Earl Mountbatten of Burma, born Louis Mountbatten in 1900, was a British naval officer and statesman. He served as the last Viceroy of India from 1947, overseeing the transition of British India to independence. His leadership played a crucial role in the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. Mountbatten was also a prominent figure during World War II, serving as the Chief of Combined Operations. He was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and a member of the House of Battenberg. He was assassinated in 1979 by the Irish Republican Army in a bombing in Ireland.