When its said the Queen has German roots does it mean anglo-saxons time or recent German history?

Question

The Monarchy has German Blood so i have heard but am curious as to know whether its recent German or does it mean back to the Saxons era, thanks.

Answer 1

Lord Mountbatten changed his name from Battenberg into Mountbatten during WW1. Battenberg = Mount Batten. Sounded way to German in those days.

Answer 2

Even we dumb Americans know that one. The House of Windsor is exactly that: the family is named after the house, not the other way around. King George V felt it was impolitic in the midst of World War I for the monarch to be of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, despite his personal lack of animosity to cousin Willi, the German Kaiser, who heard about the name-change and commented on looking forward to seeing a production of Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha."

Answer 3

It's only been less than 100 years since they dispensed with the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They are German - as, as was noted, are MOST of the crowned heads of Europe.

I believe it's only been 2-3 generations since they came up with Windsor instead of Hanover. They MADE IT UP because the other sounded too German (maybe because IT WAS.)

Answer 4

Wasn't Prince Albert a full-blown German?

Answer 5

The Protestant branch of the Stuarts ended with Queen Anne, who was childless. Catholics are ineligible to take the throne under the Act of Succession. So Parliament invited the Elector of Hanover(a small German State) to take the English throne.He was a lineal descendant of King James  the First through his daughter, Sophia.He  could not speak a word of English!  Elizabeth is a descendant of that line which, over the generations, has received many re infusions of German blood through marriage.

Answer 6

No, it doesn't go back that far. The House of Windsor used to be the House of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, but the name was changed during WW2, when Queen Elizabeth's father, King George VI, was head of the Empire. Most of the European royalty in Queen Victoria's time, was related in one way or another. But Queen Victoria was born in Britain and each of Britain's rulers since then have also been born in Britain, so there is a link, but it's pretty tenuous.

Answer 7

Queen Victoria and Kaiser Wilhelm II were not first cousins. He was her grandson!

The present Queen has German roots because the House of Hanover and the House of Windsor are ethnically 100% German, not English. Before the last monarch of the House of Stuart (Anne) died in 1714, they had to pull from the far-flung descendants of James I of England for the next monarch since Roman Catholics were barred from ascending the British throne. They found their heir in the Electress of Hanover, who ended up dying before Anne, and her son came to England to rule as George I. He was married to a German, his son George II was married to a German, his great-grandson George III was married to a German, his g-g-grandson George IV was married to a German, Queen Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent married a German, Queen Victoria married a German, King Edward VII married a Danish princess of German descent, and George V married his German cousin, Mary of Teck. George VI married Elizabeth, a Scottish woman, but their daughter Elizabeth II married her Greek cousin who, because of the intermarriage with Germans throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, was as German as she.

The reason for all these German alliances were because there were tons of mediatized German royal houses who did not rule as Kings or Queens, but were considered eligible royal spouses. For that matter, most of the surviving European royal houses are really German--even the Royal family of Spain.

Answer 8

Queen Elizabeth II is the great granddaughter of Queen Victoria who was of the House of Hanover, which was a German house.  She is also decended from Saxe-Coberg, also German.

Answer 9

Queen Victoria and the Kaiser were first cousins.