India's last viceroy Mountbatten accused of child sexual abuse; Belfast Court to hear case

A case against Lord Louis Mountbatten, Britain’s last viceroy to India is set to be heard in an Irish court in Belfast this week. The case filed by KRW Law, an Irish law firm, alleges that Lord Mountbatten sexually assaulted Arthur Smyth, who was 11 at the time, in addition to other underage boys at Kincora North Road Children's Home in Belfast.

Image: KRW Law

The uncle of King Charles III and Queen Elizabeth’s second cousin, Lord Mountbatten has been suspected of paedophilia for a long time. However, this is the first instance when a legal summons has been initiated in a case relating to the matter. According to the statement released by KRW Law, the events of Mountbatten's alleged sexual abuse against underage boys occurred in the 1970s. The victim, Arthur Smyth waived his anonymity and alleged that Mountbatten sexually abused him along with other minors at the Kincora children’s home. He further alleged a systematic cover-up regarding the complaints against Lord Mountbatten.  

The chain of events as per the accusations

In the final phases of the British colonial rule, Louis Mountbatten served as Britain’s last Viceroy of India and also as the first and last Governor General of India under the Crown’s occupation of the nation. According to Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTE), Smyth alleged that he was abused twice by the Royal in 1977.  

The latest statement by the Irish law firm informed that the firm had issued pre-action letters of claim against multiple entities such as the Business Services Organisation, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Chief Constable of PSNI, Secretary of State, and the Department of Health alleging breach of duty and negligence in relation to the victim’s time spent in Kincora and North Road Children's Home when he was a young boy.  

According to the Village Ireland, Joseph Mains, William McGrath, and Raymond Semple, the three men who operated Kincora children’s home were convicted of child abuse in December 1981. Moreover, McGrath and Mains were providers of minors to the Anglo-Irish paedophile ring, now known as the Anglo-Irish Vice Ring (A-IVR).  

The Village further stated that Smyth was exploited for months by McGrath. In later life, the trauma of the experience drove him to attempt suicide by driving his motorbike into oncoming traffic. He was badly injured and taken to hospital.  

FBI suspected Mountbatten of “perversion for young boys"

According to a dossier by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Lord Louis Mountbatten and his wife Edwina were described as "persons of extremely low morals". Moreover, Mountbatten was suspected of being a homosexual and of having “perversion for young boys". The FBI file on Lord Mountbatten was opened shortly after he was appointed the role of Supreme Allied Commander in Southeast Asia in 1944.  

Meanwhile, speaking on the announcement of the legal action by the Irish law firm, Arthur Smyth’s solicitor Kevin Winters said, “I commend Arthur's resilience in taking this case and indeed his bravery in going public for the first time.”  

“It has been an incredibly difficult journey for our client to reach this point in his life where he feels confident enough to make his case and to do so in a public forum. He and his family will require much-needed support on the next stages of their legal battle for some form of justice which to date has been denied to him,” Winters added.  

Arthur Smyth is not the only one who accused the British Royal of sexual abuse. Stephen Waring, another alleged victim of Mountbatten died by suicide following an escape from Kincora.  

Northern Ireland’s state police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) then captured Waring hours after his escape and put him on the Belfast-Liverpool Monarch Ferry. Waring jumped from the Belfast-Liverpool Monarch Ferry and plunged to his death in 1977. reported the Village.

Image: AP, Shutterstock