# Elizabeth II and the "House of Mountbatten"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-ii-and-the-house-of-mountbatten/486687>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 20, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-ii-and-the-house-of-mountbatten/486687 "2009-02-20T05:52:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-ii-and-the-house-of-mountbatten/486687/21 "2009-02-21T07:15:32Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> **Giles** : King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II were first cousins, but that didn’t stop them being heads of warring states).

> [@](#):
>
> **Guinastasia** : Incidentally Alice was also the mother of the last Russian Empress, Alexandra. Earl Mountbatten had a crush on his cousin Maria when they were children, and used to say he wanted to marry her when they grew up.

You know where I’m going with this. Maria’s father was a Romanov: [Czar Nicholas II](http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3DNicholas%2BII%2Bphoto&w=268&h=372&imgurl=www.factbook.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fmedia%2Fe%2Fee%2Fac_nicholasii.jpg&size=15.5kB&name=ac_nicholasii.jpg&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.factbook.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fn%2Fni%2Fnicholas_ii_of_russia.html&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.factbook.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2Fn%2Fni%2Fnicholas_ii_of_russia.html&p=nicholas+ii&type=jpeg&no=1&tt=745&oid=28077ce2c6460f82&tit=ac_nicholasii.jpg&sigr=124pjcupb&sigi=11qbgugu3&sigb=11r5mj3hg), the last czar of Russia and another first cousin to [King George V](http://www.worldwar1.com/biokingg.htm) and [Kaiser Wilhelm II](http://members.fortunecity.se/mikaelxii/ww1/Germany/Kaiser.html).

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**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-ii-and-the-house-of-mountbatten/486687/22 "2009-02-21T08:31:05Z")

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> [@alphaboi867](#):
>
> When the Queen served in the ATS during WWII she was known simply as “2nd Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor”, not “2nd Subaltern Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth”.

Most people just called her Brenda:p

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**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elizabeth-ii-and-the-house-of-mountbatten/486687/23 "2009-02-21T10:56:26Z")

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> [@Giles](#):
>
> On the original question: the renaming of the House of Windsor and the resurnaming of the Duke of Edinburgh were for basically the same reason. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was too German sounding, and the Duke’s original surname, Battenburg, was also too German sounding, around the period of the two world wars, when Britain and Germany were at war with each other. (King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II were first cousins, but that didn’t stop them being heads of warring states).

Just a slight difference- I think it was during the Great War (actually 1914) that Battenburg resigned due to his name as First Sea Lord, allowing Jackie Fisher to take over.

I don’t think there is any doubt that Battenburg was extremely capable in the position.

End of nitpick and thread hijack,

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