100px|Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg prior to 1915

Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854–1921) was a German prince related to the British Royal Family. After a career in the United Kingdom's Royal Navy lasting over forty years, in 1912 he was appointed First Sea Lord, the professional head of the British naval service. He took steps to ready the British fleet for combat as World War I began, but his background as a German prince forced his retirement at the start of the war when anti-German feeling was running high. Queen Victoria and her son King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, occasionally intervened in his career—the Queen thought that there was "a belief that the Admiralty are afraid of promoting Officers who are Princes on account of the radical attacks of low papers and scurrilous ones". However, Louis welcomed battle assignments that provided opportunities for him to acquire the skills of war and to demonstrate to his superiors that he was serious about his naval career. Posts on royal yachts and tours arranged by the Queen and Edward actually impeded his progress, as his promotions were perceived as royal favours rather than deserved. He married a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and was the father of Earl Mountbatten, who also served as First Sea Lord from 1954 to 1959. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II, is his grandson. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1819:

British official Stamford Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor, establishing Singapore as a trading post for the British East India Company. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_of_modern_Singapore

1833:

Otto became the first modern King of Greece. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_of_Greece

1922:

Britain, France, Japan, Italy and the United States signed the Washington Naval Treaty to avoid a naval arms race. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty

1952:

Elizabeth II ascended to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and three other Commonwealth countries upon the death of her father, George VI. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II

1976:

In testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee, Lockheed president Carl Kotchian admitted that the company had paid out approximately US$3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_bribery_scandals

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

acculture (v): To familiarize oneself with, and adopt a new culture, especially by an immigrant http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/acculture

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I believe with all my heart that our first priority must be world peace, and that use of force is always and only a last resort, when everything else has failed, and then only with regard to our national security. --Ronald Reagan http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan