On the 17th July, 105 years ago, The Royal House of Windsor was established by royal proclamation of the Queen’s grandfather, King George V. The name was adopted as the new British Royal Family’s official name.
The House of Windsor is the reigning royal house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. Here, we will be looking into the history of the royal house, and how it became the House of Windsor.
In 1901, the House of Hanover was succeeded by the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the British monarchy with the accession of King Edward VII; son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. During the First World War, high anti-German sentiment amongst British people reached a peak, and on 17th July 1917, the King and his family were persuaded to abandon all titles held under the German Crown and to change German titles and house names to English versions. Therefore, a royal proclamation was issued by George V.
The proclamation declared: “Now, therefore, We, out of Our Royal Will and Authority, do hereby declare and announce that as from the date of this Our Royal Proclamation Our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that all the descendants in the male line of Our said Grandmother Queen Victoria who are subjects of these Realms, other than female descendants who may marry or may have married, shall bear the said Name of Windsor….”
The name Windsor was selected by the King as a result of its long association with the British monarchy, especially with Windsor Castle. Since then, there have been four British monarchs of the House of Windsor; George V, Edward VIII, George VI, and Elizabeth II. The Windsors became recognised as the royal family of multiple countries, a number that has changed over the decades, as a result of some dominions becoming republics, and Crown colonies becoming realms, republics, or monarchies under a different sovereign.
Since 1949, two monarchs of the House of Windsor, George VI and Elizabeth II, have been Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, which comprises of most parts of the form British Empire. Queen Elizabeth II is currently the monarch of fifteen sovereign states. These are the United Kingdom, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Solomon Islands.
The founding of the House of Windsor has been unlike any other. In these 105 years, the monarchy has become much closer to the public; they are more accessible than ever before and keep up to date with the ever-changing times. The House of Windsor has also been at the forefront of some of the most extraordinary events in British royal history; Edward VIII abdicating the throne resulting in the shortest reigning period, and Queen Elizabeth II becoming the world’s longest reigning British monarch.
Want to own a piece of history? We have the original British threepence coins of each monarch of the house of Windsor that you can purchase HERE.