Prince Maurice of Battenberg (Maurice Victor Donald; 3 October 1891 – 27 October 1914) was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British royal family, and the youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria. He was known as Prince Maurice throughout his life, since he died before the British royal family relinquished their German titles during World War I and the Battenbergs changed their name to Mountbatten.
The youngest of his four siblings, Maurice most resembled his father, who died when the Prince was only four, the same age his mother was when her own father died. He was his mother's favourite out of his brothers. He was educated at Lockers Park Prep School in Hertfordshire.[3]
Maurice attended Wellington College and was a member of Benson House. Prince Maurice was made a Freemason in the Old Wellingtonian Lodge No. 3404 (the Lodge of the Old Wellingtonians) on 21 June 1912 and was installed Master of the Twelve Brothers Lodge, No. 785 Southampton on 22 April 1914.[4]
The 1st Battalion war diary states "During the advance eastwards from the ridge the battalion came under terrific shell fire as well as rifle fire... Poor [Prince] Maurice was killed outright just on top of the ridge."[5]
Word of the prince's death was passed to Brigadier-General Fanshawe, commander of the 6th Infantry Brigade. He in turn passed the news to 2nd Division Commander Major-General Sir Charles Munro. Munro spoke with the Brigadier at 23.30 before informing 1st Army Corps Commander Lieutenant-General Douglas Haig. Haig was sent the message that the prince "was killed by a shell whilst gallantly leading his company forward to attack across a ridge, east of Zonnebeke". Haig shared the news with GHQ at 7.00 the next morning. He said, "By the death of H.H. Prince Maurice of Battenberg the Army loses a most gallant and valuable officer. In peace and war he has done his duty to King and Country". The final word was sent to the War Office by Sir John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, "with deep regret".[5]
His mother, Princess Beatrice, declined the offer of Lord Kitchener to have her son's body repatriated.[5] He is buried in Ypres Town Cemetery.[6] The battalion war diary notes that his funeral took place on 31 October 1914 and records that, "Denison, Gough, the Sgt Major, Sgt O'Leary and a few others went down to poor Maurice's funeral in Ypres".[5] His mother strove for some years to commission a personal memorial for his grave, but her efforts were thwarted by the official policy of marking all burials in a uniform manner, and he is therefore commemorated by a standard Imperial War Graves Commission headstone.[7] It bears the inscription: GRANT HIM WITH ALL THY FAITHFUL SERVANTS A PLACE OF REFRESHMENT AND PEACE.[6] His estate was valued at £3,147 in 1917 (or £152,400 in 2022 when adjusted for inflation).[8]
^Connelly, Mark; Goebel, Stefan (2020). "The Imperial War Graves Commission, the war dead and the burial of a royal body, 1914–32". Historical Research. 93 (262): 734–53. doi:10.1093/hisres/htaa020.
*Not Mountbatten or Battenberg by birth. Adopted the surname Mountbatten from his maternal line on abandoning his patrilineal Greek and Danish princely titles.
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