The last thing done by Lord Mountbatten as the Viceroy of India was to Promote the wife of the Nawab of Palanpur to the title of “Highness”
This is one of the most interesting events around independence and it happened on the night of freedom just before a few hours of India’s independence.
On 14th August 1947 during the late evening hours Lord Mountbatten was sitting alone in his study realising that he was the viceroy of India for just couple of hours and that all the power he had over 1/5th of humanity would be gone once the clock hits 12am as India would be free with Nehru as the PM.
So he realised he must do something exceptional while he was still one of the most powerful men in the world. So he decided to promote the wife of the Nawab Palanpur Begum Jahanara, to the rank of “Highness”.
The Nawab of Palampur and Mountbatten were great friends even before Mountbatten became the viceroy. In 1945 the Nawab got married to an Australian woman and requested the British govt. to award her the status of “Highness”. But it was denied by the viceroy as the British policy was against Indian maharajas getting married to women of other countries. His wife converted to Islam and the Nawab even requested Mountbatten to intervene and he did intervene but his request was not entertained by the then viceroy.
So the last thing he did as the viceroy was to promote her as “Highness”.
However, life had other plans for her. Her Highness (as she was called) along with her husband had moved to Europe after independence and had suffered huge financial problems. The Nawab died and her highness spent rest of her life teaching english to rich Arab kids in Geneva.
Image source: The Hindu Businessline