Windsor (royal family)

Windsor (royal family), name of the royal family of Great Britain, adopted in 1917 by proclamation of King George V. The change was made to show the antipathy of his British subjects towards Germany during World War I. The name was taken from Windsor Castle. Reigning members of the House of Windsor have been George V, Edward VIII, George VI, and Elizabeth II.

Before adoption of the name Windsor, the dynastic designation of the British royal family was derived from the marriage of Queen Victoria to a German cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Under the terms of the 1917 proclamation, however, descendants of Victoria in the male line who were also British subjects were to bear the surname Windsor. In 1952 these terms were applied by decree to the male issue of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1960, however, the preceding decree was modified. Only Elizabeth's own children, titled princes and princesses, as well as the issue of her sons, would bear the name Windsor, while others of her descendants would be named Mountbatten-Windsor, taking the surname of her husband, Prince Philip.