Word: mountbatten
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...worked for unity. The Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten (who had just returned from a peace tour in the turbulent North-West Frontier Province), sent two emissaries to London. Their report stressed the danger of dissolution, but contained no suggestion that the British remain in India beyond next year's deadline...
There was one pleasant surprise. The Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, invited all of official New Delhi and the delegates to a cozy at home with guards flanking the fountains and spotlights playing on the fabulous flowerbeds of the Mogul gardens. Englishmen and Indians alike were surprised by the outpouring of guests (about 700). Said a Mountbatten aide, remarking the presence of dhoti-clad Devadas Gandhi, the Mahatma's son: "People are here who would never have attended the Viceroy's affairs in the old days." (This week Mohandas Gandhi planned to visit Viceroy House to talk about Britain...
...Delhi's Palam Airport this week 25-pounders blasted out a 31-gun salute. Into the blazing heat stepped Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, cool and stiff in his starched, white Rear Admiral's uniform. The Rajputana Rifles band played God Save the King. Soon after, Mountbatten, his Lady and daughter Pamela reached the wide gate of the massive Viceroy's House. The Mountbattens entered a carriage drawn by plume-decked horses and, escorted by gold-turbaned, scarlet-coated guards, were driven the few hundred feet to the crimson-carpeted steps of the Durbar Hall...
...Mountbattens mounted the steps. At the top stood the Viceroy and Vicereine, Lord and Lady Wavell. Said Wavell: "Did you have a good trip?" Said Mountbatten: "Very smooth." Next day, Wavell was piped and saluted out. With no letdown in ceremony, Mountbatten took the oath as Viceroy, sat for a moment on the red brocade and gold throne...
Smooth "Dickie" Mountbatten, who hoped to soothe India into unity for self-rule by June 1948, was greeted by grating news. The governments of one princely state and two provinces, representing 70,000,000 (about one-fifth of India's population), served notice that they meant to set up as independent states when British rule ended. They were prosperous Travancore, heavily Moslem Sind and Moslem-run Bengal, scene of some of the worst Moslem v. Hindu disorders in recent months. That was doubtless only the beginning of Mountbatten's troubles as (probably) the last of 20 Viceroys...