss one of Edwina's many affairs of the 1920s and '30s. To access the full series, just head to empirepoduk.com, empirepoduk.com, and become a friend of the show.
Alex von Tunzelmann· Guest1:07
She was young, she was beautiful, she was rich.
Anita Anand· Host1:13
Yeah.
Alex von Tunzelmann· Guest1:14
She was married to someone who wasn't enough her.
Anita Anand· Host1:16
Yeah.
Alex von Tunzelmann· Guest1:16
She was probably gadling about a bit, and we put a pin, for instance, in Leslie Hutchinson and Paul Robeson.
Anita Anand· Host1:21
Okay. You, a- and why don't we put, um, Paul Robeson and Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson together to talk about, because it will be relevant- Yes ... in a moment.
Alex von Tunzelmann· Guest1:28
It's re- they come- Okay ... even though these