00:00 This episode of the podcast discusses the last viceroy of India, Louis Mountbatten, and his marriage to Edwina Ashley, who was considered one of the wealthiest heiresses in the world at the time.

04:54 Louis Mountbatten was known for his charm and love of glamour, but his wife Edwina emerged as a more serious thinker, and their trajectory from living the high life to becoming embroiled in Anglo-Indian relations was unlikely, especially considering Mountbatten's reputation as "the master of disaster" during World War Two.

09:29 Mountbatten had connections and a close relationship with Winston Churchill, but his marriage to Edwina was complicated and unfaithful, with Edwina having affairs with interesting men while Mountbatten was more focused on romance and the performance of love; meanwhile, Britain was facing financial difficulties and pressure from the Americans to grant India independence, leading the Labour government to make the decision to give India its independence.

13:45 By 1946, India was in a state of civil war with high levels of violence and rebellions, and there was no appetite in Britain to send more soldiers to fix the situation, leading to the decision to grant India its independence.

18:10 India was on the brink of civil war in 1947, with high levels of violence and rebellions, and the main negotiators for independence were Congress and the Muslim League, led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who had a deep mistrust of each other despite their similarities.

22:39 The main negotiators for Indian independence, Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had a deep mistrust of each other due to personal run-ins and differences in their political ideologies, which worsened over time and were exacerbated by their differing stances during World War II.

27:11 Upon arriving in India in March 1947, Mountbatten and his wife quickly realize that the situation is worse than they were led to believe, with daily violence escalating and British troop numbers decreasing, despite the belief among many Indian leaders that the withdrawal of British troops would lead to less violence.

31:25 The British policy of divide and rule in India was not a deliberate master plan, but rather a combination of attempts to understand and quantify the complex and diverse country, as well as controversial discussions about the benefits and costs of maintaining the empire. Mountbatten quickly formed a close relationship with Nehru, while finding Jinnah to be chilly and unpleasant.

35:40 The rumors of a romantic relationship between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten during their time in India are true, but it is unclear exactly when the relationship became sexual; however, it is generally believed that it became sexual after independence and partition.

40:36 Mountbatten decides to speed up the transition of power in India due to the worsening situation on the ground and the potential for a bloodbath, leading to the decision to partition India.

45:14 The partition of India causes confusion and uncertainty for people living in the Punjab and Bengal regions, as they don't know which side of the line they will be on, leading to migrations and movement before the official partition takes place.