Of Polish-German descent, he became a naturalized British subject in 1868 and joined the navy, becoming First Sea Lord in 1912 in the critical period before the outbreak of World War I. His decision, criticized by some, not to disperse the naval squadrons gathered for exercises at Portsmouth at the time of the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Sarajevo in 1914, assisted Britain’s readiness for war. Anti-German hysteria in the early months of the war forced his resignation in October 1914. He became a marquis in 1917, giving up his German titles, and adopting the equivalent English name of Mountbatten. He married Princess Alice, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, in 1884. The younger of their two sons was Lord Louis Mountbatten, later Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and one grandson became Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.