# Does the British Royal Family have a last name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2002, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921 "2002-12-02T07:49:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/1 "2002-12-02T07:49:30Z")
Whenever I hear about members of the royal family, they are always referred to by their title and their first name. Do they have a last name? ---
**Author:** ![rampisad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/858c86/32.png) [@rampisad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rampisad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/2 "2002-12-02T07:54:13Z")
The queen is Windsor, her husband is Mountbatten. Like everything else about them, they disdain to conform to societys rules, so their children go by her name, not his. Bring on the Republic! ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/3 "2002-12-02T08:07:57Z")
Are they related to the King George who was in power way back during the American Revolution? ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/4 "2002-12-02T08:11:20Z")
Cecil covered this. Elizabeth II’s family name is Windsor, but she has decreed that her decendants will use the name Mountbatten-Windsor. The column Cecil wrote starts with Prince Andrew’s military appellation, but it gets into the whole dynasty fairly quickly. [What did Prince Andrew’s superiors in the Royal Navy call him?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_136.html) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/5 "2002-12-02T08:17:25Z")
Prince William and Prince Henry (Harry) were/are addressed at school as “Windsor” by their instructors in class. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/6 "2002-12-02T08:19:36Z")
I should add that as the executive of a film production company, Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son goes by the name Edward Windsor. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/7 "2002-12-02T08:42:14Z")
But is Winsor actually considered their last name (other than Edward)? I know that they are of the House of Winsor. Is that different? The relation to George III is as follows: Queen Victoria was the granddaughter of George III. Queen Victoria was Elizabeth II great-great grandmother. So George III was Elizabeth II’s great-great-great-great grandfather. I have read that Diana, Princess of Wales, was a descendant of Kings and Queens other than just those that Charles, Prince of Wales is related to. She fills in the “gaps.” Prince William is a descendant of all of the kings and queens of England. Just please don’t ask me for a cite! I think that I read this about twenty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/8 "2002-12-02T10:16:59Z")
The English royal family’s surname used to be the rather non-english sounding “Saxe-Coburg-Gotha”. They decided to change it when we went to war with German in 1914… can’t imagine why! From [this site](http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page128.asp): > [@](#): > > The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha came to the British Royal Family in 1840 with the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert, son of Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha. Queen Victoria herself remained a member of the House of Hanover. > > The only British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was King Edward VII, who reigned for nine years at the beginning of the modern age in the early years of the 20th century. **King George V replaced the German-sounding title with that of Windsor during the First World War.** The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha survived in other European monarchies, including the current Belgian Royal Family and the former monarchies of Portugal and Bulgaria. Echoes of Blackadder…? > [@](#): > > BlackAdder is in a hospital interrogating patients in case they are German spies. He is interrogating Captain Darling. > > D: Listen, BlackAdder, I know all three verses of God Save the King. > E: Four verses! > D: Four, four! For god’s sake, I’m as English as Queen Victoria! > E: You mean your father is German, you’re half-German and you married a German?! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/9 "2002-12-02T10:34:58Z")
[bowes-lyon](http://www.royalty.nu/Europe/England/Windsor/QueenMother.html) sometimes known as mum ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/10 "2002-12-02T11:40:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by e-logic \* > The **English** royal family’s… There’s no such thing. How can we expect foreigners to get this right if we get it wrong ourselves? ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/11 "2002-12-02T11:47:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*There’s no such thing. How can we expect foreigners to get this right if we get it wrong ourselves? \*\* +1 guess england rules ok?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/12 "2002-12-02T11:53:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > But is Winsor actually considered their last name (other than Edward)? I know that they are of the House of Winsor. Is that different? Yes, Windsor is considered their last name for all purposes where their last name is used at all. Here’s Merriam-Webster on “house”: Main Entry: **house** Pronunciation: 'haus Function: _noun_ Inflected Form(s): _plural_ **hous·es** /'hau-z&z _also_ -s&z/ Usage: _often attributive_ Etymology: Middle English _hous_, from Old English _hus_; akin to Old High German _hus_ house Date: before 12th century **4 a** : HOUSEHOLD **b** : a family including ancestors, descendants, and kindred \ So you could use “house” for your own family line if you were pretentious enough. My own desk dictionary (Collins) says “_(often cap.) a family line including ancestors and relatives, esp. a noble one_”. