<p>Edwina Mountbatten enjoyed a close and warm relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru but it was spiritual and intellectual, not a sexual one, says the lady's daughter Pamela Hicks.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Excerpts from her just released book "Daughter of Empire" published in Friday's Daily Mail say Lord Mountbatten was aware of his wife's fondness for Nehru but did not interfere.<br /><br />Edwina, wife of undivided India's last viceroy, fell madly in love with the country and with Pandit Nehru, the first prime minister after independence, says Pamela Hicks, now 83.<br /><br />From the start, there was a profound connection between them, she said.<br /><br />"She found in Panditji the companionship and equality of spirit and intellect that she craved. Each helped overcome loneliness in the other."<br /><br />Mountbatten saw this too but let his wife get on with this new phase of her life, the daily quoted the book as saying. For him, Edwina's new interest was a relief.<br /><br />"Her new-found happiness released him from her relentless late-night recriminations, the constant accusations that he didn't understand her and was ignoring her."<br /><br />Pamela says the four of them - father, mother, daughter and Nehru (who was a widower) - would walk out together but always with Edwina and Nehru together side by side up ahead.<br /><br />"My father and I would tactfully fall behind when they were deep in conversation. But we did not, at any time, feel excluded."<br /><br />Mountbatten, she said, "trusted them both".<br /><br />In later years, Pamela pored over Nehru's letters to her mother, "and I came to realise how deeply he and my mother loved each other".<br /><br />According to the author, it was a spiritual and intellectual relationship, not a sexual one. <br /><br />"Neither had time to indulge in a physical affair, and anyway the very public nature of their lives meant they were rarely alone."<br /><br />What was remarkable was Mountbatten's dignity and forbearance. He remained loyal to the end.<br /><br />In 1960, aged 58, Edwina died of a stroke on a tour of the Far East for a charity. <br /><br />According to the book, Edwina did have lovers in her earlier part of life, but yet the Mountbattens marriage lasted.<br /><br />According to Pamela, her father's "complete lack of jealousy prevented our family from fragmenting". <br /></p>
<p>Edwina Mountbatten enjoyed a close and warm relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru but it was spiritual and intellectual, not a sexual one, says the lady's daughter Pamela Hicks.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Excerpts from her just released book "Daughter of Empire" published in Friday's Daily Mail say Lord Mountbatten was aware of his wife's fondness for Nehru but did not interfere.<br /><br />Edwina, wife of undivided India's last viceroy, fell madly in love with the country and with Pandit Nehru, the first prime minister after independence, says Pamela Hicks, now 83.<br /><br />From the start, there was a profound connection between them, she said.<br /><br />"She found in Panditji the companionship and equality of spirit and intellect that she craved. Each helped overcome loneliness in the other."<br /><br />Mountbatten saw this too but let his wife get on with this new phase of her life, the daily quoted the book as saying. For him, Edwina's new interest was a relief.<br /><br />"Her new-found happiness released him from her relentless late-night recriminations, the constant accusations that he didn't understand her and was ignoring her."<br /><br />Pamela says the four of them - father, mother, daughter and Nehru (who was a widower) - would walk out together but always with Edwina and Nehru together side by side up ahead.<br /><br />"My father and I would tactfully fall behind when they were deep in conversation. But we did not, at any time, feel excluded."<br /><br />Mountbatten, she said, "trusted them both".<br /><br />In later years, Pamela pored over Nehru's letters to her mother, "and I came to realise how deeply he and my mother loved each other".<br /><br />According to the author, it was a spiritual and intellectual relationship, not a sexual one. <br /><br />"Neither had time to indulge in a physical affair, and anyway the very public nature of their lives meant they were rarely alone."<br /><br />What was remarkable was Mountbatten's dignity and forbearance. He remained loyal to the end.<br /><br />In 1960, aged 58, Edwina died of a stroke on a tour of the Far East for a charity. <br /><br />According to the book, Edwina did have lovers in her earlier part of life, but yet the Mountbattens marriage lasted.<br /><br />According to Pamela, her father's "complete lack of jealousy prevented our family from fragmenting". <br /></p>