Royal History Today - March 2

1316 - Marjorie Bruce dies at Paisley Abbey

Paisley Abbey, the final resting place of Marjorie Bruce

     Born as the eldest daughter of Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick, Marjorie Bruce came into the world just as the Scottish Wars of Independence were commencing. Eventually, she became a Princess of Scotland at the age of nine when her father was crowned King of Scots in 1306.

     Soon after her father's coronation, Marjorie was held captive by the English at a convent in Watton, East Riding of Yorkshire, where she remained for nearly eight years until her freedom was granted by Edward II of England, probably as part of an exchange for English prisoners held by the Scots following the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

     Upon her return to Scotland, she married Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, who had distinguished himself in battle alongside her father. Two years later, Marjorie was riding a horse whilst pregnant when the horse became startled. She was thrown to the ground, went into premature labor, and gave birth to her only child, Robert Stewart, at Paisley Abbey. Within hours, she died and was buried there.

     Her son would eventually succeed to the Scottish throne as Robert II, becoming the first monarch of the House of Stewart. Marjorie's descendants include the successors to the thrones of Scotland, England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth II is her 18th great-granddaughter.
 

1484 - Richard III of England establishes the College of Arms

Arms of the College of Arms

     The King had an interest in heraldry during the period when he was serving under his brother, Edward IV, and upon his accession, moved to reform the organization of heraldry by creating the College of Arms.

     The College of Arms is the royal corporation responsible for acting on behalf of the monarch on issues of heraldry, granting arms, genealogical research, and recording of pedigree's in England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Commonwealth realms such as Australia and New Zealand (with Scotland having its own its own heraldic authority, the Court of the Lord Lyon). It is part of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom and is also responsible for maintaining official registers of flags and national symbols, as well as providing guidance on how flags ought to be used on land. The College also helps to plan and organize ceremonial events such as state funerals, coronations, and the annual State Opening of Parliament, at which the Heralds of the College often accompany the monarch. 

     When Richard III established the College, he appointed Sir John Howard as Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal, and placed him in charge of the organization. Through the centuries, his male descendants have succeeded to those titles, with the present holder being Edward Fitzalan-Howard.

1619 - Death of Anne of Denmark, Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland

Anne, the first Queen consort of all Britain

     Anne was born in 1574 as the second daughter of Frederick II of Denmark, and married James VI of Scotland in 1589 at the age of fourteen - becoming Queen consort of Scots. With King James, she had seven children, three of whom survived beyond infancy: Henry Frederick Stuart, Elizabeth Stuart, and Charles Stuart.

     In 1603, Anne become Queen consort of England and Ireland upon the death of Elizabeth I and her husband's accession to those thrones. As Queen, Anne was noted as patron of the arts during Britain's Jacobean period, and led an outgoing and cosmopolitan lifestyle - in contrast to the more reclusive James, who preferred the close company of intimates and spending time at is hunting lodges. Indeed, the couple drifted apart in their later years in part because of their differing lifestyles.

     Nevertheless, the King was emotionally affected by her death in 1619 at the age of only 44, and paid tribute to her with these verses: 

So did my Queen from hence her court remove

And left off earth to be enthroned above.

She's changed, not dead, for sure no good prince dies,

But, as the sun, sets, only for to rise.

     Queen Anne was buried at Westminster Abbey, where she was joined by her husband in about six years. Their eldest child, Henry Frederick Stuart, had died in 1612, so their youngest child would succeed to the English, Scottish, and Irish thrones as King Charles I. Elizabeth, their eldest daughter, became Queen of Bohemia via her marriage to Frederick I, and grandmother to George I of Great Britain and Ireland.

     Anne is a ninth great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II.

1882 - Assassination attempt on Queen Victoria

Victoria survived eight assassination attempts over the course of her 63 year reign

     In Windsor, Roderick McLean attempted to assassinate Queen Victoria with a pistol in what was the last attempt on the Queen's life. His motive was supposedly the curt reply to some poetry he had sent to the Queen.

     At his trial, he was declare "not guilty, but insane", and spent the remainder of his life at Broadmoor Asylum, where he died in 1921. The Queen is supposed to have asked for a change in law, so that future suspects in similar cases may be found "guilty and insane."


Photo Credit:  Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc

Royal Surnames and House Names: Part II - The House of Windsor

To see my explanation on how royal house names and surnames evolved up to the 20th Century, please read Part I.

