Lord Mountbatten, wife Edwina's had stream of affairs: report

Renowned British historian Andrew Lownie has revealed that the late Lord Mountbatten and his wife Edwina spent their married lives engaging in a stream of affairs.

The author,  in his new biography The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves, wrote how the last viceroy of India, who was assassinated in 1979  at the age of 79, was initially ruined by wife Edwina's affairs.

He  was a dashing prince and she was hailed as 'England's  most beautiful woman at  a time they walked down the aisle, in 1922, it was the society wedding of the decade. 

The late Edwina was described as 'sex obsessed', and reportedly embarked on as many as 18 affairs - including Indian Prime Minister Nehru and singer Leslie 'Hutch' Hutchinson.

According to the book, Lord Louis Mountbatten - who was said to be 'more awkward in the bedroom' - agreed to an open marriage with Edwina, before embarking on his own affairs - allegedly with both women and 'young' men. 

Lord Mountbatten was said to have even admitted at one time: "Edwina and I spent all our married lives getting into other people's beds."   

Edwina's daughter Pamela Hicks was reported as saying, "When my mother returned from shopping one day she was met with, 'Mr Larry Gray is in the drawing room, Mr Sandford is in the library, Mr Ted Phillips is in the boudoir, Señor Portago [is] in the anteroom and I don't know what to do with Mr Molyneux'. 

It was reported that the  75-year-old FBI documents were obtained through a freedom of information request by British historian Andrew claim there was a darker side to his affairs.

Agents started compiling the file, which spans more than three decades, in February 1944, shortly after Mountbatten became supreme allied commander of southeast Asia.