Anti-German feeling during the First World War prompted the birth of the Mountbatten name.
At the request of King George V, Prince Louis changed the family name from Battenberg to the anglicised version Mountbatten.
The King himself also changed the royals‘ distinctly German name of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and chose Windsor instead.
He declared that ‘henceforth our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor’.
Prince Philip, whose mother Alice was Lord Mountbatten’s sister, also adopted the surname when he became a naturalised British subject and renounced his Greek and Danish Royal title in 1947.
He was originally a member of the House of Glucksburg. Following the death of King George VI, Lord Mountbatten proclaimed the ‘house of Mountbatten now reigned’.
After hearing of his boast, Queen Mary summoned the private secretary of prime minister Winston Churchill to complain.
With Churchill allegedly left as outraged as Queen Mary, the decision was taken that the family name should remain Windsor. Queen Elizabeth announced in April 1952 that the Royal Family would keep Windsor as its official name.
At the request of King George V (pictured), Prince Louis changed the family name from Battenberg to the anglicised version Mountbatten
From now on, the former Duke of York (pictured) will simply be known as Mr Andrew Mountbatten Windsor – losing even his birth title of prince
In 1960, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh (pictured) wanted their own direct descendants to be distinguished from the rest of the Royal Family while keeping the Royal House name of Windsor
It was declared it was the monarch’s ‘will and pleasure that she and her children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and her descendants, other than female descendants who marry, and their descendants, shall bear the name Windsor’.
The Queen’s decision to keep Windsor rather than choosing her husband’s surname would have been influenced by her grandfather King George V’s proclamation in 1917.
The decision left Prince Philip deeply upset and it prompted him to tell his friends: ‘I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children.’
He went on to add: ‘I am nothing but a bloody amoeba.’
Philip did have precedent on his side. In 1947, the then-Lord Chancellor had been in no doubt that any children produced by Elizabeth and Philip would bear his surname. The recent precedent of King Edward VII backed him up.
He reigned as a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his father’s house) and not of the House of Hanover, which his mother Queen Victoria was part of.
In 1960, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh wanted their own direct descendants to be distinguished from the rest of the Royal Family while keeping the Royal House name of Windsor.
The decision, to reflect Prince Philip’s surname, led to the Privy Council declaring that the Queen’s descendants, other than those with the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince or Princess, or female descendants who marry, would be Mountbatten Windsor.
As a result, whenever the Queen’s children needed a surname they would have Mountbatten Windsor.
As Mail writer and author of bestselling Queen Of Our Times, Robert Hardman, last night said: ‘The Queen knew how upset Prince Philip was after the “amoeba” episode. The addition of Mountbatten was her way of bolstering his standing. Thank goodness neither has had to witness this.’
Now that Andrew has lost his birth title of prince, he will be known as Mountbatten Windsor since he is the third child of the late Queen and Prince Philip.
And once the Prince of Wales becomes king, he will continue remain a part of House of Windsor and his grandchildren will use the surname Mountbatten Windsor.
