Everyone in the Royal Family of the United Kingdom is a celebrity in their own right. Be it The Prince of Wale, to Kate Middleton or her toddlers, George and Charlotte, the fan following of the royal family is massive, and often rabid among the common people. In American terms, they even surpass the Kardashians. They really ought to have their own show called Keeping Up With The… The… wait, what are their last names again? We can’t just not know this. That can’t be right.
Thankfully, The Independent took upon the task of finding out what their last name was. The Royal Family may be famous but, we can never let them enter the ‘Un Nombre Club’ currently consisting Adele, Beyoncé, Madonna, Cher and others.
Apparently, the Royal Family did not have last names until the 20th Century. Up until then, the Royals would simply adopt the name of the country over which they reigned. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked King George V took the throne. It was he who decided that the Royals should bear a formal last name and took the name, Windsor. And thus, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha became the House of Windsor.
However, following the Queen’s untimely accession to the throne in 1952, the Royals were conflicted as to what name would their House bear because, as per convention, the wife took her husband’s name upon marriage. On the contrary, the then British PM Winston Churchill and Queen Mary (Elizabeth’s grandmother) insisted that the Windsor name should be retained. As a result, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh took the surname Mountbatten-Windsor for their descendants.
So, unless somebody decides that the surname should be changed (which it should ’cause Keeping Up With The Mountbatten-Windsors doesn’t sound right) all of Philip and Elizabeth’s male-line descendants will use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor if and when needed.
