Mountbatten-Windsor is the personal surname used by some of the male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Under a declaration made in Privy Council in 1960, the name Mountbatten-Windsor applies to male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II without royal styles and titles. [1] Individuals with royal styles do not usually use a surname, but some descendants of the Queen with royal styles have used Mountbatten-Windsor when a surname was required.
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. [1] For example, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Anne, Princess Royal, children of Queen Elizabeth II, used the surname Mountbatten-Windsor in official marriage registry entries in 1986 and 1973 respectively. [2] 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 . [3]
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. [4] 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. [5] 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. [6]
Mountbatten-Windsor differs from the official name of the British royal family, which remains the House of Windsor. [1] 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 George, Duke of Kent and Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. (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)
Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022) ⚭ 
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) – m. 1947 
King Charles III (b. 1948)
William, Prince of Wales (b. 1982) 
Prince George of Wales (b. 2013) Princess Charlotte of Wales (b. 2015) Prince Louis of Wales (b. 2018) Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (b. 1984) 
Prince Archie of Sussex (b. 2019) Princess Lilibet of Sussex (b. 2021) Prince Andrew, Duke of York (b. 1960) Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (b. 1988) Princess Eugenie, Mrs Jack Brooksbank (b. 1990) Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1964) James Mountbatten-Windsor, Earl of Wessex (b. 2007) Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor (b. 2003) Anne, Princess Royal (b. 1950)| Date | Wedding | Combined coat of arms |
|---|---|---|
| 20 November 1947 | Princess Elizabeth and Sir Philip Mountbatten (formally HRH Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark) |  |
| 14 November 1973 | Princess Anne and Mark Phillips |  |
| 29 July 1981 | Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer |  |
| 23 July 1986 | Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson |  |
| 12 December 1992 | Anne, Princess Royal and Timothy Laurence | |
| 19 June 1999 | Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie Rhys-Jones |  |
| 9 April 2005 | Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles |  |
| 29 April 2011 | Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton |  |
| 19 May 2018 | Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle |  |
| 12 October 2018 | Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank | |
| 17 July 2020 | Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi | |
Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produce any revenue for the title-holder.
The House of Windsor is a British royal house, and currently the reigning house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. The royal house's name was inspired by the historic Windsor Castle estate. Since it was founded in 1917, there have been five British monarchs of the House of Windsor: George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II, and Charles III. The children and male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip also genealogically belong to the House of Oldenburg since Philip was by birth a member of the Glücksburg branch of that house.
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Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. From 1917 her name was simply Princess Helena Victoria.
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The House of Wettin was a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt. The Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of several medieval states, starting with the Saxon Eastern March in 1030. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, and Saxony in 1423. These areas cover large parts of Central Germany as a cultural area of Germany.
The Battenberg family is a non-dynastic cadet branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, which ruled the Grand Duchy of Hesse until 1918. The first member was Julia Hauke, whose brother-in-law Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse created her Countess of Battenberg in 1851, with the style of Illustrious Highness (H.Ill.H.), at the time of her morganatic marriage to Grand Duke Louis's brother Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine. The name of the title refers to the town of Battenberg in Hesse. In 1858, the countess' title was elevated to Princess of Battenberg, with the style of Serene Highness (H.S.H.).
Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a royal title normally granted to sons and grandsons of reigning and past British monarchs, together with consorts of female monarchs. The title is granted by the reigning monarch, who is the fount of all honours, through the issuing of letters patent as an expression of the royal will.
The use of the title of Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is entirely at the will of the sovereign, and is now expressed in letters patent. Individuals holding the title of princess are styled "Her Royal Highness" (HRH). The current letters patent were issued in 1917 during the First World War, with one extension in 2012.
Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, KG,, was the son and heir apparent of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He died aged 24 under circumstances still not entirely clear. He was a first cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King George V of the United Kingdom and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the fourth child and third daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. As the wife of Ernst II, she was Princess consort of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. She was a granddaughter of both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Tsar Alexander II of Russia.
The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a European royal house. It takes its name from its oldest domain, the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and its members later sat on the thrones of Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal, and the United Kingdom and its dominions.
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