House of Windsor
The House of Windsor [ ˈwɪnzə ] (until 1917 Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ) is the British royal family.
Emergence
Queen Victoria's death in 1901 ended the reign of the House of Hanover on the British throne since 1714 ; A member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha climbed this with her son King Edward VII . Due to the domestic political pressure during the First World War due to the German descent as well as the bombing of London by strategic bombers of the Gotha G.IV type and the relatives of the royal family to a ruling princely house of the German Empire , King George V changed the name on July 17, 1917 Anglicized German name Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , which the family had in Great Britain since 1840, into the current name Windsor . This stands for the small English town of Windsor in the county of Berkshire , where Windsor Castle is located, which has belonged to the residences of the royal family since the time of William the Conqueror . Without the change of name ordered by George V, z. B. Elisabeth II. Today with full name Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha .
In February 1960 Queen Elizabeth II announced that her descendants bear the family name Mountbatten-Windsor , an Anglicization of the actual German " Battenberg ", unless they bear the title His or Her Royal Highness or Prince or Princess . Nevertheless, the name is used by all members of the royal family, insofar as they descend from Queen Elizabeth II. This surname change only applies to members of the royal family who are descendants of the Queen and who continue to be called Windsor .
The heir to the throne ( Charles Mountbatten-Windsor ) then comes from the House of Mountbatten-Windsor , instead of his father's family, the royal Greek branch of the house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg , a side branch of the entire Oldenburg house , to which he nonetheless belongs dynastically in the male line . Charles' "artificial" maternal surname Windsor is thus preceded - genealogically somewhat confusing - the surname of his paternal grandmother, Alice von Battenberg . Although this is also of German origin, it has one in British ears because of two British admirals - Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven (1854-1921) and his son Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900-1979) better reputation.
List of monarchs of the House of Windsor
- George V , 1910-1936
- Edward VIII , 1936
- George VI. , 1936-1952
- Elizabeth II , since 1952
Honors
The plant genus Windsorina Gleason from the Rapateaceae family honors the House of Windsor and is a counterpart to the naming of the plant genus Saxegothaea Lindl. from the family of stone slices (Podocarpaceae).
See also
literature
- Peter Alter : The Windsors. History of a Dynasty (Beck series; Vol. 2461). Beck-Verlag, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-56261-7 .
- Alexander Gauland : The House of Windsor . Orbis Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-572-01124-8 . (License from Siedler Verlag, Berlin)
- Michael Imhof ; Hartmut Ellrich : The House of Windsor and its German origins. The royals from Hanover and Saxe-Coburg & Gotha . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2014, ISBN 978-3-7319-0040-5 .
- Leslie Player: The Windsors and I - Behind the Scenes of the Royal Family . Heyne 1993, ISBN 3-453-06910-2
- Digel Dempster, Peter Evans: Behind the doors of Windsor - The English royal family and its scandals . Goldmann 1993, ISBN 3-442-42487-9
- Helmuth-Maria Glogger: The Secret Life of the Windsors . Knaur 2006, ISBN 978-3-426-77951-4
Web links
- Royal Family Name - Information on the Windsor family name of the members of the British royal family
- British queens and kings (English)
- Internet presence of the British Empire (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Windsors were once called Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha. In: Abendblatt.de. November 18, 2002, accessed May 12, 2015 .
- ↑ Why the Windsors are actually German. In: handelsblatt.com. March 7, 2011, accessed May 12, 2015 .
- ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .