Norton Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma

Norton Louis Philip Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born 8 October 1947), known until 2005 as Lord Romsey and until 2017 as the Lord Brabourne, is a British peer. He is a second cousin of King Charles III.

The Right Honourable The Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Born	Norton Louis Philip Knatchbull (1947-10-08) 8 October 1947 (age 76) Denmark Hill, London, England
Spouse(s)	Penelope Eastwood ​ (m. 1979)​
Issue	Nicholas Knatchbull, Lord Brabourne Lady Alexandra Hooper The Hon. Leonora Knatchbull
Father	John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne
Mother	Patricia Mountbatten, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma

Life and education

Lord Mountbatten was born at King's College Hospital in London^[1] as the eldest son of Patricia Knatchbull, née Mountbatten, later 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, and John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne.^[2]

Mountbatten was educated at the Dragon School, in Oxford, and Gordonstoun School, Elgin, Moray, Scotland. He subsequently attended the University of Kent in southeast England.

He followed his father into the British film industry in the 1970s, working as location manager on A Bridge Too Far and associate producer of Death on the Nile and the television serial Quatermass.^[3]

On the death of his father on 23 September 2005, he became the 8th Baron Brabourne, of Brabourne in the County of Kent, in the peerage of the United Kingdom. He also succeeded to the Knatchbull Baronetcy, of Mersham Hatch in the County of Kent, in the baronetage of England. On the death of his mother on 13 June 2017, he became Earl Mountbatten of Burma, also a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom created for his grandfather, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Louis Mountbatten.

He is a descendant of Queen Victoria, whose second daughter Princess Alice of the United Kingdom was his maternal great-great-grandmother. He is also a second cousin to Charles III, through his mother and Charles' father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who was his godfather. Mountbatten is the godfather of Philip's grandson, the Prince of Wales. He is also related to author Jane Austen, as his father, John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, was a direct descendant of her brother Edward Austen Knight.^[4]

Marriage and children

Mountbatten is married to Penelope Meredith Eastwood^[5] (born 16 April 1953), a daughter of Marian Elizabeth Hood (1926–2020) and Reginald Wray Frank Eastwood (1912–1980), a self-made millionaire who founded the Angus Steakhouse chain.^[6] They were wed on 20 October 1979 at Romsey Abbey, Romsey, less than two months after the IRA murdered his 79-year-old maternal grandfather, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma; his 14-year-old younger brother, Nicholas Knatchbull; and his 83-year-old paternal grandmother, Doreen Knatchbull, Dowager Lady Brabourne.

The family home is Broadlands, also in Hampshire.

The 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma and his wife have three children and three grandchildren:

• Nicholas Louis Charles Norton Knatchbull, Lord Brabourne (born 15 May 1981), married on 20 May 2021 to Ambre Pouzet at Broadlands. They have a son, Alexander Knatchbull.
• Lady Alexandra Victoria Edwina Diana Knatchbull (born 5 December 1982), a goddaughter of Diana, Princess of Wales, married on 25 June 2016 to Thomas Hooper, CEO of Third Space Learning. They have two sons.^[7]
• The Hon. Leonora Louise Marie Elizabeth Knatchbull (25 June 1986 – 22 October 1991). She died of kidney cancer, and is buried in the grounds of the family home, Broadlands; see Leonora Children's Cancer Fund.^[8]

In 2010, Mountbatten started an affair with Eugenie Nuttall, which lasted until 2014.^[9]

Arms

Coat of arms of Norton Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma

Notes The arms were granted in 1966.^[10] Crest 1st, On a Chapeau Gules, turned up Ermine, an Ounce statant Ermine, spotted Sable (Knatchbull); 2nd, Out of a Ducal Coronet Or, a Plume of Ostrich Feathers alternately Argent and Sable (Mountbatten); 3rd, Out of a Ducal Coronet Or, two Horns barry of ten Argent and Gules, issuing from each three Linden Leaves Vert, and from the outer side of each horn four Branches barwise having three like Leaves pendent therefrom Vert (Hesse) Escutcheon Quarterly 1st, Azure, in bend three Crosses-Crosslet fitchée between two Bendlets Or (Knatchbull); 2nd, Argent, two Pallets Sable (Mountbatten); 3rd, Azure, a Lion rampant double queued barry of ten Argent and Gules, crowned Or, within a Bordure compony Gules and Argent (Hesse); 4th, The Royal Arms differenced by a Label of three-points Argent, the centre point charged with a Rose Gules, and the outer points with an Ermine Spot Sable (Princess Alice). Supporters Two Lions queue fourchée and crowned all or. Motto 1st, IN CRUCIFIXA GLORIA MEA (My Glory is in the Cross)(Knatchbull); 2nd, IN HONOUR BOUND (Mountbatten).

References

1. "3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma". mountbatten. from the original on 3 May 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
2. "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
3. "IMDb". imdb.com. from the original on 31 December 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
4. John Halperin, The Life of Jane Austen (London: Branch Line, 1984, ISBN 978-0710805188
5. "Everything you need to know about Penny Knatchbull ahead of Season 5 of The Crown". cosmopolitan. 24 August 2021. from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
6. "CBSi". FindArticles.com. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
7. Sampson, Annabel (29 April 2021). "From a prince to a prison reform campaigner, meet Princess Diana's godchildren". Tatler. from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
8. Crawford-Smith, James (10 November 2022). "The true story behind the Leonora Knatchbull storyline in 'The Crown'". Newsweek. from the original on 12 November 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
9. Cope, Rebecca (16 April 2021). "Who is Countess Mountbatten? Prince Philip's great friend among 30 mourners at his funeral". Tatler. from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
10. "Page 8227 | Issue 44059, 21 July 1966 | London Gazette | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.

Bibliography

• Marlene A. Eilers, Queen Victoria's Descendants (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987), page 184.

External links

• . Broadlands.net. Archived from the original on 18 February 2010.
• "Classiebawn and the Assassination of Lord Mountbatten at Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo; History, Heritage, Irish Folklore, and News from County Sligo, Ireland". Sligoheritage.com. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
• Norton Knatchbull at IMDb

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Patricia Knatchbull as Countess	Earl Mountbatten of Burma 2017–present	Incumbent Heir: Nicholas Knatchbull
Preceded by John Knatchbull	Baron Brabourne 2005–present