Royal Family Members' surname?

Question

Do they have surnames? If not and they're just called, for example Prince Charles of Wales, what happens to descendants that are no longer considered part of the royal family (as the family will get bigger and bigger)?

Answer 1

No, they don't have surnames.

Answer 2

Titled royals really do not use surnames but ROYAL HOUSE NAMES or TITLE names.

The current family are of The Royal House of Windsor. Non-royal,untitled descendants of the Queen who do need surnames may use the combined names of Mountbatten-Windsor,which inclused Philip's and the Queen's names.

There is quite a history behind the names. Windsor was once Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,but because of anit-German feelings stirred up by the bombing of London by twenty-four twin-engined GOTHA warplanes in World War I,the name was changed to Windsor,the name of one of their residences in England. The British-born King George VI ahd absolutely no problems changing the family name.His allegiance was to the country of his birth and reign-the UK.Plus,he was extremely angry with his cousin for bombing him!

Philip's original royal house name was Schlesweig-Holstein-Sonderburg-

Glucksburg. Philip is a descendant

of the Danish-Born Queen Alexandra

as well as Queen Victoria and is a

third cousin to his wife.His name was first changed to the shorter Battenberg,then to the anglicized version of Mountbatten,during World War I.

As you noticed,titled royals often use their title names to differentiate their family branches;thaht is why William and Harry are Wales  in the military.Andrew's clan are the Yorks and Edward and Sophie are the Wessexes.Edward and Sophie have chosen that their children not be royally desgnated so their children use the aristocratic title Severn(for the boy) and Mountbatten-Windsor,shortened to WIndsor,for the daughter.

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page5657....

which I'll copy here for you says:

"People often ask whether members of the Royal Family have a surname, and, if so, what it is.

The situation of members of the Royal Family is more complex than for most people, as they can be known both by the name of the Royal house, and by a surname, which are not always the same.

Before 1917, members of the British Royal Family had no surname, but only the name of the house or dynasty to which they belonged.

Kings and princes were historically known by the names of the countries over which they and their families ruled. Kings and queens therefore signed themselves by their first names only, a tradition in the United Kingdom which has continued to the present day.

The names of dynasties tended to change when the line of succession was taken by a rival faction within the family (for example, Henry IV and the Lancastrians, Edward IV and the Yorkists, Henry VII and the Tudors), or when succession passed to a different family branch through females (for example, Henry II and the Angevins, James I and the Stuarts, George I and the Hanoverians).

Just as children can take their surnames from their father, so sovereigns normally take the name of their 'House' from their father. For this reason, Queen Victoria's eldest son Edward VII belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (the family name of his father Prince Albert). Edward VII's son George V became the second king of that dynasty when he succeeded to the throne in 1910.

In 1917, there was a radical change, when George V specifically adopted Windsor, not only as the name of the 'House' or dynasty, but also as the surname of his family. The family name was changed as a result of anti-German feeling during the First World War, and the name Windsor was adopted after the Castle of the same name.

At a meeting of the Privy Council on 17 July 1917, George V declared that 'all descendants in the male line of Queen Victoria, who are subjects of these realms, other than female descendants who marry or who have married, shall bear the name of Windsor'.      

            

The Royal Family name of Windsor was confirmed by The Queen after her accession in 1952. However, in 1960, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh decided that they would like their own direct descendants to be distinguished from the rest of the Royal Family (without changing the name of the Royal House), as Windsor is the surname used by all the male and unmarried female descendants of George V.

It was therefore declared in the Privy Council that The Queen's descendants, other than those with the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince/Princess, or female descendants who marry, would carry the name of Mountbatten-Windsor.

This reflected Prince Philip's surname. In 1947, when Prince Philip of Greece became naturalised, he assumed the name of Philip Mountbatten as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy.

The effect of the declaration was that all The Queen's children, on occasions when they needed a surname, would have the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.

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 Mountbatten-Windsor first appeared on an official document on 14 November 1973, in the marriage register at Westminster Abbey for the marriage of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips.

A proclamation on the Royal Family name by the reigning monarch is not statutory; unlike an Act of Parliament, it does not pass into the law of the land. Such a proclamation is not binding on succeeding reigning sovereigns, nor does it set a precedent which must be followed by reigning sovereigns who come after.

Unless The Prince of Wales chooses to alter the present decisions when he becomes king, he will continue to be of the House of Windsor and his grandchildren will use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor."

Answer 3

They do have surnames, they just don't normally use them. The current royal family surname is Windsor. In history there was the Plantagenet, Lancaster, Stuart, Hanover, York and Tudor for some of english history. The last King of Hawaii's surname was Kalakaua, for Sweden we have Bernadotte. We refer to each reign as "The House of Windsor" of "The House of Tudor", that is how they use there surname.

Answer 4

Some are "Windsor" but that's generally the Queen and her closest family. There are many different surnames in the Royal Family, as the system works the same as for regular people, as in females will usually take their husband's surname regardless of whether or not the husband is royal.