Elm Grove House

A beautiful old Grade II Listed building with an astounding history!

It was once owned by Prince Louis of Battenburg, grandfather of the current Prince of Wales. It was also used as a holiday home by the last Tsar of Russia and his family.

Read detailed information below.

2nd/3rd from left Tsaritsa & Tsar Nicolas II. Penultimate right/far right - Victoria & Prince Battenberg (later Alexander Mountbatten)

Elm Grove was tenanted by Lord Louis Battenberg and his wife, Victoria of Hesse, during the 1890s. One of their guests during this time was the future Tsar Nicholas II who described Elmgrove as a "cosy cottage".

Lord Battenberg's wife was the sister of the Tsaritsa Alexandra, so Lord Battenberg and Tsar Nicolas II were brother-in-laws. Lord Battenberg's daughter Alice was the mother of the Duke of Edinburgh, father to the current Prince of Wales. One of Lord Battenberg's sons was Earl Louis Mountbatten - uncle to the Prince of Wales and murdered in a boat bomb by the IRA.

The entire family of Tsar Nicolas were murdered by Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution.

Elmgrove later became a magistrates' court and in 1969 a case against George Harrison for possessing cannabis was heard there.

It is now a drama school.

Admiral of the Fleet Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, GCB, GCVO, KCMG, PC, formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a British naval officer and German prince related to members of the British Royal Family.

Alexander Mountbatten married Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. Through her he was related to the Russian Royal Family. They had four children; their youngest son was Louis, 1st Earl of Mountbatten, uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh.

Nicholas II of Russia with the family (left to right): Olga, Maria, Nicholas II, Alexandra Fyodorovna, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana. Taken in 1913.

Nicolas II, Grand Duchesses Marie, Olga and Anastasia with the girls' 1st cousin, Prince George of Battenberg, later Lord George Mountbatten. (see right with his father and younger brother)

Prince Battenberg with his sons Louis Francis (b. 1900) and George (b. 1892) . Louis would marry and his son, Phillip, would become the Duke of Edinburgh, Royal Consort of Queen Elizabeth II.