     By 1910, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had reigned in the United Kingdom and the British Empire for nine years. That 

King Edward VII was the latest of a line of monarchs beginning with
George I in 1714 who were of German origin or descent.

year, the first monarch of that house, Edward VII, died and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, George V, who had served in the Royal Navy and considered himself to be patriotically British. Yet the royal house to which he belonged was anything but British. It was the ancestral house of his grandfather Prince Albert, based on the German ducal lands his family held. Even so, the fact that the royal family was of immediate German origin was not a secret, and it did little to diminish the overall affection that the public had for them. World War I however, would change that.

     As the “war to end all wars” dragged on, Germans and Britons of German descent became increasingly suspect in the eyes of the British public, who were being fed stories about German war atrocities and cartoon images of blood-thirsty German soldiers. The anti-German mood became so toxic, that it manifested itself in riots and vandalism at homes and businesses owned by people with Germanic names. This led to the forced resignation of Prince Louis of Battenberg – a German prince who was a decorated British naval officer of 40 years and a cousin of the royal family – from his office of First Sea Lord (which is the professional head of the British Naval Service). Eventually, the British Royal Family itself was suspected of having too close of a connection with the enemy Hun, and not being full-heartedly supportive of the British war effort against Germany. In fact, only the opposite was true, but it certainly did not help being a first cousin of the German kaiser, Wilhem II, as George V was (because both men were grandsons of Queen Victoria). It also did the royal family no favors that it had a German royal house name – Saxe-Coburg-Gotha – and held German titles. The writer H.G. Wells criticized George for having an “alien and uninspiring court,” to which the king responded, “I may be uninspiring, but I’ll be damned if I’m an alien!” But the final straw came when Gotha G.IV planes were dropping bombs on London.

King George V (center), with his two eldest sons:
Prince Edward (the future Edward VIII)
on the left and Prince Albert
(the future George VI) to the right.

     It soon became apparent that there needed to be a change in name for the royal family. George did not know what his actual surname might be, so the College of Heralds was consulted, and they reported that his name was either Guelph (the ancestral house of the Hanoverians) or more likely Wettin (the ancestral house of the Saxe-Coburg’s). Either way, these names did not sound British, so a search began for new name. Proposed names included those of former royal dynasties: Plantagenet, Lancaster, and York. Tudor-Stewart was also suggested as a way to pay homage to the House of Tudor, which ended the fratricidal Wars of the Roses in England, as

Arthur Bigge, Baron Stamfordham,
the man who suggested Windsor
as a family name for George V
and his family in 1917.

well as the House of Stewart/Stuart, the Scottish royal house that brought the British Isles together under one monarch. These names were written off as either too English-oriented (in a kingdom which included the Scots, Irish, and Welsh) or backward-looking for a royal family attempting to re-christen itself as being a model, modern, and thoroughly British family. Eventually, George’s private secretary, Lord Stamfordham, suggested Windsor, after the king’s favorite residence of Windsor Castle, which has been a seat of the monarchy since the days of William the Conqueror, and used by Scottish and British monarchs since James VI & I ushered in the Union of the Crowns. There was also some historical basis for using the name, since Edward III of England was known as “Edward of Windsor” in his early years. 

Windsor Castle. Built by William the Conqueror, it has been a royal residence since Henry I of England, and extensively modified and enlarged by successive English and British monarchs.

     On July 27, 1917, King George V issued a proclamation in which he renamed his royal house and family Windsor and renounced the German titles that he and his family held. The proclamation

Good Riddance: King George V
sweeping away his titles
"Made in Germany"

was significant as it allowed male-line descendants of Queen Victoria without the dignity and style of HRH Prince or Princess to use Windsor as their surname. This was necessary for two reasons. Firstly, George also issued Letters Patent that limited the dignity and style of a British prince and princess to children of a monarch, male-line grandchildren of a monarch, and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. Secondly, George V and Queen Mary had decided to allow their children to marry native British men and women, because hitherto, it was largely unheard of for royalty to in effect, marry their subjects, which explained the tendency to marry members of other royal families (particularly Protestant ones based in Germany). These two reasons guaranteed that there would be descendants of reigning monarchs without princely titles who would require a surname.

     In practice however, the name has been used by titled members of the royal family for birth registrations, marriage certificates, and other purposes. For example, the reigning queen’s father – the future George VI, who was then styled as His Royal Highness Prince Albert, Duke of York – was listed as “Windsor, Albert F.A.G. (Duke of York)” in an official index of registered British marriages in 1923. The initials F.A.G. stand for his middle names, Frederick Arthur George, and the maiden name of his bride, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, is listed in the column next to him.

