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House of Windsor
Parent house	House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a branch of the House of Wettin
Country	United Kingdom
Founded	1917
Founder	George V of the United Kingdom
Current head	Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom; although the most senior male patrilineal descendant of George V is Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Titles	Monarch of the United Kingdom
Estate(s)	The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The House of Windsor is the current Royal House of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and each of the other Commonwealth realms. The older part is a branch of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha line of the House of Wettin, while the newer part is a branch of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg line of the House of Oldenburg.

Descendants of Victoria

By virtue of Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert, son of Duke Ernst I of the small German duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, her descendants were members of the ducal family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha with the house name of Wettin. Victoria's son Edward VII and his son George V reigned as members of this house. However, high anti-German feeling among the people during World War I prompted the Royal Family to abandon all titles held under the German crown and to change German-sounding titles and house names for English-sounding versions. On 17 July, 1917, a royal proclamation by George V provided that all agnatic descendants of Queen Victoria would be members of the House of Windsor with the personal surname of Windsor. The name Windsor has a long association with English royalty through the town of Windsor and Windsor Castle.

Upon hearing that his cousin George V had changed the name of the British royal house to Windsor, German Emperor William II remarked that he planned to see Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Descendants of Elizabeth II

In Council on 9 April 1952, after her accession, Queen Elizabeth II officially declared her “Will and Pleasure that I and My children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that my descendants who marry and their descendants, shall bear the name of Windsor.” This is in contrast with the usual practice in which her children would be of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg through their father, born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, a line of the House of Oldenburg.

On 8 February 1960, the Queen confirmed that she and her descendants will be known as the House and Family of Windsor, and further provided that their personal surname, whenever one should be needed, is "Mountbatten-Windsor". Mountbatten is the surname adopted by Prince Philip before his marriage, an anglicisation of his mother's family name of Battenberg.

Any future monarch could change the dynasty name by royal proclamation if he or she chooses to do so. For example, if the current Prince of Wales accedes to the throne, he could change the name of the royal house to "Mountbatten" in honour of his father. However, the proclamations of George V and Elizabeth II will continue to stand unless and until they are overridden by a monarch in the future.

Realms

King George V's reign over a unitary United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland began in 1910 under the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but many changes occurred before his death in 1936. Though the Irish Free State left the United Kingdom in 1922, the actual name of the kingdom was not changed until 1927, when he became separately the King of Ireland. Under the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927, the monarch also became separately the king or queen of many Commonwealth Realms, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and others. He had previously been monarch in, not of, those states, through a shared Crown of the British Empire. As the situation continued to evolve under the Statute of Westminster 1931 and other developments, he now became a shared monarch wearing multiple crowns. Some of these realms (including Ireland) have since become republics and abolished the monarchy altogether. Until 1947, the king was also styled Emperor of India. Since 1949, the head of the House of Windsor is also Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, comprising most (but not all) parts of the former British Empire and some states that were never part of it.

Patrilineal descent

Patrilineal descent, descent from father to son, is the principle behind membership in royal houses, as it can be traced back through the generations - which means that the historically accurate royal house of monarchs of the House of Windsor is the House of Wettin.

Descent before Conrad the Great is taken from and may be inaccurate.

House of Wettin

1. Burkhard I, Duke of Thuringia, d. 870
2. Burchard, Duke of Thuringia, 836 - 908
3. (possibly) Burkhard III of Grabfeldgau, 866 - 913
4. Dedi I, Count of Hessegau, 896 - 957
5. (probably) Dietrich I of Wettin, d. 976
6. (possibly) Dedi II, Count of Hessegau, 946 - 1009
7. Dietrich II of Wettin, 991 - 1034
8. Thimo I of Wettin, d. 1099
9. Thimo II the Brave, Count of Wettin, d. 1118
10. Conrad, Margrave of Meissen, 1098 - 1157
11. Otto II, Margrave of Meissen, 1125 - 1190
12. Dietrich I, Margrave of Meissen, 1162 - 1221
13. Henry III, Margrave of Meissen, c. 1215 - 1288
14. Albert II, Margrave of Meissen, 1240 - 1314
15. Frederick I, Margrave of Meissen, 1257 - 1323
16. Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen, 1310 - 1349
17. Frederick III, Landgrave of Thuringia, 1332 - 1381
18. Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, 1370 - 1428
19. Frederick II, Elector of Saxony, 1412 - 1464
20. Ernest, Elector of Saxony, 1441 - 1486
21. John, Elector of Saxony, 1468 - 1532
22. John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, 1503 - 1554
23. Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1530 - 1573
24. John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1570 - 1605
25. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, 1601 - 1675
26. John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1658 - 1729
27. Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1697 - 1764
28. Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1724 - 1800
29. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1750 - 1806
30. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 1784 - 1844
31. Albert, Prince Consort, 1819 - 1861
32. Edward VII of the United Kingdom, 1841 - 1910
33. George V of the United Kingdom, 1865 - 1936
34. George VI of the United Kingdom, 1895 - 1952 and Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, 1894 - 1972
35. Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, born 1926 (daughter of George VI)

Living Agnates of the original House of Windsor

The throne of the United Kingdom and its dominions is not restricted by any Salic Law, and indeed it is currently held by a female from the male line of the genealogical house of Wettin.

Whereas the Wettin patrimonies of Meissen, Saxony and Thuringia, follow Salic Law. The following listing of agnates born from equal marriages has some meaning in dynastical hereditaments of German patrimony.

1. prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester*, son of prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, third son of king George V
2. prince Edward, Duke of Kent**, elder son of prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth son of king George V
3. prince Michael of Kent, younger son of prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth son of king George V
4. Lord Frederick Windsor, only son of prince Michael of Kent, born of his marriage with baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz, generally regarded as dynastically eligible marriage for an agnate of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

• Richard's marriage with Brigitte van Deurs probably is regarded as non-dynastical in Saxe dynasty; which means his son is not an agnate of the House of Wettin. Richard's mother was daughter of Duke of Buccleuch, noble highly enough to mean Richard himself is a Saxe dynast.

• • Edward's marriage with Katharine Worsley, a descendant of Oliver Cromwell, probably is regarded as non-dynastical in Saxe dynasty; which means his two sons are not agnates of the House of Wettin. The mother of Edward and Michael was Marina of Greece and Denmark, royal enough to mean Edward and Michael are Saxe dynasts.

Closest hereditaments in question would be those of Meiningen, Hildburghausen and Altenburg, possibly extinct in male line within some decades (depending on situation as to Konrad, Duke of Meiningen).

Further reading

• Longford, Elizabeth Harman (Countess of Longford). The Royal House of Windsor. Revised ed. Crown, 1984.
• Roberts, Andrew. The House of Windsor. University of California Press, 2000.

See also

2. Part 2

• British Royal Family
• Canadian Royal Family
• Windsor, Berkshire

Notes and references

1. ^ Royal Styles and Titles – 1960 Letters Patenet

External links

• Royal Family Name from royal.gov.uk
• House of Windsor from royal.gov.uk
• Graphic family tree of the Windsors
• Royal Family of Great Britain including the Houses of Hanover, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Windsor.

• House of Windsor
• Monarchy in Australia
• Monarchy in Canada
• Monarchy in New Zealand
• Royal families of the Americas
• European royal families