Here
is the family tree of the Royal Families of Europe. This
tree covers all the links throughout europe and fully demonstrates
the Family Tree program. More photos will be added over
time (when I have it!)
To begin your search for Royal names,
please browse our Surnames List or click on
a letter
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
The royal family has little use for last names - after all,
everyone knows who they are. Princess
Diana did not take back her maiden name, Spencer, after
her divorce; she continued to be known simply as "Diana." The
queen signs official documents "Elizabeth R." The R stands
for Regina, which means "queen." (Regina is not one of her
given names; she was baptised Elizabeth Alexandra Mary.)
But the royal family
does have a last name, and they do use it from time to
time. This wasn't always the case. Queen Victoria's husband,
Prince Albert, was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,
so her descendants were part of that dynasty. This, however,
was not the family's last name. They didn't have one, because
they didn't need one, so they didn't worry about it. Experts
later worried about it for them and decided their name
was probably "Witten" (or maybe even Wipper).
The royal family's official name, or lack thereof, became
a problem during World War I, when people began to mutter
that Saxe-Coburg-Gotha sounded far too German. King George
V and his family needed a new, English-sounding name. After
considering every possible name, from Plantagenet to Tudor-Stuart
to simply England, the king and his advisors chose the name
Windsor.
To this day, the British
royal family is known as the House of Windsor. When Princess
Elizabeth (the current queen) served as a subaltern in
the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II,
she was called "Elizabeth Windsor." Elizabeth
married Prince Philip of Greece, whose family name was Mountbatten,
and eventually she decreed that most of her descendants would
be called Mountbatten-Windsor. Princess Anne used this name
in 1973 when she married Captain Mark Phillips.
However, according to
statements made by the queen, it appears that Windsor is
still the official family name for any British royal who
is styled "Royal Highness." The
queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex,
has used the name Edward Windsor professionally. His wife
calls herself Sophie Wessex.