The marriage of Albert F.A.G. Windsor (the future George VI) to
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon as listed on an official marriage index.
Source: Freebmd.org.uk

The birth of Elizabeth A.M. Windsor (the future Elizabeth II),
as listed on an official birth registration index.
Source: Freebmd.org.uk

Queen Elizabeth II herself – titled and styled at birth as Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York – is listed as “Windsor, Elisabeth [sic] A.M.” in an official index of registered British births in 1926, with A.M. being the initials of her middle names, Alexandra Mary.

The names of Philip Mountbatten and Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor
as written on the marriage register of Westminster Abbey.

In 1947, her name appeared as “Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor” on the marriage register, and still later, Prince Charles was listed as “Windsor, Charles P.A.G.” on the birth registration index of 1948, with P.A.G. standing for his middle names, Philip Arthur George.

The birth of Charles P.A.G. Windsor (Prince Charles)
as listed on an official birth registration index.
Source: Freebmd.org.uk

     But upon Elizabeth II’s accession in 1952, the question of the name of the royal family was re-opened. She had married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh (formerly Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark), and like most women, it was thought that she would take her husband’s name and that Mountbatten – the name of Philip’s maternal relatives in Britain which he adopted upon his naturalization as a British citizen – would be the name of their descendants. After her accession, Philip’s uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten (known as “Dickie”), boasted at a dinner party that the “House of Mountbatten” now

Queen Mary was not amused about the prospect of the royal family
becoming the House of Mountbatten.

reigned. This insolent comment got around to Elizabeth’s grandmother, Queen Mary who convinced Prime Minister Winston Churchill that Windsor – the name chosen by her husband George V back in 1917 – and not Mountbatten ought to be the name of the royal family. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (Elizabeth II's mother) agreed with Churchill and Queen Mary, and the new reigning queen herself wished to stick to the name of her father and grandfather. On April 9, 1952, she issued a statement reaffirming that her house and family would continue to bear the name Windsor.

     In reality however, the House of Windsor would have continued throughout the Queen’s reign. Traditionally, female monarchs reigned as members of the house/surname into which they had been born, while their successors reigned as members of the house/surname of their husband. For example, Queen Victoria was born into the House of Hanover, and reigned as the last monarch of that house in the United Kingdom. Her son, Edward VII became the first monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the ancestral house of his father and Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert. So by convention, the “House of Mountbatten” would not have come about until the accession of Prince Charles (or his male-line heirs).

     But in 1952, there were members of the British establishment who had been suspicious of Philip from before his marriage to Elizabeth. He had been a penniless Greek prince who came from a Germanic background – having been born into the German-Danish House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg – and his sisters had all married German princes, some of whom had Nazi connections. Philip did have an honorable record serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, but his foreign background and brash temperament made him an outsider to the British establishment (which hoped that he would simply do no harm to the monarchy). His “Uncle Dickie”

Lord Lionel Hastings Ismay, Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
Lord Louis Mountbatten, and President Franklin Roosevelt.
Churchill liked Mountbatten for his service in World War II,
but came to loathe him for his role as the last Viceroy of
India and overseeing the process of Indian independence.

Mountbatten was a generally well-liked and respected member of that establishment (being a skilled and effective military leader and statesman), who exuded charm, confidence, and charisma. But Mountbatten was also viewed as pompous and arrogant, always shamelessly using his connections to lobby for jobs and positions he wanted. Mountbatten was also thought to hold views to the left of the political spectrum, and his role in Indian independence did nothing to endear him to the arch-imperialist Churchill (who as First Lord of the Admiralty in 1914, had forced Mountbatten's father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, to resign from his post as First Sea Lord). It was also feared that Mountbatten could use his 

The Duke of Edinburgh wanted to have a name
representing his side of the family, but the
young Queen sided with her establishment
adviser's and stuck to the Windsor name.

connections with the royal family to create a more “progressive” monarchy that would shape government policy. So the establishment simply did not want the Mountbatten name to be plastered on the monarchy in the generations yet to come, and wanted the Queen, in writing, to state that Windsor would be the name of her house and the name that her descendants would carry. (Mountbatten would eventually have his own last laugh against Churchill and the establishment by becoming First Sea Lord some forty years after his father's forced resignation.) For his part, Philip was not enthusiastic about the Mountbatten surname, but nonetheless believed in the general principle that his children and future descendants ought to take his name, and he explained the traditional passing of royal house names to Churchill and members of his cabinet (see previous paragraph). Though Philip was historically correct, the Cabinet rebuffed this, as well as his attempt to find a compromise with names such as Edinburgh and Edinburgh-Windsor (based on his title, Duke of Edinburgh). He bitterly complained to a friend that he was nothing but “a bloody amoeba,” unable to pass his name on to his children like other men.

