Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, Aug 08, 2025

UK Tribunal To Decide On Mountbatten Diaries From Partition Period

UK Tribunal To Decide On Mountbatten Diaries From Partition Period

It covers an important period of British-Indian history, including when India's Partition was being overseen by Mountbatten and involves personal diaries and letters of both Lord Louis and wife Lady Edwina Mountbatten.
The personal diaries and letters of Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, are at the heart of an ongoing appeal hearing in London this week, to decide whether they can be fully released for open public access.

Judge Sophie Buckley is presiding over the First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) appeal, scheduled for hearings until Friday, to determine the fate of some redacted sections of the diaries and correspondence dating back to the 1930s.

It covers an important period of British-Indian history, including when India's Partition was being overseen by Mountbatten and involves personal diaries and letters of both Lord Louis and wife Lady Edwina Mountbatten.

The UK Cabinet Office maintains that most of the information from those papers is already in the public domain and any withheld aspects "would compromise the UK's relations with other states", with reference to India and Pakistan.

"The Mountbatten collection is important historically but there are also important issues at state - not least abuse of state power and the censoring of our history," said Andrew Lownie, the historian and author of 'The Mountbattens: The Lives and Loves of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten' who has been fighting a four-year-long battle for the complete release of the papers.

In 2011, the University of Southampton purchased the archival material, named Broadlands Archive, from the Mountbatten family, using public funds of over 2.8 million pounds and with the intention of making the papers widely available. However, the university then referred some of the correspondence to the Cabinet Office.

In 2019, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) had found in favour of Lownie and ordered the release of the entire Broadlands Archive - which also includes "letters from Lady Mountbatten to Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of the newly independent India (33 files, 1948-60), along with copies of his letters to her".

The University of Southampton had explained in response at the time that the correspondence between Lady Mountbatten and Nehru remained in private ownership and is "confidential but the University has a future interest in it".

That decision of the ICO has since been appealed, which is now being heard in the First-Tier Tribunal this week.

"The Cabinet Office have now narrowed the number of exemptions they are seeking to impose so most of the letters and diaries are available. This is a victory after four years of campaigning but there is still a legal bill of GBP 50,000 and so the crowfunding has to go on," noted Lownie, in an update from the hearings on Tuesday.

The author says he has spent his savings on the case and has raised over 54,000 pounds in pledges from the CrowdJustice.Com website to fund the ongoing appeal.

"This is an important archive and also involves crucial principles of censorship, Freedom of Information, abuse of power. No university should be blocking public access to archive material of great historical significance which it purchased using public money and for which tax income was forfeited," said Lownie.

The diaries of Mountbatten, who was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, an uncle to the late Duke of Edinburgh and great-uncle to Prince Charles, also contain personal correspondence within the royal family - another factor cited behind some redactions.

"Protecting the dignity of The Queen and working members of the royal family by protecting their privacy in truly private matters preserves their ability to discharge their duties in their fundamental and central constitutional role, not least of unifying the nation (as was seen during the depths of the current pandemic)," notes a written witness statement of Roger Smethurst, head of knowledge and information management at the Cabinet Office.

"Despite its age there is some information within the documents held by the University which, if released, would compromise the UK's relations with other states. The witness statement from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) sets out the matters of potential harm and provides details for the Tribunal to consider in its balance of the public interest," the witness statement further notes.

Meanwhile, the hearing remains ongoing with oral witness statements and cross-examinations and a decision is expected at a later date.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
×