Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900 - 1979)
British army lorry destroyed in the Warrenpoint ambush
The Queen and Prince Philip at Mountbatten's funeral
August 27th 1979: Lord Mountbatten killed
On this day in 1979, the cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, Louis Mountbatten, was killed by the IRA, aged seventy-nine. The bomb blast on Mountbatten’s boat, sailing near the border of Northern Ireland, also killed one of his grandsons and two others. The bombing followed the murder of Catholic civilians by loyalists in Ireland, and the separatist Irish Republican Army quickly claimed responsibility for the attack on Mountbatten, which they called an ‘execution’, stating that they targeted him to draw attention to the oppressive presence of British troops in Ireland. The murder of the Queen’s second cousin and Prince Philip’s uncle, who had been a prominent military officer and diplomat, prompted outrage throughout Britain and increased violence in Ireland. Thomas McMahon was arrested and convicted of the bombing, but was eventually released as a provision of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement between Britain and Northern Ireland. Only hours after the attack on Mountbatten, eighteen British soldiers in Northern Ireland were killed by two car bombs planted by the IRA. The Warrenpoint ambush, as it was known, was the deadliest attack on the British army during the Troubles. A memorial service for the victims, which included a civilian, was held in September. Mountbatten’s funeral, attended by the Queen and other members of the Royal Family, also took place in September at Westminster Abbey.
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