Zoe
February 21, 2009, 7:15am
21
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 , the last czar of Russia and another first cousin to King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II .
chowder
February 21, 2009, 8:31am
22
Most people just called her Brenda:p
Cicero
February 21, 2009, 10:56am
23
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,
