Windsor (royal family)

Windsor , family name of the royal house of Great Britain. The name Wettin, family name of Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria, was changed to Windsor by George V in 1917. The new name was adopted by all members of the family. In 1952, Queen Elizabeth II, who married Philip Mountbatten, duke of Edinburgh, decreed that she and her descendants (other than females who marry) should retain the name Windsor. A declaration of 1960, however, restricted the name to those descendants bearing the title prince or princess (i.e., the sovereign's children, the children of the sovereign's sons, and the eldest son of the eldest son of the prince of Wales); all other descendants are to be known as Mountbatten-Windsor.

Windsor town in Berkshire, place of residence of British Royal Family (W. Castle), designation of the family (House of W.); used attrib. in W. chair (XVIII), soap, uniform (XIX) (worn by the Royal Family).

Windsor, House of The official name adopted by the British royal family in 1917. During World War I, anti-German feeling in Britain was so strong that George V felt that the German title, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, should be removed from his family name. The German name was derived from the marriage of Queen Victoria (herself from the House of Hanover) to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1840. Windsor was an acceptable alternative as Windsor Castle in Berkshire was a long-standing home of the royal family.