George Mountbatten, or George Milford Haven, is the 4th Marquess of Milford Haven and currently the head of the House of Mountbatten. Born on the 6th of June in 1961, he was styled the Earl of Medina before 1970. He has since gone on to launch a successful business career, most notably with the price comparison site uSwitch in the early 2000s.
Family
George Milford Haven’s parents are Janet Bryce and the 3rd Marquess. He is the older brother of Lord Ivar Mountbatten. After his father’s death in 1970, George Milford Haven took up his title and became the 4th Marquess of Milford Haven. As a result, he also the House of Mountbatten’s head figure. Although he is somewhat distant to the throne itself, he is in the line of succession thanks to his descent from the 2nd daughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Alice.
Ancestry
George Milford Haven is directly descended from Prince Louis of Battenberg. The German prince, who died in 1921, was related to the British Royal Family. Later on, Prince Louis was also related to the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven. Through his great Grandmother, George Milford Haven is descended from the former Empress of Russia Catherine the Great. His ancestry also shows that he is related to the notable Russian writer Aleksandr Pushkin, who is considered by many to be the founder of modern literature in Russia. He also has links to Adam Petrovich Gannibal, who was Peter the Great’s African general.
Marriages
George Milford Haven married Sarah Georgina Walker in 1985. The marriage was short lived however and they sought a divorce just two years later in 1987. In 1989, George Milford Haven married his second wife Andreas Antoniou. Married in London, the couple eventually divorced in February 1996. During their marriage, the couple had two children, Tatiana Mountbatten, who was born in 1990, and Henry Mountbatten, born in 1991. George Milford Haven is currently married to Clare Steel. The couple got married in Massachusetts in August 1997.
Career
George Milford Haven has launched a highly successful career in business. Most famously, he was one of the founding members of uSwitch in the early 2000s. The price comparison site gave consumers a choice over their energy suppliers.
Heralded as being revolutionary, uSwitch meant that customers could see how much they were paying for their energy and compare their own bills to competing suppliers. He has been credited with changing the energy market in the UK. By introducing uSwitch, Milford Haven ensured there was increased competition between energy suppliers, which has led to better offers for consumers.
Sale of uSwitch
Along with his fellow shareholders, George Milford Mountbatten grew uSwitch from scratch until it was sold to American based media firm EW Scripps in 2006. The sale supposedly netted George Milford Mountbatten over £100 million personally.
The total price of the sale was just over £210 million ($400 million at the time). Since the sale, the price comparison site in the UK has become diluted, meaning opportunities within the sector are harder to come by, making the sale of uSwitch particularly timely. In 2015, Zoopla entered into an agreement to purchase uSwitch for the smaller figure of £160 million.
Other ventures
After the sale of uSwitch, George Milford Haven has invested in other companies such as Encazip. The website uses the same model as uSwitch, helping customers to save money on their energy bills in Turkey. The company claims to make switching between suppliers easy and that it helps customers save 20% on their bills every year. He has also invested in Brazilian company MoneyGuru. The site has quickly established itself in the market and is modelled on the UK’s MoneySuperMarket.
In his spare time, George Milford Haven enjoys playing polo. His teams have been coached by Julian Hipwood who won the 30-goal World Cup five times in the early 1980s. He also captained the English Nation Team, leading them to victory in the Coronation Cup six times.