     The issue remained a sore point for Philip in the early years of the Elizabeth’s reign. But by 1960, with the death of Queen Mary in 1953, the resignation of Churchill in 1955, and the withdrawal of much of the old guard at the Palace and in government, the Queen decided to make an attempt to lay the issue to rest. On February 8, 1960, after extensive talks with her ministers and advisors, the Queen announced a compromise in which her royal house and family would continue to be known as Windsor, but that her and Philip’s male-line descendants without the style and dignity of HRH Prince or Princess would bear the surname Mountbatten-Windsor. (It should be noted that this change did not affect the Queen’s male cousins through George V and Queen Mary – the Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Kent, and Prince Michael of Kent – or their descendants, whose surname remained Windsor). But the effect has

Mountbatten-Windsor is listed as Princess Anne's
maiden name on the birth registration list
containing her son, Peter Phillips.
Source: Freebmd.org.uk

been that the surname has been available for use by all of the Queen’s children and her descendants with British princely titles on occasions when a surname may be necessary (such as on birth and marriage certificates). Princess Anne signed her name as Mountbatten-Windsor upon her 1973 marriage to Captain Mark Phillips, and her maiden name is listed as such on the 1977 birth registration index containing their son, Peter Phillips. The children of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex – who do not use the royal titles afforded to them by birth – are styled as children of an earl: Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn. (Prince Edward’s secondary title is Viscount Severn, and it is customary for the eldest son of a man with aristocratic titles to use the secondary title, known as a courtesy title). 

     But there is one more wrinkle in all of this: members of the royal family who have territorial titles (i.e., Prince of Wales) can use the territorial designation of such titles as an informal surname. For example, Prince Edward was known as “Edward Windsor” during his time working in the entertainment industry, but upon becoming Earl of Wessex in 1999, he became professionally known as “Edward Wessex.” Prince William – whose formal title before 

Flight Lieutenant William Wales

becoming Duke of Cambridge was Prince William of Wales – decided to be known as “William Wales” while he attended the University of St. Andrews as well as during his military career, and Prince Harry has done the same (owning to the fact that their father is the Prince of Wales). The recently-born Prince George of Cambridge will probably be informally known as “George Cambridge” for similar purposes. This is why members of the royal family are sometimes referred to as the Wales's (Prince of Wales & family), Cambridge’s (Prince William, Duke of Cambridge & family), York’s (Prince Andrew, Duke of York & family), Wessex’s (Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex & family), as well as the Kent’s and Gloucester’s (who are the Queen's cousins through George V and Queen Mary), and so on.

     In the final analysis (and to give a straight answer), Mountbatten-Windsor is the surname of the royal family of Queen Elizabeth II, but the members of the family with the style and dignity of HRH Prince or Princess are not required to use it except perhaps for circumstances in which a surname may be necessary, such as signing birth and marriage certificates. Such members can use informal surnames derived from the territorial designation of their titles or just the titles themselves without any surname at all, which explains the absence of a surname on Prince George’s birth certificate. 

On his birth certificate, Prince George was written in as
His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge.

     It should be noted that the name of the royal house and family can change at any time, either at the behest of a reigning monarch, or by the accession of a monarch with a different house and family name than the previous one. Upon Prince Charles becoming king however, it is not expected that he will make changes to the name of the royal family, and that the he and his family will continue to be of the House of Windsor, whilst the formal surname will continue to be Mountbatten-Windsor.

The Badge of the House of Windsor

Photo Credit: Mark S. Jobling via Wikimedia Commons cc, German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) via Wikimedia Commons cc, BiblioArchives/Library Archives via Flickr cc, Robert Payne via Flickr cc, Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc 

Sources:  

Marr, Andrew. The Real Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2012. Print (Pages 22-25, 50-53, 74-77, 88, 135-137).

Smith, Sally Bedell. Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch. New York: Random House. 2012. Print (Pages 146-147).