The British royals may be famous around the world, but there's still a lot most people
don't know about them. What scandals lie beneath the surface? Where do they really come from? And
why would Prince Charles run screaming from a prawn? Keep watching to find out.
While the House of Windsor is naturally associated with the United Kingdom,
the truth is they're not British at all.
Prior to the first World War, the family name of Britain's royals was not Windsor,
but Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The House was imported to England when Queen
Victoria married Prince Albert, son of Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha,
a German house. Victoria's grandson, King George V, was monarch when the
outbreak of World War I led to an avalanche of anti-German sentiment throughout Britain.
To counter this, in 1917, the King issued a proclamation decreeing that what had been the
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha would be renamed the more-anglicized House of Windsor. In addition,
the King's proclamation determined that all members of this newly named house
would "relinquish and discontinue the use of all German Titles and Dignities." The original
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha name lives on, however, in some other European monarchies — including
the royal family of Belgium and the now-defunct monarchy of Portugal.
When the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was renamed, its new moniker was lifted from one of British
royalty's most storied pieces of real estate: Windsor Castle, situated just outside of London.
Windsor Castle was constructed for William the Conqueror in the 11th century and has
since been home to 39 British monarchs. Throughout her reign, Windsor Castle has
been Queen Elizabeth's weekend getaway, and in March 2022 it was reported that the 95-year-old
monarch would be leaving Buckingham Palace and making the castle her new official residence.
Interestingly, Windsor wasn't the only name under consideration when George V
sought a non-German replacement. The king outsourced the task to his private secretary,
Lord Stamfordham. As he delved through history books, Lord Stamfordham couldn't help but
notice that some of the other names most famously associated with the British monarchy — including
Plantagenet [plan-TADGE-in-it], Tudor , and Stuart — shared unfortunate histories,
drenched in bloodshed and beheadings. He came up with the final name while working
in Windsor Castle. As dramatized in the Netflix series The Royal House of Windsor:
"I hope we have now discovered a name which may appeal to you,
and that is that Queen Victoria will be regarded as having founded the House of Windsor."
Prior to the introduction of the House of Windsor,
British royals didn't use last names, a tradition that remained in place when King George V
issued his proclamation officially changing the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha name.
When Elizabeth II became monarch in 1952, she made a small amendment to the proclamation that had
also made Windsor the official family surname. Having previously married Phillip Mountbatten,
the queen announced that their descendants would carry the surname Mountbatten-Windsor.
While British royals are now granted permission to use a surname,
the choice of whether or not to use that surname remains optional; some use them,
some don't. Some, in fact, have chosen to use their territorial designation instead;
that was the case when Princes William and Harry served in the military, with both choosing to
use the surname Wales in deference to their father's official title, Prince of Wales.
Of all the various members of the House of Windsor, one of the most enigmatic is
Prince John. John was born in 1905, the youngest of King George V's five sons,
which made him fifth in line of succession. Plagued by ill health throughout his life,
the prince died in 1919 at age 13 due to an epileptic seizure.
Two of the young prince's older brothers would both go on to be kings,
with Edward VIII thrust onto the throne after the death of George V, and whose
abdication soon after led to the coronation of George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth II.
The so-called "lost prince" spent his life hidden from the public, due to the belief that
his epilepsy and weakened health was a "disgrace" that would reflect poorly upon the royal family.
As a result, the young royal — who would have been the Queen's uncle — spent most of his brief,
lonely life at the Sandringham estate, rarely seeing the rest of his family.
After King Edward VIII abdicated the throne,
his younger brother — the current queen's father — became the new monarch,
King George VI. To accommodate his new role as a disgraced member of the royal family, the ex-king
was given a new title that had been invented specifically for him: the Duke of Windsor.
Not only had the title been created due to the very specific circumstances surrounding
the abdication, it's a near-certainty that it will never be granted to another royal, mostly because
it will forever be identified with Edward VIII, his controversial marriage to Wallis Simpson, and
their association with the Nazis during the 1930s. According to royalty expert Richard Fitzwilliams:
"His public reputation was for a while that of the King who gave up his throne for love,
but in recent decades his reputation has become that of a King to whom patriotism and duty meant
nothing, as well as a fascist sympathizer… His selfishness has become his epitaph."
In 1938, the Windsors commissioned the creation of a new royal badge,
a heraldic symbol similar to those found on coats of arms. The House of Windsor's family
badge was most recently adapted for a special centenary coin designed by Britain's Royal Mint.
It was King George VI who officially approved the "Royal Badge of the House of Windsor." In fact,
it was the king's idea for the central image in the badge to be the Round Tower of Windsor Castle,
with the Royal Standard flying from a flagpole. George VI was reportedly keen on having the
flag not appear static, but as if it were waving in the wind. The crown atop the badge
is indicative of royalty, while the oak sprigs that flank the tower on either side are meant
to symbolize nearby Windsor Forest, supporting the base of the castle and the crown itself.
When the Queen famously declared 1992 to be her "annus horribilis," which roughly translates as
"garbage year," she wasn't exaggerating. After all, that particular 12-month span
brought the announcement that Prince Charles and Princess Diana were separating,
Sarah Ferguson's split from Prince Andrew, and a slew of associated controversies.
