India Remembered: A Personal Account of the Mountbattens During the Transfer of Power

287 Pages·2014·10.18 MB·English

by  Pamela Mountbatten, India Hicks

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On New Year's Day 1947 Lord Mountbatten was summoned to Downing Street
to discover his future role in history – to guide India to independence as the last
Viceroy. Travelling from post-war Britain under rationing to the outsized
splendour of Viceroy's House in New Delhi, the Mountbattens leapt straight into
their responsibilities. Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah, Patel, Baldev Singh and a wealth of
Marahajas all appear in this testament to the biggest challenge faced by a
Viceroy – to break the deadlock that existed between the Indian politicians, to
try to avert civil war and to achieve an honourable exit for the British. The result
was the creation of India and Pakistan on 15th August 1947.
Lord Mountbatten's seventeen-year old daughter, Pamela, was taken out of
school to accompany her parents to India, and spent the next 15 months
recording the birth of two nations alongside her own transition to adulthood.
Beside her mother, Edwina, this young woman took on far more responsibility
than would normally be required of a girl just finding her feet in the adult world.
As an eye-witness, Pamela describes often harrowing scenes, colourful and
exotic characters and major historic events, as well as wonderful recollections of
her trips around India.
India Remembered is a pure evocation of this key period of India and Pakistan's
history. Using diary entries and extracts from the meticulously kept family photo
albums as documentary evidence, this book is a brilliantly informative read and
a chance to witness first hand a generation of characters whose actions were to
change the fate of two nations.
Pamela Mountbatten is the younger daughter of Lord Mountbatten, who was
appointed the Last Viceroy of India in 1947. At the age of seventeen she
travelled to India with her mother and father, witnessing and playing her role in
the dramatic events of India's hard-fought independence and subsequent
partition. She married the designer, the late David Hicks, and now lives in
Oxfordshire in the home they shared together.
India Hicks is the granddaughter of the Last Viceroy of India and daughter of
Pamela Mountbatten and David Hicks. Having worked as a model around the
world, india is now the author of two books, Island Life and Island Beauty and is
a creative partner for Crabtree and Evelyn.
India
Remembered
My parents with Nehru on an elephant proceeding to the Mela.
17th May 1948: My father driving my mother, myself and Nehru on the Tibet Road from Mashobra.
India
Remembered
Pamela Mountbatten
Foreword by India Hicks
Contents
Foreword
by India Hicks
Introduction
by Pamela Mountbatten
The Last Viceroy of India
Map of India Pre-partition
First Impressions
A Huge Task
A Brief Respite
The Mountbatten Plan
Rising Tensions
The Transfer of Power
The First Governor-General of India
Map of India Post-partition
Riots and Refugees
Tours Part I
Gandhi’s Assassination
Tours Part II
Departure
Epilogue
Key Figures
Glossary
Index
Acknowledgements
The Mountbatten Family Tree