Vice-Regal Saint: The PPCLI lose their Patricia
Mother Mountbatten, the beloved "Lady P", bids her regiment goodbye: At 83, "I am no longer able to get into a tank," says Colonel-In-Chief. 
Lady Patricia, Countess Mountbatten of Burma and Colonel-in-Chief of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), shakes hands with honour guard member Cpl. Robert Farquhar in Ottawa today. The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, former Governor-General of Canada, is scheduled to take over the Colonelcy-in-Chief on Saturday, becoming the "first Canadian" in history to head one of Her Majesty's regiments.
Lady Patricia is a link to the final glorious days of the British Empire. Her father, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, became the last Viceroy of India in 1947. It was his job to oversee the transfer of power, ending the Raj. In 1979, he was assassinated by the IRA when a bomb ripped apart his yacht at Mullaghmore Bay in Ireland. Lady Patricia and her husband, Lord Brabourne, a movie producer whose films included Murder on the Orient Express and A Passage to India, were seriously injured in the explosion. Their 15-year-old son Nicholas, an identical twin, was killed with his grandfather. After the assassination of her father, Lady Patricia, as heir to his Earldom, became the Countess Mountbatten of Burma.
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7 comments:
A sad day.
But inevitable.
Particulaly poignant here when one thinks of the PPLI's valour defending Hong Kong (and monstrously suffering the consequences of defeat at the hands of a savage enemy) now gone to the communists.
Always struck me as ironic that the IRA would kill the man who oversaw the British withdrawing from India...
Actually, the PPCLI were never in Hong Kong. I believe it was the Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers that served there. The PPCLI served with distinction in the Italian Campaign.
A sad day indeed.
What's also sad is that Mme. Clarkson is constantly referred to as "the first Canadian" to become C-in-C of a Canadian regiment. While I can understand this type of bias (or ignorance) from the media, I'm surprised it's been repeated here. Would not the Monarch of Canada and all those in line for her throne themselves be Canadians? To say otherwise marks them as foreigners.
OUCH!
SSO- you've humiliated me! Put it down to writing quickly ibetween classes and let's forget my blunder, shall we?
James is right, Tweedy. I'm going to edit your Liberal talking point by putting "first Canadian" in quotations.
How lovely of you to recall those who died at Mullaghmore. Was Paul Maxwell the 15 year old crew member not aristocratic enough to warrant mention?
And why is it ironic that the IRA should target the man who oversaw the switch to independence in India? Indian affairs had no bearing on Northern Ireland.
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