logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2022
10m 40s

The last Viceroy of India

Bbc World Service
About this episode

The daughter of the last British Viceroy in India, Lord Mountbatten, remembers the transfer of power in 1947. Lady Pamela Hicks accompanied her father as he attended celebrations in both Karachi and Delhi. She remembers encounters both with Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan, and Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India. Lady Hicks spoke to Louise Hidalgo in 2012.

Photo shows Lord and Lady Mountbatten travelling by carriage and shaking hands with crowds in the streets of New Delhi on the 15th August 1947. Credit: Getty Images.

Up next
Yesterday
The creation of the International Criminal Court
In 1998, at a conference organised by the United Nations, a blueprint was devised for what would be the world's first permanent International Criminal Court.Judge Phillipe Kirsch chaired the Rome conference that led to the formation of the court. He tells Gill Kearsley about the ... Show More
10m 23s
Aug 22
Geneva Conventions
In 1859, Swiss businessman Henry Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino, in Italy. He couldn’t believe the lack of aid for the wounded soldiers and came up with two ideas – a voluntary aid organisation and an international treaty to protect those injured in wartime. They went o ... Show More
10m 2s
Aug 21
The rise and fall of BlackBerry
In the early 2000s, BlackBerry was the phone that ruled the world. But within a decade, it collapsed, overtaken by the touch screen revolution.Sam Gruet speaks to former co-CEO Jim Balsillie about BlackBerry’s meteoric rise, its battle against Apple, and the moment he knew it was ... Show More
9m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2014
Partition
British India was divided into two new independent countries - India and Pakistan - in August 1947. But millions of people found themselves on the wrong side of the new borders. Witness speaks to the veteran Indian journalist Kuldip Nayar about Partition.Picture: Kuldip Nayar (ri ... Show More
8m 56s
Nov 2022
15. The Last Viceroy of India
In this episode, Anita and William are joined by Alex von Tunzelmann to discuss Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India. Listen in to hear all about his superstar marriage to Edwina Ashley, his relationships with key figures such as Nehru and Jinnah, and the role he pla ... Show More
56m 26s
Mar 2023
Meeting the Mughals: England’s disastrous first embassy to India
In 1616, when the first English embassy was installed in Mughal India, England was a minor player on the global stage rather than a leading actor. Nandini Das explores what the challenges of this embassy can tell us about England’s unequal relationship with India at the time – an ... Show More
36m 54s
Apr 2016
The Sikh Empire
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise of the Sikh Empire at the end of the 18th Century under Ranjit Singh, pictured above, who unified most of the Sikh kingdoms following the decline of the Mughal Empire. He became Maharaja of the Punjab at Lahore in 1801, capturing Amritsar ... Show More
44m 57s
Mar 2020
Savarkar And India
In the past few weeks Delhi has become the latest place in India convulsed with religious violence as Hindu mobs burned Muslim neighborhoods, mosques and killed over 40 people. The violence comes in the wake of a new citizenship law that excludes undocumented Muslims, but it also ... Show More
31m 7s
May 2019
Savarkar's India
Right-wing Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi has won reelection as India's Prime Minister. As the political philosophy of Hindu nationalism gains ground in India we look back at one of its architects - Vinayak Savarkar. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/a ... Show More
33m 38s
Feb 2022
Indira Gandhi: The Rise and Fall of a Dynasty
Indira Gandhi’s path to becoming the first female prime minister of India was inevitable. As the daughter of the country’s first independent leader, she learned from a young age the cost of fighting for one’s beliefs. But her beliefs and desire to continue the family's political ... Show More
41m 16s
Nov 2021
Maharajás, los fabulosos príncipes de la India
En 1858, el gobierno británico proclamó el Imperio británico de la India, el Raj. Bajo su administración, los maharajás vivían en palacios de ensueño, entregados a una vida repleta de toda clase de lujos y excesos. Pero con la independencia del país en 1947 ese mundo propio de la ... Show More
12m 27s
Apr 2022
The Foundations of Modern India
The greatest anti-imperial rebellion of the nineteenth century, The Indian Rebellion of 1857, witnessed mass violence against the British. Ninety years later, Indian freedom was founded on a deadly fratricide that singularly spared the outgoing masters. As a result, India’s found ... Show More
25m 46s
Mar 2024
How India came to embrace the politics of Hindutva
The politics of Hindu nationalism have played a central role in the dramatic rise of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As the elections have neared, the Modi regime has turbocharged its Hindu-first agenda - best exemplified in the inauguration of the Ram Temple in the cit ... Show More
25m 23s