Subsequent decades kept the scandals coming, both large and small, ranging from teenage Prince Harry
dressing like a Nazi at a costume party to Prince Andrew's association with notorious
convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — and the sexual assault lawsuit that followed.
"Going to Pizza Express in Woking is an usual thing for me to do."
Then again, scandals are right on brand for a branch of the House of Windsor that was thrust
into the top spot in British royalty when King Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry
twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, arguably the biggest royal scandal of the 20th century.
Among the many rules by which members of the House of Windsor must abide are those
surrounding what foods British royals are permitted to eat. One rule, for example,
forbids royals from consuming uncooked shellfish. The reason for this is quite simple: Oysters,
clams and the like may be delicious when consumed raw, but they also carry an outsized risk of food
poisoning. So as not to interrupt schedules due to intestinal distress while traveling, other
foods that are banned for Windsors include rare meat, foreign tap water, and any type of cuisine
deemed to be excessively spicy or "exotic." As former royal butler Grant Harold once revealed:
"It is a very sensible move to abandon having seafood when out and about on public duties.
We don't want a member of the Royal family having a serious reaction to food poisoning,
especially if they're on an overseas tour."
Leave it to Prince Charles to buck with tradition and throw caution to the wind,
however — in 2013, he slurped up an oyster while attending the Whitstable Oyster Festival.
While Prince Harry was no stranger to controversy during his rebellious teenage years,
he grew up to become a seemingly dutiful member of the House of Windsor. Then, of course, he married
Meghan Markle, a biracial American television actor best known for the basic-cable series Suits.
Markle's entry into the House of Windsor was far from serene,
thanks to the scandalous shenanigans of various family members and recurring rumors of
diva-like behavior. It all came to a head in 2020, when the couple announced
they were cutting ties with the royal family and moving to California — capped off with a
tell-all TV interview with Oprah Winfrey. The interview boasted some shocking revelations,
ranging from their allegations that certain royals fretted about their future children's skin color,
and Markle's claim that being a royal left her feeling lonely and miserable.
"And I just didn't… I just didn't want to be alive anymore."
The queen was apparently no fan of Harry's bride. Royal author Tina Brown's book, The Palace Papers,
claims the Queen removed a photo of Markle from her desk prior to her
2019 Christmas Day television address, telling the director:
"I don't suppose we need that one."
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sat down with Oprah Winfrey for their scorched-earth interview,
arguably the most sensational claim was this:
"And also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born."
That was far from the first time complaints about
racism had been levied at the House of Windsor — Prince Philip, in fact,
had racked up a lengthy list of off-the-cuff racist remarks prior to his death in 2021.
However, unearthed documents from Britain's National Archives indicate that racism was not
only present within the House of Windsor, but that it was deeply institutionalized,
too. According to one document from 1968, the queen's chief financial manager
issued a memo to civil servants to advise that, quote, "it was not [...] the practice
to appoint colored immigrants or foreigners" to senior roles within the royal household.
That revelation bolstered an earlier allegation from journalist Andrew Morton,
who pointed out in a 1990 piece for the Sunday Times that:
"A Black face has never graced the executive
echelons of royal service — the household and officials."
The home base for the British monarchy has long been Buckingham Palace,
while nearby Windsor Castle also acts as a gathering place for the queen and her family.
However, when it comes to the House of Windsor's vast real estate holdings,
those two posh palaces barely scratch the surface. The stately list of buildings marked
by royal flags includes London's Kensington Palace, Balmoral Castle and Holyrood Palace
in Scotland, and Sandringham House in the British county of Norfolk.
Interestingly enough, while the queen and other members of the House of Windsor have unlimited
access to all these castles and palaces, only two of them are actually owned by the queen herself.
Other than Sandringham and Balmoral, all the rest are owned by the Crown Estate,
through which the properties belong to the reigning monarch for the duration
of their reign. Those properties, however, are not the private property of the monarch,
meaning they can't be sold or profited on by the king or queen in question.
The bloodlines determining the succession of the British monarchy span thousands of years and are
as complicated as they are ancient. The House of Windsor can trace its ancestry to the Hanoverian
bloodline, which took over the monarchy after Queen Anne died in 1714 without bearing an heir.
Her childless death extinguished the Stuart line, leading George I and his Hanoverians
to become consolation rulers since they were descended from the Stuart line via marriage.
However, when ancient human remains discovered beneath a parking lot in Leicester turned out
to be those of King Richard III, DNA testing revealed that the House of Windsor may not
be as entitled to the monarchy as everyone assumed. The DNA evidence raised questions
about whether the Windsors are descendants of John of Gaunt and Edward III, the bloodline
upon which the Tudors — and the Hanovers — staked their claim to the British throne.
In fact, mitochondrial DNA demonstrated a break in the bloodline, which scientists characterize
as "a false paternity event." This led some uncertainty to the ancestry of the House of
Windsor — although nobody seems to be in any rush to overthrow them anytime soon.
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