TRUNK CALL: A pair of made-in-Jaipur gold and enamel elephants that were gifted by British India’s last Viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, to his wife on their wedding anniversary in 1946 is among the antiques that will go up for sale in London.
An Indian diamond bracelet once owned by Queen Victoria and a pair of bejewelled elephants from 1946 Jaipur are among an assortment of 350 antiques belonging to the late Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten daughter of Britain’s last Viceroy of India Louis Mountbatten that will be sold at Sotheby’s London on March 24.
The collection from Newhouse Manor, the 16th-century English home of Patricia and her husband John Knatchbull, includes various curios that offer a peek into the family’s connections with 20th century India.
A collection of items that belonged to Prince Phillip’s cousin, Lady Patricia Mountbatten, is due to go under the hammer soon.
Patricia Edwina Victoria Mountbatten, the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, was the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and the eldest daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten, Prince Charles’s great-uncle and mentor. She was also the Prince’s godmother.
With close ties to the British royal family, she lived an extraordinary life surviving the IRA blast that killed her father, her mother-in-law and her teenage son in 1979.
The British aristocrat passed away in 2017, aged 93, and now 350 items that she acquired and inherited during her life are going up for sale. It gives a rare glimpse at into royal life with everything from lavish jewels, a bracelet (and toy robot) once owned by Queen Victoria and some (very) surprising fashion accessories going up for auction.