| House of Windsor |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Country: | United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms | ||
| Parent house: | House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a branch of the House of Wettin | ||
| Titles: | Various | ||
| Founder: | George V | ||
| Current head: | Elizabeth II; although the most senior male patrilineal descendant of George V is Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester | ||
| Founding year: | 1917 | ||
The House of Windsor is the current Royal House of the United Kingdom and each of the other Commonwealth realms. The older part is a branch of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha line of the House of Wettin, while the newer part is a branch of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg line of the House of Oldenburg.
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Descendants of Victoria
By virtue of Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert, son of Duke Ernst I of the small German duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, her descendants were members of the ducal family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha with the house name of Wettin. Victoria's son Edward VII and his son George V reigned as members of this house. However, high anti-German feeling among the people during World War I prompted the Royal Family to abandon all titles held under the German crown and to change German-sounding titles and house names for English-sounding versions. On 17 July, 1917, a royal proclamation by George V provided that all agnatic descendants of Queen Victoria would be members of the House of Windsor with the personal surname of Windsor. The name Windsor has a long association with English royalty through the town of Windsor and Windsor Castle. Upon hearing that his cousin George V had changed the name of the British royal house to Windsor, German Emperor William II remarked that he planned to see Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Descendants of Elizabeth II
In Council on 9 April 1952, after her accession, Queen Elizabeth II officially declared her “Will and Pleasure that I and My children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that my descendants who marry and their descendants, shall bear the name of Windsor.”[1] This is in contrast with the usual practice in which her children would be of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg through their father, born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, a line of the House of Oldenburg. On 8 February 1960, the Queen confirmed that she and her descendants will be known as the House and Family of Windsor, and further provided that their personal surname, whenever one should be needed, is "Mountbatten-Windsor"[1]. Mountbatten is the surname adopted by Prince Philip before his marriage, an anglicisation of his mother's family name of Battenberg. Any future monarch could change the dynasty name by royal proclamation if he or she chooses to do so. For example, if the current Prince of Wales accedes to the throne, he could change the name of the royal house to "Mountbatten" in honour of his father. However, the proclamations of George V and Elizabeth II will continue to stand unless and until they are overridden by a monarch in the future.
Realms
King George V's reign over a unitary United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland began in 1910 under the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but many changes occurred before his death in 1936. Though the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom in 1922, the actual name of the kingdom was not changed until 1927, when he became separately the King of Ireland. Under the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927, the monarch also became separately the king or queen of many Commonwealth Realms, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and others. He had previously been monarch in, not of, those states, through a shared Crown of the British Empire. As the situation continued to evolve under the Statute of Westminster 1931 and other developments, he now became a shared monarch wearing multiple crowns. Some of these realms (including Ireland) have since become republics and abolished the monarchy altogether. Until 1947, the king was also styled Emperor of India. Since 1949, the head of the House of Windsor is also Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, comprising most (but not all) parts of the former British Empire and some states that were never part of it.
Patrilineal descent
Patrilineal descent, descent from father to son, is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations - which means that the historically accurate royal house of monarchs of the House of Windsor is the House of Wettin. Descent before Conrad the Great is taken from [1] and may be inaccurate. House of Wettin
- Burkhard I, Duke of Thuringia, d. 870
- Burchard, Duke of Thuringia, 836 - 908
- (possibly) Burkhard III of Grabfeldgau, 866 - 913
- Dedi I, Count of Hessegau, 896 - 957
- (probably) Dietrich I of Wettin, d. 976
- (possibly) Dedi II, Count of Hessegau, 946 - 1009
- Dietrich II of Wettin, 991 - 1034
- Thimo I of Wettin, d. 1099
- Thimo II the Brave, Count of Wettin, d. 1118
- Conrad, Margrave of Meissen, 1098 - 1157
- Otto II, Margrave of Meissen, 1125 - 1190
- Dietrich I, Margrave of Meissen, 1162 - 1221
- Henry III, Margrave of Meissen, c. 1215 - 1288
- Albert II, Margrave of Meissen, 1240 - 1314
- Frederick I, Margrave of Meissen, 1257 - 1323
- Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen, 1310 - 1349
- Frederick III, Landgrave of Thuringia, 1332 - 1381
- Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, 1370 - 1428
- Frederick II, Elector of Saxony, 1412 - 1464
- Ernest, Elector of Saxony, 1441 - 1486
- John, Elector of Saxony, 1468 - 1532
- John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, 1503 - 1554
- Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1530 - 1573
- John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1570 - 1605
- Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, 1601 - 1675
- John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1658 - 1729
- Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1697 - 1764
- Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1724 - 1800
- Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1750 - 1806
- Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 1784 - 1844
- Albert, Prince Consort, 1819 - 1861
- Edward VII of the United Kingdom, 1841 - 1910
- George V of the United Kingdom, 1865 - 1936
- George VI of the United Kingdom, 1895 - 1952 and Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, 1894 - 1972
- Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, born 1926 (daughter of George VI)
Further reading
- Longford, Elizabeth Harman (Countess of Longford). The Royal House of Windsor. Revised ed. Crown, 1984.
- Roberts, Andrew. The House of Windsor. University of California Press, 2000.
See also
Notes and references
External links
- Royal Family Name from royal.gov.uk
- House of Windsor from royal.gov.uk
- Graphic family tree of the Windsors
- Royal Family of Great Britain including the Houses of Hanover, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Windsor.
