Descendants of Elizabeth II
In 1947, Princess Elizabeth (as Queen Elizabeth II was then titled), heir presumptive to King George VI, married Philip Mountbatten. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a branch of the House of Oldenburg, and had been a prince of Greece and Denmark. However, not wishing to repeat the difficulties of three decades previous, Philip, a few months before his marriage, renounced his princely titles and adopted the surname Mountbatten, which was that of his uncle and mentor, the Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, and itself was adopted by the Viscount's father (Philip's maternal grandfather), Prince Louis of Battenberg, in 1917. It is the literal translation of the German Battenberg, which refers to Battenberg, a small town in Hesse.
Soon after Elizabeth became queen of the Commonwealth realms in 1952, the Earl Mountbatten (as Philip's uncle was then known) advocated that she change the name of her royal house to House of Mountbatten; it was the standard practice for the wife in a marriage to adopt her husband's surname. When Elizabeth's grandmother, Queen Mary, heard of this suggestion, she informed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and he later advised the Queen to issue a royal proclamation declaring that the royal house was to remain known as the House of Windsor. This she did on 9 April 1952, officially declaring it her "Will and Pleasure that I and My children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that my descendants who marry and their descendants, shall bear the name of Windsor." Philip privately complained, "I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children."
On 8 February 1960, after the death of Queen Mary and the resignation of Churchill, the Queen confirmed that she and her children would continue to be known as the House and Family of Windsor, as would any agnatic descendants who enjoy the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince or Princess. Still, Elizabeth also decreed that her agnatic descendants who do not have that style and title would bear the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.
Any future monarch can change the dynastic name through a similar royal proclamation, as royal proclamations do not have statutory authority.
Read more about this topic: House Of Windsor
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