The campaign to release Louis Mountbatten’s diaries has gained an unexpected new advocate in the form of Louis Mountbatten himself. Robert Lacey was appalled to hear that the University of Southampton and the Cabinet Office are blocking their release, not least because their author wanted them to be public.
“I interviewed Lord Mountbatten,” Lacey tells TMS. “He actually said, once or twice, ‘Well, I can’t tell you the full details of this but they will be available after my death’.”
Robert Lacey has donated funds to Andrew Lownie, whose fight to read the diaries has cost him £250,000 in legal bills. Lownie is relieved that a fellow historian has finally come to his aid. “Why are the celebrity historians so quiet on such key issues?” he wonders. “Worried about their gongs?”
Read the full article in The Times: The Times diary: Release the Louis diaries