Trial for Mountbatten papers: British govt does not need Edwina’s diaries and letters made public

The UK authorities is spending some huge cash to maintain paperwork and letters associated to Edwina Mountbatten and her husband Lord Mountbatten a secret. A report by WION has acknowledged that diaries and a few letters, correspondence between the 2, particularly these from the years round India’s partition, are being buried by the UK authorities.
The WION report acknowledged that an creator named Andrew Lownie has demanded to see these paperwork and the British authorities needs to forestall the creator from accessing these. The UK authorities fears that if made public, these paperwork can injury the connection between India, Pakistan and the UK.
Edwina Mountbatten’s ‘special’ relationship with India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is just not a secret and plenty of consultants even argue that Nehru had jeopardised India’s nationwide pursuits due to his relationship with Edwina. WION studies that in a single letter, Edwina had written to Nehru, “I hate to see you drive away in the morning. You left me with a strange sense of peace. Perhaps, I brought you the same?” Nehru’s reply was, “Life is a dreary business”.
Author takes UK govt to court docket
Author Andrew Lownie had petitioned the British authorities to launch the Mountbatten paperwork and had efficiently obtained most of them beneath British Freedom of Information Law. However, paperwork associated to the 12 months 1947-48 weren’t launched. The paperwork embrace a number of diaries and letters written by the Mountbatten couple.
As per the WION report, the British authorities is combating tooth and nail to guard these paperwork and has to this point spent over 600,000 kilos (USD 800,000) to guard them.
As reported by TOI, throughout a tribunal listening to just lately, Lownier’s lawyer Clara Hamers acknowledged that Lord Mountbatten’s diary entry on July 12, 1947 revealed that he had dinner with British choose Cyril Radcliffe, the chairman of the boundary fee, and Christopher Beaumont, his secretary. But the diary entry from the subsequent day has been redacted by the British authorities saying that the small print can jeopardise Britain’s relationship with India and Pakistan.
Hamer acknowledged that July 12, 1947, was a time interval when Mountbatten was not imagined to have contact with Radcliffe. The diary entry for August 6, 1947, has been redacted too. The redaction of the paperwork raises a number of questions on Mountbatten’s position in India’s partition and the next violence that killed 1000’s of individuals. It additionally raises questions on the conduct of Nehru, India’s perspective PM at the moment and the way far his private attachment with Edwin affected India’s nationwide pursuits at the moment.
Highly delicate, says curator
As reported by Times of India, Professor Chris Woolgar, retired archivist and curator on the University of Southampton Library, which has these paperwork, acknowledged earlier than the tribunal that it was him who had knowledgeable the British cabinet workplace concerning the nature and sensitivity of these Mountbatten paperwork, including that it has particulars concerning the UK royal household and partition that may create stress with India and Pakistan.
Woolgar acknowledged on the tribunal that the cabinet workplace had responded inside 3 hours, agreeing that the paperwork are delicate and must be closed.
The paperwork had been part of Broadlands archives, saved in over 4500 bins, that embrace 47 volumes of Lord Mountbatten’s diaries and 36 volumes of Edwina Mountbatten. They had been held at Broadlands House, the Mountbattens’ household property and had been offered to the University of Southampton. The University of Southampton had used a number of million kilos of public cash to buy these paperwork, as per studies.
The University of Southampton can be refusing to share letters between Edwina and Nehru, saying that it simply shops them and doesn’t personal them.
Lord Louis Mountbatten was a maternal uncle of Prince Phillip and the second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. He was the previous governor-general of India. He was very near the UK royal household and was like a father determine to Prince Charles.