On 31 March 1946 Lord and Lady Mountbatten paid an informal visit to Manly Beach. They attended an impromptu surf carnival arranged by Manly Life Saving Club. Lady Mountbatten had an unfortunate mishap and fell in the water up to her knees when disembarking at the wharf from the official launch, but laughed it off. The Mountbattens were on separate missions for much of the period immediately after the war, and their meeting in Sydney was due to a chance alignment in their diaries - they had been apart for many days prior to this. Their programme in Sydney was very busy, and Lord Mountbatten attended many functions in connection with disabled servicemen and prisoners of war. This interlude at Manly Beach must have been welcome relief. The photograph above is not captioned, and as yet we do not know the names of the other members of the party. A couple of girls in rather daring two-piece costumes can be seen, top right.John MacRitchie.
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