I was actually well into my 20s before I really understood how royal titles and royal names worked. Like, I honestly thought that everyone in the Windsor family would just “take” the name Windsor when and if they needed a surname. But that’s not what happens. When you are the child of a royal figure with a prince of/duke of/earl of title, you take the title-name as your surname. While Prince Charles’s surname would be Charles Windsor, his title is the Prince of Wales, so Prince Harry of Wales would be Harry Wales, and Prince William of Wales would be Will Wales. Both Harry and William went by Wales whenever they were in need of a surname. Now William would be… Will Cambridge, I guess? Because he’s the Duke of Cambridge? I actually don’t know about that, but I know Will’s kids are “of Cambridge,” so Cambridge should be their surname. Except maybe not?
He’s known to the world as ‘Prince George’ but the young royal will have to adopt an official surname when he starts school in September – and royal pundits are debating which one he’ll opt for. The third-in-line to the throne, who just celebrated his fourth birthday, will need a surname for the school register and there’s two possible monikers: Cambridge or Mountbatten-Windsor.
Technically, because his great-grandmother is the Queen, he has the title of ‘His Royal Highness’ so he doesn’t actually need a surname at all. But according to The Royal Family’s website, if any members of the royal family need an official surname, they can use ‘Mountbatten-Windsor’.
It reads: ‘For the most part, members of the Royal Family who are entitled to the style and dignity of HRH Prince or Princess do not need a surname, but if at any time any of them do need a surname (such as upon marriage), that surname is Mountbatten-Windsor.’
The surname came to fruition when Princess Elizabeth (George V’s granddaughter) married Philip Mountbatten in 1947. Princess Anne used it on her marriage certificate in 1973. Prince George could also follow in the footsteps of his father and use ‘Cambridge’ as his surname. Both Princes William and Harry used ‘Wales’ as their surname during their time at school and in the military in an ode to their father, the Prince of Wales. MailOnline has contacted Kensington Palace and is awaiting a response.
I thought Will and Harry used Wales because they had to? They likely didn’t have a choice in the matter when they were little, and they entered school as Will Wales and Harry Wales. I would assume the York princesses use York as their surname too? Eugenie York and Beatrice York? Sure, why not. Anyway, it seems bizarre to me that we’ve been calling him Prince George of Cambridge this whole time when really we could have been saying George Mountbatten-Windsor. I will forever hate that the Queen had to change the name of the royal house to reflect Philip’s adoptive father (Lord Mountbatten) too. Mountbatten always wanted his name to be reflected in the royal family and he got his wish.
Anyway, my guess is that George will enter school as George Cambridge. If they go with a double-barrel surname, they should totally go with George Middleton-Cambridge though.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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