When the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, was told that Lady Edwina Mountbatten, the aunt of Prince Philip, would be buried at sea, the Queen Mother replied cheerfully: “Dear old Edwina, she always did love to make a splash!”
That the last Vicereine of India, Lady Mountbatten, had willed to be buried at sea surprised many, but it was her long-held wish, on which she commented with humour, saying that burial in the churchyard of Romsey Abbey would hardly be the best option for someone who suffered from claustrophobia. One of the kindest-hearted women in the country, Lady Edwina also stipulated that, in place of flowers, donations be made at her funeral to the St John Ambulance Brigade.
On 25 February 1960 her coffin was brought from Romsey Abbey to Portsmouth, the base of the British Royal Navy, where it was carried aboard the naval frigate HMS Wakeful. Lady Mountbatten was formally received by the Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, Admiral Sir Manley Power, and the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Charles Lambe. The whole family was on board the frigate, including Prince Philip with his mother.
Lady Edwina's body was committed to the deep, the coffin being lowered into the sea together with a wreath off the coast of Portsmouth. A frigate of the Indian Navy sailed alongside, from which a wreath of marigolds from Edwina's closest friend, the Prime Minister of India, Nehru, was sent out upon the waves.
