Royal Family surnames can be confusing and here’s why (Image: Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images and Karwai Tang/WireImage)
’s official title under his father’s reign is the Prince of Wales and he sometimes uses Wales as his last name. However, the prince has held other titles before and, therefore, it’s not the first surname he has been entitled to use.
Most members of the British Royal Family do not use a last name – people with the HRH Prince or Princess title simply do not need one. But when they do, they can either be known by the surname of the Royal Family or the surname of the place/county they represent. In 1917, the late Queen’s father George V specifically adopted the surname Windsor as the name of the Royal ‘House’ and the surname of his family. This decision was made as the previous name of the house of the British Royal Family was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which sounded German and, therefore, at the time, was not well-appreciated by the British people.
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In 1960, the Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip decided that they would like their own direct descendants to be distinguished from the rest of the Royal Family.
This meant that the late Queen’s descendants, other than those with the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince/Princess, or female descendants who marry, would carry the name of Mountbatten-Windsor – a change that reflected Prince Philip’s surname.
technically can use the Mountbatten-Windsor surname, however he is more likely to use the name of his royal title. For example, when he was the Duke of Cambridge, he would go by the name William Cambridge, and now he is the Prince of Wales, he would use Wales as his surname.
This pattern is also used by his children, with all three of them . It is believed William also used the title of his parents when he himself was at school as a young boy.
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle still hold their Sussex royal title (Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)
This goes some way in solving the controversy surrounding this week after she announced on her new show “With Love, Meghan” that she likes to be called Meghan Sussex so she
While many online claimed she was incorrect and that Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet hold the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, the two children – who have grown up in America – can technically use the Sussex last name.
Despite quitting royal life in 2020, and still hold their royal titles of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – titles that were given to them when they married in 2018. This means their children can use this as their surname if they want to.
Meghan: “It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children. I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”