In 1914 when Europe got a bit worse the British royal family headed by King George V at the house of sax Coburg and gotha opted to change its name this changed saw the British royal house become that of the House of Windsor this change of name wasn’t so clear-cutter many others were put forth which raises.
the question why did the British royal? family change its name and why did it change its name to Windsor specifically so as many of you will know after world.
War One kicked off the British public weren’t exactly in a pro-german mood and as the war continued this dislike of all things German grew and given that the British royal family had been German since the Hanoverian Dynasty took the throne in 1714 there were some in government that were worried that :
- anti-german sentiment would soon become
- anti-monarchy sentiment which was a fair
concern since Britain’s first Sea Lord the Austrian Prince Louis of battenberg was forced to resign When The War kicked off in 1917 after the Russian Emperor was made unemployed British Prime Minister David Lloyd George urged the king to do two things one renounces
German and Austrian titles and two changed the family name to something more or British the king didn’t want to do this because Royal houses weren’t
something that you would traditionally rename on a whim but he didn’t want to get himself sad so he reluctantly agreed
King George personally wanted to take the name Stewart to emphasize continuity with the last non-german Royal House Lloyd George said no because picking the name of a house that was overthrown and also one whose descendants pressed their claim on the throne during times of war was a bad look as such Lloyd George called up all of the previous living liberal Prime Ministers to come up with a new name to get the king to agree the first was Tudor which was vetoed by the king since he felt that it was associated with head slicing religious turmoil and despotism plantagenet was rejected for being too French whereas
York and Lancaster were denied because of their association with Civil War and insecure rule so why was Windsor put forward well the name was chosen by the king’s private secretary Lord Arthur stanfordam whilst he and the royal family were staying at Windsor Castle Stamford and realized that Windsor was the suitable name for these reasons
first Windsor Castle had been in the possession of the English and late British royal families for about 700 years at this point second it was also the title of Edward III who did the most British thing of all he invaded France and third Windsor was an entirely
British place with no negative connotations Lloyd George agreed and with a bit of encouragement so did the king he signed a proclamation declaring that the royal family had adopted the name Windsor and the royal family had renounced their German titles and awards
which for the British people politicians and newspapers was enough to convince them that the royal family was no longer German but was instead a now fundamentally British Institution.
I hope you enjoyed this episode and a special thanks to my patrons James bisonet Kelly moneymaker Sky Chappelle call show wolf Jerry lambden Jordan Longley Adam Stalter Marcus Arsenal YN
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