The Millstone Times July 2018

Did you know…..? By Pam Teel

Did you know that the Royal British family changed their surname in 1917 from Saxe- Coburg-Gotha to Windsor? George V was king of England from 1910 to 1936. Son of Edward VII, King of England, and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, he married Queen Mary of Teck (called May) in 1893. Known as the Sailor Prince, he had an active naval career and rose to the rank of vice admiral in 1903. World War I broke out in 1914 and was in full fury in 1917. In protest, King George V renounced all the German titles belonging to him and his family and adopted the name of his castle, Windsor. In earlier days, royalty had no use for surnames. Today's royals still don't need a last name because they are already famously recognized but technically they go by Mountbatten- Windsor, a blend of the Queen and her husband's surnames. Other royals use their family's territorial designation (like Wales or York) as a last name. When members of the royal family need to use a last name, say when they're in school or in the military for example, they actually have a few choices. Here's a breakdown of all their options and how it got to be this way in the first place. Before 1917, royals didn't use last names at all. They had only their first names and the name of the house or dynasty they were part of, according to the Royal Family's official website. You've probably heard of some of these dynasty names, such as the House of Tudor and the House of York.

In 1917, when King George V had been on the throne for seven years, he decided to change the house name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. He made the switch because of anti-German sentiments brewing at the start of World War I (the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha name was of German origin). "Windsor" came from Windsor Castle, one of the royal family's properties. But he wasn't just changing the dynasty name. George V also specified that Windsor was to become the royal family's official surname, too. Today, the royal family is still known as the House of Windsor, and in a broad general sense; Windsor is still the royal’s last name. When Queen Elizabeth II came to power, she made a slight modification. In 1947, Princess Elizabeth (George V's granddaughter) married Philip Mountbatten, a former Greek and Danish prince who had joined the British Royal Navy. Just a few years later, the young couple was thrust to the very top of the monarchy after Elizabeth’s father died, making her Queen Elizabeth II. Mountbatten became Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. In 1960, Elizabeth and Philip decreed that their descendants would carry the hyphenated last name Mountbatten-Windsor. There's one exception, though: Any royal with the title "His Royal Highness Prince" or "Her Royal Highness Princess" doesn't need to use a surname at all. They can use Mountbatten-Windsor if they need to (the Queen's daughter, Princess Anne, used it on her marriage certificate in 1973, but it's not an obligation. Not all royals use the Mountbatten-Windsor name, though. Some members of the royal clan have used their family's territorial designation instead. For example: When Prince William and Prince Harry served in the military, they went by WilliamWales and Harry Wales — because their father is the Prince of Wales. AndThe Daily Beast reports that Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice have gone by Eugenie York and Beatrice York, since their father, Prince Andrew, is the Duke of York. There are few other last names kicking around, too: Princess Anne's kids simply took their father's last name — Phillips. And the daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Essex, just goes by Windsor, without the Mountbatten. As the Royal Family's official website notes: "A proclamation on the Royal Family name [...] does not pass into the law of the land." No one's really forced to use the official surname, and newly crowned kings and queens aren't bound to follow the surname rules set by their predecessors. The bottom line: Unsurprisingly, the complicated royal family has a buffet of acceptable surnames. Technically, their last name is Windsor, though direct descendants of the queen can use Mountbatten-Windsor if they ever need it. Some royals use territorial names, but most, including the young Prince George and Princess Charlotte stick to first names only.

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The Millstone Times

July 2018