Royal Family question

[DukeStreetKing]

Do the members of the Royal Family have last names? I did a quick internet search but did not come up with anything. I found Prince Charles listed as the Prince of Wales and his christening name, but never a last name.

Is it Jones?

 

[bananiem]

I believe it is Windsor.

 

[TLC371]

I believe it is Windsor.

Ditto...I'm almost certain it is Windsor

 

[tinatark]

Windsor.

Charles Phillip George yada yada Windsor...

 

[Deb in IA]

But Prince Harry is going by "Henry Wales" at the military academy he's attending . . .

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Don't know why..but Wales is a country and not their last name.

 

[DukeStreetKing]

I believe it is Windsor.

D'oh!! Of course. What a dope I am sometimes.

Thanks everybody.

 

[twinklebug]

Windsor.

Charles Phillip George yada yada Windsor...

Yada Yada? Hmmm... they must be part italian. (picturing my godmother waving her hands about over the pasta bowl saying "Yada yada! Shut your yaps and EAT!") And here I was thinking they were pure blood English. Somebody slap me.

 

[va32h]

Don't know why..but Wales is a country and not their last name

Because Charles' official title at the moment is "Prince of Wales". Actually, he has several titles, but that's the biggie.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I guess it doesn't matter if it is a country or not:

The British Royal Family
Their Last Name
The royal family has little use for last names - after all, everyone knows who they are. Princess Diana did not take back her maiden name, Spencer, after her divorce; she continued to be known simply as "Diana." The queen signs official documents "Elizabeth R." The R stands for Regina, which means "queen." (Regina is not one of her given names; she was baptised Elizabeth Alexandra Mary.)

But the royal family does have a last name, and they do use it from time to time. This wasn't always the case. Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, so her descendants were part of that dynasty. This, however, was not the family's last name. They didn't have one, because they didn't need one, so they didn't worry about it. Experts later worried about it for them and decided their name was probably "Witten" (or maybe even Wipper).

The royal family's official name, or lack thereof, became a problem during World War I, when people began to mutter that Saxe-Coburg-Gotha sounded far too German. King George V and his family needed a new, English-sounding name. After considering every possible name, from Plantagenet to Tudor-Stuart to simply England, the king and his advisors chose the name Windsor.

To this day, the British royal family is known as the House of Windsor. When Princess Elizabeth (the current queen) served as a subaltern in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II, she was called "Elizabeth Windsor." Elizabeth married Prince Philip of Greece, whose family name was Mountbatten, and eventually she decreed that most of her descendants would be called Mountbatten-Windsor. Princess Anne used this name in 1973 when she married Captain Mark Phillips.

However, according to statements made by the queen, it appears that Windsor is still the official family name for any British royal who is styled "Royal Highness." The queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, has used the name Edward Windsor professionally. His wife calls herself Sophie Wessex.

http://www.royalty.nu/Europe/England/Windsor/

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

And her is how they got to that name of Windor:

Yes, it's true, the British royal family changed their last name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917. The reason? World War One broke out in 1914 and anit-German sentiment was at its height 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.

Here's a look at the proclamation:

from the date of this Our Royal Proclamation Our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that all the descendants in the male line of Our said Grandmother Queen Victoria who are subjects of these Realms, other than female descendants who may marry or may have married, shall bear the said Name of Windsor

http://ask.yahoo.com/20000907.html

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

And one more find....

The Royal Family's Last Name

An excerpt from a declaration made at a Privy Council meeting, held at Clarence House on 9 April, 1952 states:
"The Queen today declared in Council her will and pleasure that she and her children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that her descendants, other than female descendants who marry and their descendants, shall bear the name of Windsor."
A later declaration (8 February, 1960) stated that all her descendants who did not bear the "style, title or attribute of HRH, and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess" shall bear the name of Mountbatten-Windsor.

http://www.britannia.com/history/names.html

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Because Charles' official title at the moment is "Prince of Wales". Actually, he has several titles, but that's the biggie.

I got that part...didn't know why it was the last name though--and research shows..why.

 

[DukeStreetKing]

Lisa loves Pooh, you're all over that!

Thanks.

 

[Deb in IA]

Harry enters Sandhurst

Prince Harry began his new life in the Army as he joined elite military academy Sandhurst ready to embark on its tough training regime.

The 20-year-old bid farewell to his father, The Prince of Wales, after enrolling at the historic college.

For the first five weeks Officer Cadet Wales will face a gruelling routine, rising at dawn and being forbidden from leaving the site in Camberley, Surrey

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/princes/harry/sandhurst_entry.html

 

[mtblujeans]

I saw a documentary a few month back on PBS and it said that Prince Phillip wanted the 'House of Windsor' to be come the 'House of Mountbatten' when he married the future Queen but the House of Commons said absolutely not and Phillip began his marriage in a very bitter state of mind because he was going to become "Mr. Queen of England" instead of being the head of his household!

 

[Patch'sD]

Dysfunctional

 

[malibuconlee]

But Prince Harry is going by "Henry Wales" at the military academy he's attending . . .

I also seem to remember reading when William enrolled in university he used Wales as his last name as well.

 

[missypie]

Moutbatten used to be Battenburg, but Battenburg was deemed "too German."

 

[mtblujeans]

Moutbatten used to be Battenburg, but Battenburg was deemed "too German."

I guess that would mean something back in the 1930's and 1940's. The same way we are so sensitive to people of 'Arab decent' now.

Also, in this documentary I saw....do you realize that the King that stepped down to marry the divorcee was sympathetic to Hitler and his cause? Had he remained King, WWII would have had a completely different outcome!!