Lord Louis Mountbatten achieved great things both in war and peace as a military leader and public servant.
The First World War and its aftermath shaped his early life, in mid-career he was a victorious commander in the Second World War, and when peace came he brought independence to India and Pakistan.
Mountbatten remains a controversial figure, but when his faults are considered in the light of the world-shaking events in which he was involved, they are overwhelmingly outweighed by his achievements.
His murder, and those of members of his family and a friend, on 27 August 1979 by the IRA shocked the world.