It was created in 1917 for Alexander Mountbatten (formerly Prince Alexander of Battenberg),[1] eldest son of Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (youngest daughter of Queen Victoria) and Prince Henry of Battenberg.

He was made Viscount Launceston, in the County of Cornwall, and Earl of Berkhampstead at the same time, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

[1] Along with other German-surnamed relations of the British royal family, Alexander also changed his surname at that time, to Mountbatten.

Carisbrooke Castle was the residence of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice as Governor of the Isle of Wight.

The title of Marquess of Berkhampstead had previously been conferred with the Dukedom of Cumberland on Prince William Augustus, son of King George II, in 1726.