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/13 "2002-12-02T12:01:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*There’s no such thing. How can we expect foreigners to get this right if we get it wrong ourselves? \*\* From [this site](http://www.elmsella.demon.co.uk/scottish%20sovereignty.htm): > [@](#): > > Upon the death of Elizabeth of England, James V1 of Scotland inherited the Crown of England and thereafter the Crowns of two separate nation states, Scotland and England, were held simultaneously by one and the same person. James V1 of Scotland became James 1st of England at one and the same time. **To this day there are two separate Crowns being held by one and the same person, Queen Elizabeth 1st of Scotland and Queen Elizabeth 2nd of England.** Two Crowns and one Monarch is quite a different position from saying there was a “Union of Crowns” when patently there was no such thing. At the opening of Scotland’s recalled Parliament on July 1st 1999 in Edinburgh by the Queen it was the Crown of David 1st of Scotland that was presented to Her Majesty by the Duke of Hamilton for the opening ceremony. Scotland’s Regalia of State, the Crown Jewels , are the oldest in Europe. Not sure how reliable that site is, but I know there are Scottish families who still claim the “scottish crown”. I assume the implication of this passage is that while Queen Elizabth II might be a _de facto_ ‘British’ monarch, I would imagine that there are many people who see her as an English monarch who also happens to hold the Scottish crown? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/14 "2002-12-02T12:16:29Z")
Some of the descendants of the younger children of King George V are now sufficiently far removed from the immediate royal family to have no peerages of their own, and they do in fact go by the family name of Windsor. Lord Frederick Windsor, for instance, is a great-grandson of King George V. As already pointed out, the descendants of the present Queen whose surname is not “concealed” by a peerage or title of some kind will go by the name of Mountbatten-Windsor. ---
**Author:** ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/15 "2002-12-02T12:19:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UDS \* > \*\*Some of the descendants of the younger children of King George V are now sufficiently far removed from the immediate royal family to have no peerages of their own, and they do in fact go by the family name of Windsor. Lord Frederick Windsor, for instance, is a great-grandson of King George V. > > As already pointed out, the descendants of the present Queen whose surname is not “concealed” by a peerage or title of some kind will go by the name of Mountbatten-Windsor. \*\* [battenburg](http://www.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/bio/b/batnburg.html) going back a stage further? any help:cool: ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/16 "2002-12-02T12:20:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by UDS \* > \*\*As already pointed out, the descendants of the present Queen whose surname is not “concealed” by a peerage or title of some kind will go by the name of Mountbatten-Windsor. \*\* As a further point of interest, “Mountbatten” is the anglicised (sorry, ‘britishised’ ;)) version of “Battenburg”, which is what some of Queen Victoria’s descendents were called until they too decided that a war with Germany made changing their name a prudent move. [http://www.quarterman.org/chart/henryviii/mid/mountbatten.html](http://www.quarterman.org/chart/henryviii/mid/mountbatten.html) ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/17 "2002-12-02T13:47:42Z")
**e-logic** Maybe “no such thing” was putting it too strongly (technically the Queen is monarch of England, Scotland, Canada, Australia etc. after all). But we get plenty of threads asking what the difference is between England, Great Britain and the UK, and my concern was that saying she’s the queen of England wrongly implied that England = UK. No offence intended. As far as the reliability of the linked website is concerned, you’d think they could tell the difference between V1 (flying bomb used by the Nazis) and VI (Roman numeral for 6), but the [Official Monarchy site](http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page13.asp) says the same thing without stirring up any nationalistic, flag-waving stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/18 "2002-12-02T13:55:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > **e-logic > Maybe “no such thing” was putting it too strongly (technically the Queen is monarch of England, Scotland, Canada, Australia etc. after all). But we get plenty of threads asking what the difference is between England, Great Britain and the UK, and my concern was that saying she’s the queen of England wrongly implied that England = UK. No offence intended.** One of my housemates is Scottish, and he has a go at me when I use British as he says he has no wish to be included with the English. Guess I can’t win either way! 😉 But yes, it was lazy of me to use English instead of British and that doesn’t help the ol’ fight against ignorance - my bad 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*\*As far as the reliability of the linked website is concerned, you’d think they could tell the difference between V1 (flying bomb used by the Nazis) and VI (Roman numeral for 6), but the [Official Monarchy site](http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page13.asp) says the same thing without stirring up any nationalistic, flag-waving stuff. \*\* Perhaps not the most balanced site I could have chosen! I particularly like the “give William Wallace a sainthood” campaign 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/19 "2002-12-03T04:16:41Z")
While we’re on the subject: (1) I understand that the monarchy as it is now is mainly a ceremonial thing. What powers, if any, does the Queen actually have? (2) When and how did the monarchy lose governmental power? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2002, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921/20 "2002-12-03T05:29:57Z")
if we saw their driver’s licenses, that would answer a lot of questions. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-british-royal-family-have-a-last-name/139921.md?page=2)