Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma KG GCB OM GCSI GCIE GCVO DSO PC FRS 28.8.1980

The stamp is based on photographs by courtesy of the British Information Services. It shows Earl Mountbatten in the Uniform of Admiral of the Fleet, with the Star of the Order of the Knights of the Garter and ribbons of various medals and orders. The aiguilette on his right shoulder denotes that he was Personal Aide-de-Camp to the Sovereign. The first day cover design showing Nehru and Mountbatten is based on a photograph by courtesy of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. The cancelation depicts a view of the dome of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma KG GCB OM GCSI GCIE GCVO DSO PC FRS (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) – known informally as Lord Mountbatten – was a British statesman and naval officer, an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and second cousin once removed to Elizabeth II. During the Second World War, he was Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command (1943–46). He was the last Viceroy of India (1947) and the first Governor-General of the independent Dominion of India (1947–48), from which the modern Republic of India was to emerge in 1950. From 1954 until 1959 he was First Sea Lord, a position that had been held by his father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, some forty years earlier. Thereafter he served as Chief of the Defence Staff until 1965, making him the longest serving professional head of the British Armed Forces to date. During this period Mountbatten also served as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee for a year.

In 1979, Mountbatten, his grandson Nicholas, and two others were killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who had placed a bomb in his fishing boat, the Shadow V, at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in Ireland.