Auction of family collection of Mountbatten’s daughter, a survivor of the 1979 bomb
PROPERTY from the family collection of a daughter of Lord Mountbatten, who was seriously injured in the blast which killed her father, son and mother-in-law in Mullaghmore, was offered for sale in an auction at Sotheby’s in London yesterday, Wednesday. Patricia Mountbatten, later Patricia Knatchbull, spent many summers in Mullaghmore as a child and adult, and was one of the seven people aboard Lord Mountbatten’s boat Shadow V when the IRA detonated a bomb on it on August 27, 1979.
Killed in the blast along with her father Lord Mountbatten were her son Nicholas and 15-year-old Paul Maxwell from Enniskillen, who worked as a boatboy for Lord Mountbatten. The Dowager Baroness Brabourne, Patricia’s mother-in-law, also later died of her injuries.
Patricia, her husband John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, and her other son Timothy (Nicholas’s twin) were all seriously injured but survived. Her injuries required 120 facial stitches, which she later described as “my IRA face-lift”. Apparently the damage was so extensive that she couldn’t cry for a year – and did not stop crying for a year thereafter. Patricia became the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma after her father’s death. She spoke later about her memory of that day in 1979.
She said: “My own memory is of a vision of a ball exploding upwards and then of ‘coming to’ in the sea and wondering if I would be able to reach the surface before I passed out.
“I have very vague memories, now and again, of floating among the wood and debris, being pulled into a small rubber dinghy before totally losing consciousness for days.”
The Mullaghmore bomb is referred to in an overview of the auction written for Sotheby’s by Charles James Dugdale, 2nd Baron Crathorne. He writes: “In the 65 years of the family living at Newhouse (the Brabourne family home in Kent) there was one great tragedy. This took place in August 1979, the details of which are very well known so don’t need repeating here. John and Patricia were determined that life at Newhouse would continue to be as welcoming and as normal as possible following that brutal attack on the family.
“What was so inspiring was the way John and Patricia, and indeed the whole family, dealt with this tragedy. Their courage, lack of bitterness and generosity of spirit was remarkable. They were determined to overcome their injuries and put every ounce of energy into getting better. This was typical of two such exceptional human beings.”
Patricia, who died in June 2017 aged 93, is described on the Sotheby’s website as “the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, great niece of Russia’s last Tsarina, first cousin to Prince Philip”.
The piece goes on: “She was born in 1924 into a dynasty of royal and political relations. Over her eminent life at the very heart of Britain’s cultural establishment, she is known and remembered for her ‘unwavering perseverance and beguiling sense of humour’.”
“The eldest daughter of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900-1979), and glamorous heiress turned philanthropist Edwina Ashley (1900-1960), Patricia had an unconventional upbringing, from weekend parties with King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson at her parents’ estate in Hampshire to evacuation on the eve of the Blitz to stay with Mrs Cornelius Vanderbilt III in her palatial Fifth Avenue apartment in New York.
“In 1943, at the age of 19, Patricia entered the Women’s Royal Navy Service. It was there that she met, and fell in love with, John Knatchbull, 7th Lord Brabourne (1924-2005) – an encounter that was to spark an enduring love affair and an almost 60-year marriage. “As a captain in the armed forces,
Brabourne had worked for Patricia’s father in India, and later became an Academy Award-nominated film producer, behind titles such as A Passage To India and Agatha Christie adaptations Death On The Nile and Murder On The Orient Express.
“Their wedding at Romsey Abbey in 1946 was witnessed by thousands, with members of the public lining the streets. The Archbishop of Canterbury officiated over a ceremony which saw the King and Queen in attendance, the Royal princesses Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth) and Margaret among the bridesmaids and Prince Philip as an usher.”
The couple had seven children, the youngest of whom were the twins Timothy and Nicholas.
Sotherby’s said the sale “will offer a glimpse into the world of two legendary families with over 350 lots spanning jewellery, furniture, paintings, sculpture, chinese works of art, silver, ceramics & objets d’art”.
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