Who was the last viceroy of India?
Answer
Lord Mountbatten
Who was the last viceroy of India? The answer is Lord Mountbatten. Louis Mountbatten, the first Earl Mountbatten of Burma, became viceroy in 1947 and supervised the final transfer of power from the British Raj to independent India and Pakistan.
Mountbatten arrived in India in March 1947 with instructions to arrange independence quickly. The deadline was eventually brought forward, and India and Pakistan became independent in August 1947. The process included the partition of British India, a decision followed by enormous communal violence, mass displacement, and the migration of millions of people across the new borders.
Mountbatten remained in India after independence as the first governor-general of independent India, serving until June 1948. That role is distinct from being viceroy: the viceroy represented the British Crown in colonial India, while the governor-general served the new Dominion of India. Lord Wavell was his immediate predecessor; Lord Curzon and Lord Linlithgow served much earlier.