What Lord Mountbatten's Real Funeral Was Like, in Photos
The Westminster Abbey ceremony is depicted in season four of The Crown.
On August 29, 1979, Louis Mountbatten, Earl of Burma (also known as Lord Mountbatten and, in The Crown, diminutively as "Uncle Dickie") died off the coast of Ireland in an IRA bomb blast. The remote-controlled explosive, planted on the Mountbattens' fishing boat the night before, took the lives of four people: Lord Mountbatten, his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, 15-year-old boat hand Paul Maxwell, and the Dowager Baroness Doreen Brabourne, the 83-year-old mother-in-law of Mountbatten's eldest daughter, who died in the hospital the following day.
A week later, on September 5, 1979, the British royal family, government officials, foreign dignitaries, and more gathered at Westminster Abbey for the Earl's funeral service. Here, photos from the very real event, which—thanks to The Crown's newly-released fourth season—has recently reemerged in the cultural consciousness.
Chloe is a News Writer for Townandcountrymag.com, where she covers royal news, from the latest additions to Meghan Markle’s staff to Queen Elizabeth’s monochrome fashions; she also writes about culture, often dissecting TV shows like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Killing Eve.
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