The Mountbattens by Andrew Lownie review — the dark side of a famous marriage

The acknowledgments at the end of this chronicle of the lives of Dickie Mountbatten — commander of combined operations during the Second World War, viceroy of India, mentor to Prince Charles, first sea lord — and his wife, Edwina, make a gripping chapter in themselves. If you read the book, which I strongly recommend, I urge you to “stay for the credits”, as in a cinema.

Andrew Lownie is an unflagging sleuth when it comes to tracking down witnesses to his subjects’ lives, and even witnesses of the witnesses. Among the long list of people he thanks for speaking to him in person — Mountbatten’s aides-de-camp, gamekeepers, valets, bodyguards, riding companions, girlfriends, descendants of girlfriends, and people at one remove, such as “Roger Matthews for