The UK’s Queen Elizabeth died aged 96 final week at Balmoral Fortress.

he spent 70 years as head of state, outlasting her predecessors and overseeing monumental modifications in British social and political life.

Nonetheless, one factor that many individuals would possibly surprise concerning the late monarch and her household is why they don’t use their surnames.

Right here’s what it’s essential know:

What’s the historical past of royal surnames within the UK?

Earlier than 1917, members of the royal household had no surname, solely the identify of the home or dynasty they belonged to.

Based on the royal household’s official web site, kings and princes had been traditionally identified by the names of the nations over which they and their households dominated. Kings and queens, subsequently, wrote their signatures by their first names solely.

The names of dynasties tended to alter when the road of succession was taken by a rival faction inside the household – or when succession handed to a distinct household department by way of girls.

So what’s the royal household’s surname?

Simply as kids typically take their surnames from their fathers, so sovereigns take the identify of their respective Home from their fathers.

Because of this, Queen Victoria’s eldest son Edward VII belonged to the Home of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha – the household identify of his father, Prince Albert.

Nonetheless, there was a radical change in 1917, when George V adopted Windsor – not solely because the identify of the Home or dynasty but in addition because the surname of his household.

The household identify was modified because of anti-German sentiment through the First World Battle, with Windsor chosen after the fort of the identical identify.

The royal household identify of Windsor was confirmed by Queen Elizabeth II after her accession in 1952.

Nonetheless, in 1960, the Queen and Prince Philip determined that they want their very own direct descendants to be distinguished from the remainder of the royal household, as Windsor is the surname utilized by all of the male and single feminine descendants of George V.

It was subsequently declared within the Privy Council that the Queen’s descendants, apart from these with the fashion of Royal Highness and the title of Prince/Princess, or feminine descendants who marry, would carry the identify of Mountbatten-Windsor.

Why don’t royal members of the family use their surname?

As a result of continually altering final names, the royal household prefers to not use them.

As an example, when the Duke of Wales and Duke of Sussex had been attending college, they had been known as William Wales and Harry Wales, derived from their father King Charles title of the Prince of Wales on the time.

Equally, Prince George and his siblings adopted the surname Cambridge for his or her time in school, coming from William’s earlier title of Duke of Cambridge.

As these usually are not generally used, it’s best to confer with both the royal member of the family’s first identify or their title.