News

This is why the Queen doesn't use a last name

This is why the Queen doesn't use a last name
Prince Harry says he 'doesn't know' if he will be able to ...
Today

As the Queen celebrates her platinum jubilee its as good a time as any to address why she and the other members of her family don't use a surname.

Just like Cher, Madonna and Prince, the Royals’ surname is an afterthought. This is because, up until the early 20th century, they had no last name at all. Kings and princes were instead known by the names of the county they ruled, according to the royal family’s official website.

It states:

"The names of dynasties tended to change when the line of succession was taken by a rival faction within the family (for example, Henry IV and the Lancastrians, Edward IV and the Yorkists, Henry VII and the Tudors), or when succession passed to a different family branch through females (for example, Henry II and the Angevins, James I and the Stuarts, George I and the Hanoverians)."

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

But thanks to King George V, that changed in 1917, when he ruled that his family and all of his descendants would have the surname Windsor. In 1960, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh wanted to distinguish their own descendants from the rest of the royal family, so it was decided that they would be called Mountbatten-Windsor.

The website states:

"Unless The Prince of Wales chooses to alter the present decisions when he becomes king, he will continue to be of the House of Windsor and his grandchildren will use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor."

Simple!

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)
x