Prince Harry’s children’s name caused ‘major rift’ between Queen, Philip: Details

The names of Prince Harry’s children bear the surname ‘Mountbatten-Windsor’, a name that reportedly caused quite the row in the royal family and between Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in the 1950s.

The surname of Mountbatten-Windsor, which combines the royal name Windsor with Philip’s surname Mountbatten, caused a huge row in the royal family and was even raised in the Houses of Parliament!

While the name wasn’t officially used until 1973, it had reportedly been causing trouble between the monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh since 1952, reported Daily Mirror.

Before he married Elizabeth, Philip’s official title was Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and he eventually had to adopt the more neutral name, Mountbatten.

When the couple’s first child Prince Charles was born, it was understood that he would take Philip’s surname. But Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1952 and had to confirm the surname of the royal family.

Many wanted her to keep the surname Windsor, and the matter was even discussed in Parliament.

The Queen eventually chose Windsor, and it remained a point of contention for Philip, who reportedly commented: “I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.”

The rift continued for as long as eight years, and in 1960, the Queen decided to do something about the issue.

She told UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan at the time that “she absolutely needed to revisit the issue” and on February 8, 1960, she officially adopted the name Mountbatten-Windsor.