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Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Lady Tatiana (Mountbatten) banned from driving for 6 months


Queen Elizabeth, 93+ is always in news ! –  It was the WhatsApp message that convinced millions of people the Queen is no more.  had died. Now, the mystery of how a man called Gibbo and his friends inadvertently created a fake news panic that went “bigger than Ben Hur” has apparently been solved – and the finger of blame is pointing at a military drill near Yeovil.   On Sunday night, millions of Britons received messages suggesting the monarch had passed away, often forwarded on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter, prompting Google searches for the Queen to spike and forcing Buckingham Palace to insist the 93-year-old was very much still alive.

Moving away, the Queen's second cousin was recently banned from driving after speeding three times in ten days despite claiming it would place 'significant hardship' on her equestrian business.  Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, 29, from Knightsbridge, admitted breaking the 60mph speed limit on the M4 in her 2018 £50,000 grey Porsche Macan three times in March this year. The aristocratic horse rider was caught in her 4x4 by a speed camera on the M4 near Heston Services on March 1 driving at 70mph, the court heard. Her Porsche was then caught five days later, on March 6, travelling at 71mph and then again on March 10 at 70mph.  

Imagine something akin happening to kin of a political leader in India!  ~ a few years ago, when a former CM was arrested, someone shouted at the Police claiming that he is a Central Minister and is above law ! - Mountbatten appeared at Lavender Hill Magistrates' Court, Battersea, London,  wearing a silk scarf under a black designer coat.  She spoke only to confirm her name, address, date of birth, and to enter guilty pleas to three charges of exceeding the speed limit.   Lady Tatiana already had nine penalty points on her license after receiving three more for each speeding offence which took her over the disqualification threshold of 12 points.  Because Lady Tatiana is the only holder of a HGV licence within her business, the court heard the ban will cause great inconvenience in transporting horses via a horsebox.  Lawyers representing Lady Tatiana said that a driving ban would place her in 'significant hardship' because she needed to travel to and from her equestrian business, which is an hour from London. 

Lady Tatiana rides every morning in Windsor and drives to run her business horsehub.com, according to her website. Her horses are based outside of London making her dependent on using her car.  Besides horse-riding, she has other avocations too. Lady Tatiana was appointed as an ambassador to the 'quintessential luxury British fashion' brand Crofton & Hall least year.  Mark Haslam, defending, said the impact of a ban would mean she would have to use public transport or 'beg, borrow and steal' to get to work but her 'greatest concern' was it could cost her staff their jobs. He added:  'Of course she is the author of her own misfortune and she must bear the consequences. But there is a knock-on effect.' Mr. Haslam said his client had not 'wilfully disregarded' the limit but had been 'blissfully unaware of her offending' after not realising the speed had been reduced from 70mph to 60mph.

However, a panel of magistrates said Lady Tatiana would be disqualified for six months. She was fined £150 for each speeding offence, with £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.  Magistrate Bukky Okunade told her: 'We have heard what has been said on your behalf and given you credit for pleading guilty in the first instance. 'They are serious matters of speeding, a multiple matter, three. Because of your totting you have to be disqualified for six months.  'If you drive while disqualified it is a serious offence and you can be sent into custody and disqualified again.' Her brother, Henry Mountbatten, Earl of Medina, escaped a driving ban in 2012 after telling the court he could not afford to take a taxi to his regular flying lessons. 

Now a little bit of the family of the offender. Lady Tatiana is the daughter of Lord Milford Haven, who is a cousin of the Queen's, making her the second cousin of the Queen.  Lady Tatiana was born in 1990  to George Mountbatten, 4th Marquess of Milford Haven and his wife, Sarah Georgina (née Walker). Her great-grandparents gave up their German titles in exchange for titles within the British peerage, and Anglicized their family name from Battenberg to Mountbatten.  The Mountbatten family is a European dynasty originating as a cadet branch of the German princely Battenberg family. The name was adopted during World War I by family members residing in the United Kingdom due to rising anti-German sentiment amongst the British public. The name is a direct Anglicisation of the German Battenberg (literally Batten Mountain), a small town in Hesse.

Earl Mountbatten of Burma is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1947 for Rear Admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, youngest son of the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven and the last Viceroy of India. The letters patent creating the title specified the following special remainder to his daughters. The subsidiary titles of the Earldom are Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, of Romsey in the County of Southampton, created 1946, and Baron Romsey, of Romsey in the County of Southampton, created in 1947. Both of these titles, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, have the same special remainder as the Earldom.

Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900 – 1979), was a British Royal Navy officer and statesman, an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.  During the Second World War, he was Supreme Allied Commander, South East Asia Command.   He was the last Viceroy of India (1947) and the first Governor-General of independent India (1947–1948). 


His experience in the region and in particular his perceived Labour sympathies at that time led to Clement Attlee appointing him Viceroy of India on 20 Feb 1947  charged with overseeing the transition of British India to independence. Given the British government's recommendations to grant independence quickly, Mountbatten concluded that a united India was an unachievable goal and resigned himself to a plan for partition, creating the independent nations of India and Pakistan. When India and Pakistan attained independence at midnight on the night of 14–15 August 1947, Mountbatten remained in New Delhi for 10 months, serving as India's first governor general until June 1948. On Mountbatten's advice, India took the issue of Kashmir to the newly formed United Nations in January 1948. The issue of Kashmir would become a lasting thorn in his legacy.

He held various other positions after leaving India.  Sadly, in 1979, Mountbatten, his grandson Nicholas, and two others were killed by a bomb set by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, hidden aboard his fishing boat in Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland.

Prior to Mountbatten, the Viceroy was -  Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, CMG, MC, KStJ, PC (1883 –  1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and World War I, during which he was wounded in the Second Battle of Ypres. He was  defeated by the German Army in the Western Desert in April 1941. He served as Commander-in-Chief, India, from July 1941 until June 1943 and then served as Viceroy of India until his retirement in Feb 1947.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
10th dec 2019.

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