INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Prince William and Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's baby named after Lord Mountbatten.
On a late summer morning in 1979, Lord Louis Mountbatten -- cousin of Queen
Elizabeth II, World War II hero, last viceroy of India -- set off on his fishing boat from the coast of Ireland after breakfast in his
castle.He was 79, a doting grandfather, a legend in British history
That day, his 14-year-old twin grandsons and their grandmother, Dowager Lady Brabourne, were among others aboard.Just before 11:30 a.m
-- boom."I remember a sensation," grandson Timothy Knatchbull later recalled, "as if I'd been hit with a club, and a tearing sound
I don't remember my journey through the air or hitting the water.A powerful explosion had blown the boat to pieces, almost instantaneously
killing Lord Mountbatten, Knatchbull's twin Nicholas, and a 15-year-old friend of the twins, and severely injuring several other family
Lady Brabourne died the next day of her injuries.It was not an accident
The target: Lord Mountbatten.The Irish Republican Army quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, which the New York Times called "the
boldest and most dramatic act of the long terrorist campaign" by the IRA, which opposed British rule in Northern Ireland."By their actions
today," Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, "the terrorists have added yet another infamous page to their catalogue of atrocity and
cowardice.Lord Mountbatten's death stunned the world but especially the royal family -- in particular, Prince Charles, who thought of
Mountbatten as a grandfather and wept at his funeral
On Friday, Prince Charles's son, William, and his wife, Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, revealed that their new baby boy has
been named after Lord Mountbatten. Prince William and Kate Middleton's newly-born son in central London (AFP)Louis Arthur Charles, His
Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge."A touching nod," the Daily Mail said.The naming reminded Britons of a time when they lived in fear
of what the IRA would blow up next.Lord Mountbatten was a compelling target, both as a royal and a symbol of the British Empire: his
great-grandmother: Queen Victoria
His second cousin: Queen Elizabeth II
His nephew: Prince Philip, the queen's husband.Known as Uncle Dickie at Buckingham Palace, Lord Mountbatten was celebrated after World War
II as a brilliant military commander
In his later years, he served as the last viceroy of India and elder statesman for the royal family
His killing was such an audacious attack that there was "concern about the safety of Pope John Paul II," who was about to visit Ireland, The
Washington Post reported.Mountbatten was also an easy target.As he vacationed at his summer castle without security, the IRA was able to
plant a bomb onboard the yacht the night before the attack, blowing it up via remote control."One witness," the New York Times reported,
"said that the boat had 'lifted out of the water' for an instant before it simply disappeared."Like other royals, Mountbatten loved the sea
Fishing with his grandsons was a point of pride."That he should have died at sea is fitting," the Guardian said in his obituary
"That he should have died at the hands of the assassins who killed him
