Edwina Mountbatten (1900 - 60) Poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar

Edwina was patrilineally descended
From the Earls of Shaftesbury.
When Lord Louis Mountbatten met Edwina,
She was a leading member of London
Society and their marriage, which was held
In nineteen twenty-two, attracted crowds
Of the royal family with prime heads.
It was dubbed then ‘the wedding of the year.'1

Edwina was one of the most beautiful
Women In England, said Drew Pearson.
She was known to have affairs all her life
And did little to hide it from her husband,
She herself being ten times richer than him.
A disgruntled wife took Edwina to court
For her indulgence with the married men.
Hugh and Laddie were her serious lovers. 2

Edwina's interests in India's
Freedom struggles pushed her into the arms
Of Jawaharlal Nehru, a person
Of charismatic personality.
A man of passion and sensitivity,
Nehru found in her a kind of solace
That he hadn't got from his deceased wife.
Edwin-Nehru love blossomed in forty-five.3

It was from the hand of Lord Mountbatten
That the freedom of India was delivered.
Edwin was instrumental for its happening,
Which was because her crush on Nehru.
Both of them were remarkable people
Needing each other with high intellect.
The volumes of letters Nehru wrote her
With love were preserved by Mountbatten.

Edwina had the chance of privacy
With Nehru when he visited London
Two years after India's freedom.
She maintained live contact with India
In order to have Nehru's company.
Whenever Nehru visited London
He stayed with Edwina and Mountbatten.
She often came to India to stay with him.4

It was in sixty and Nehru was past seventy.
He invited Edwin the Republic Day.
She had privacy with him during the stay.
It was her last meeting with Jawahar.
She left him without telling about her health.
Edwina's death came soon and shocked the world.
Hearing it, Nehru was a broken man.
Homage was paid to her in the both houses.5

Mountbatten knew that Edwin loved Nehru.
Indira knew that her father found a soul.
Vijaya Laxmi Pandit complimented her
Saying Edwin came to her brother's life
When he had no wife and fulfilled the void.
‘The God or some fairy gave you beauty,
Intelligence, grace and vitality- great gifts.'
Nehru told her, recognizing her greatness.6
June,2020