Irene Mountbatten, Marchioness of Carisbrooke

Irene Frances Adza Mountbatten, Marchioness of Carisbrooke (née Denison; 4 July 1890 – 16 July 1956) was the daughter of William Francis Henry Denison, 2nd Earl of Londesborough, and Lady Grace Adelaide (daughter of Francis Fane, 12th Earl of Westmorland). She married Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, a female-line grandson of Queen Victoria.

The Most Honourable The Marchioness of Carisbrooke GBE, DStJ
Marchioness of Carisbrooke, William Bruce Ellis Ranken, c. 1930
Born	(1890-07-04)4 July 1890 London, England
Died	16 July 1956(1956-07-16) (aged 66) London, England
Resting place	Ashes interred at St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, Isle of Wight
Spouse	Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke ​ ​ (m. 1917)​
Children	Lady Iris Mountbatten
Parent(s)	William Denison, 2nd Earl of Londesborough Lady Grace Fane

Coat of arms of the Marchioness of Carisbrooke as dame of the Royal Order of Noble Ladies of Queen Maria Luisa

Lady Irene was also the first president of the Women’s Automobile And Sports Association (1929).^[1]

Marriage and issue

She married Alexander, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke, son of Prince Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, on 19 July 1917 at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, London.

Lady Irene and Alexander, 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke had one child:

• Lady Iris Victoria Beatrice Grace Mountbatten (13 January 1920 – 1 September 1982)

Awards

She was invested as a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) and invested as a Dame of Justice of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (DStJ). In Spain, she was invested as a Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa.^[2]

She succeeded Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom as President of the Frank James Memorial Hospital at East Cowes in 1946, carrying on the role until it was taken over by the National Health Service in 1948.

Death

She died on 16 July 1956, aged 66, in London. Her ashes were interred at St. Mildred's Church, Whippingham, Isle of Wight.

Honours

British

• Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
• Dame of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem

Foreign

• Spain: 1080th Dame of the Royal Order of Noble Ladies of Queen Maria Luisa^[3]

Citations

Irene Mountbatten, Marchioness of Carisbrooke, 1925, by Glyn Philpot

• McNaughton, Arnold (1973). The Book of Kings: A Royal Genealogy. Vol. 1. London: Garnstone Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-900391-19-4.
• Pine, L. G. (1972). The New Extinct Peerage, 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant & Suspended Peerages with Genealogies and Arms. London: Heraldry Today. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-900455-23-0. OCLC 628799.
• Cokayne, George E. (1940). Doubleday, H.A.; de Walden, Lord Howard (eds.). The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct and Dormant. Vol. XIII (2 ed.). London: St. Catherine Press. p. 262. LCCN 10020917. OCLC 1114291328.

References

1. "The Women's Automobile and Sports Association". The Woman Engineer. 3 (1): 4. 1929 – via IET.
2. Order of Queen Maria Luisa damehood, geneall.net; accessed 2 April 2014.
3. Order of Queen Maria Luisa damehood, geneall.net; accessed 2 April 2014.