Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854 1921) was a German prince related to the British Royal Family.

After a career in the United Kingdom's Royal Navy lasting over for ty years, in 1912 he was appointed First Sea Lord, the professional head of the British naval service. He took steps to ready the British fleet for combat as Wo rld War I began, but his background as a German prince forced his retirement at the start of the war when anti-German feeling was running high. Queen Victoria a nd her son King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, occasionally intervened in his career the Queen thought that there was "a belief that the Admiralty are afraid o f promoting Officers who are Princes on account of the radical attacks of low pa pers and scurrilous ones". However, Louis welcomed battle assignments that provi ded opportunities for him to acquire the skills of war and to demonstrate to his superiors that he was serious about his naval career. Posts on royal yachts and tours arranged by the Queen and Edward actually impeded his progress, as his pr omotions were perceived as royal favours rather than deserved. He married a gran ddaughter of Queen Victoria, and was the father of Earl Mountbatten, who also se rved as First Sea Lord from 1954 to 1959. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, cons ort of Queen Elizabeth II, is his grandson. (more...) Recently featured: Titania Richard Barre Pathways into Darkness