Mountbatten-Windsor

Mountbatten-Windsor was created by combining the royal family's House name of Windsor and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh's adopted surname of Mountbatten.{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/prince-harry-meghan-announce-sons-archie-harrison-mountbatten/story?id=62804184|title= Prince Harry and Meghan announce their son's name: Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor|last=Kindelan|first=Katie |date=8 May 2019 |website=ABC News |accessdate=2 April 2025}} A few years after the death of Lord Mountbatten the Windsor name became the official royal family name and the Battenbergs changed their name to Mountbatten.Anne Edwards. (1990). Royal sisters: Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. p. 74. ISBN: 0-688-07662-9. In 1960 the Privy Council declared:{{cite news |title=The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41948/supplement/1003 |access-date=26 December 2024 |work=The London Gazette |issue=41948 |date=5 February 1960}}

My Lords

Whereas on the 9th day of April 1952, I did declare in Council My Will and Pleasure that I and My children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that My descendants, other than female descendants who marry and their descendants, shall bear the name of Windsor:

And whereas I have given further consideration to the position of those of My descendants who will enjoy neither the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness, nor the titluar dignity of Prince and for whom therefore a surname will be necessary:

And whereas I have concluded that the Declaration made by Me on the 9th day of April 1952, should be varied in its application to such persons:

Now therefore I declare My Will and Pleasure that, while I and My Children shall continue to be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, My descendants other than descendants enjoying the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess and female descendants who marry and their descendants shall bear the name of Mountbatten-Windsor.

The Privy Council declaration made it so that Elizabeth's descendants with princely titles and male-line descendants who bear princely titles keep the name Windsor, pursuant to a declaration she made in a previous Privy Council meeting at the beginning of her reign; female descendants who marry, their descendants, and any other descendants who do not hold princely titles use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. While many of her descendants hold princely titles and styles, they usually use Mountbatten-Windsor instead of Windsor.

The British monarchy asserts that the name Mountbatten-Windsor is used by members of the royal family who do not have a surname, when a surname is required.{{cite web |title=The Royal Family name |date=3 April 2016 |url=https://www.royal.uk/royal-family-name |publisher=The British Monarchy |access-date=10 June 2018}} For example, Anne, Princess Royal, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, children of Queen Elizabeth II, used the surname Mountbatten-Windsor in official marriage registry entries in 1973 and 1986 respectively.Philip Ziegler, Mountbatten: The Official Biography, 1985, p.682 Likewise, William, Prince of Wales, used the name when filing a French lawsuit related to the topless pictures of his wife published by the French magazine Closer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/william-and-kate-win-legal-battle--but-lose-war-to-keep-topless-photos-under-wraps-8153383.html|title=William and Kate win legal battle – but lose war to keep topless photos under wraps|last=Lichfield|first=John|date=19 September 2012|work=The Independent|access-date=28 February 2017}}

At the time of the 1960 declaration, palace officials claimed in private communications that it created a hidden surname that would emerge several generations later when some of Queen Elizabeth II's descendants were further removed from the throne.http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/TNA/HO_290_72.htm (see, in particular, the article by Edward F. Iwi). On the wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, the Queen decided, with their agreement, that any of their future children should not be styled His or Her Royal Highness.Even though such children would theoretically be a Prince or Princess under the 1917 letters patent which changed the name of the Royal House to Windsor. Consequently, the birth of their daughter in 2003 marked the first emergence of the Mountbatten-Windsor surname. Their daughter was named Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor, and she goes by the title of Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, her father being the Duke of Edinburgh.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1447876/Lady-Louise-heralds-return-for-Mountbattens.html|title=Lady Louise heralds return for Mountbattens|date=27 November 2003|work=The Telegraph}}

Mountbatten-Windsor differs from the official name of the British royal family, which remains the House of Windsor. In accordance with law and custom in the English-speaking world, the surname Mountbatten-Windsor belongs to all male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, and is used by them if and when a surname is needed. In contrast, male-line descendants of King George V, the first monarch of the House of Windsor, use Windsor as their surname if and when a surname is needed, as for example Lady Davina Windsor and Lady Marina Windsor, respectively descended from George V's sons Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Prince George, Duke of Kent. (George V's other sons have no male-line descendants: King George VI had only daughters while King Edward VIII had no issue and Prince John was unmarried.) After the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was renamed Windsor, other descendants of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert could also use the name Windsor, as for example, Alastair Arthur Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, grandson of their son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. None do so today, however, because the only male line (apart from the descendants of King George V) is through Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, whose descendants use the surname Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (English) or von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (German).

The family tree is based on the current line of succession to the British throne (addition of last heir)

{{Tree list}}

• 15px Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022) ⚭ 15px Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) – m. 1947
• 15px King Charles III (b. 1948)
• (1) 15px William, Prince of Wales (b. 1982)
• (2) 15px Prince George of Wales (b. 2013)
• (3) 15px Princess Charlotte of Wales (b. 2015)
• (4) 15px Prince Louis of Wales (b. 2018)
• (5) 15px Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (b. 1984)
• (6) 15px Prince Archie of Sussex (b. 2019)
• (7) 15px Princess Lilibet of Sussex (b. 2021)
• (8) 15px Prince Andrew, Duke of York (b. 1960)
• (9) 15px Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (b. 1988)
• (12) 15px Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank (b. 1990)
• (15) 15px Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1964)
• (16) 15px James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex (b. 2007)
• (17) 15px Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor (b. 2003)
• (18) 15px Anne, Princess Royal (b. 1950)

{{Tree list/end}}

• House of Windsor – Queen Elizabeth II's paternal family house
• Bowes-Lyon family – Queen Elizabeth II's maternal family.
• House of Glücksburg – Prince Philip's paternal family.
• Mountbatten family – Prince Philip's maternal family.

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Mountbatten-Windsor (surname)}}

• [https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41948/data.pdf 1960 Declaration]

{{Mountbatten-Windsor}}

{{Elizabeth II}}

{{Philip, Duke of Edinburgh}}

{{Charles III}}

Category:Surnames of European origin