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Edinburgh Live
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Zoe Forsey & Sian Traynor

The Queen and Prince Philip's rift over Archie's surname that caused other royals to step in

The Royal Family are well known for their many traditions and titles that must be followed, and have been for hundreds of years.

With the family tree ever-expanding, many members are lucky enough to have different titles bestowed on them from HRH to dukes, duchesses and more.

However, the nature of the family means that not everyone who is a blood relative to the Queen will automatically be given a title, with many just to use their own name.

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Many of the youngsters in the family, such as Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis use their parents' 'Cambridge' title as their surname, their cousins Archie and Lilibet use the royal family's 'official' last name - Mountbatten-Windsor.

The moniker combines the royal name, Windsor, with Prince Philip's surname, Mountbatten - but the issue of surnames was actually a huge point of contention between the Queen and Prince Philip.

It didn't appear on an official document until 1973, but the complicated story behind the name dates all the way back to 1952, reports The Mirror.

Before marrying The Queen and becoming the Duke of Edinburgh, Philip's official title was Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

However, his name wasn't considered to be neutral enough when marrying the Queen so he adopted the name Mountbatten after his grandparents.

However, when Elizabeth went on to become Queen in 1952, she had to confirm the official surname of the Royal Family and many wanted her to continue using Windsor, instead of changing it to Mountbatten.

Winston Churchill was reportedly an advocate for the Royals using the name Windsor and The Queen's grandmother, Queen Mary, agreed.

It is said to have caused such an issue that the matter was even discussed in Parliament.

In the end, the Queen decided to support her family's views and the name Windsor was used.

At the time, Philip reportedly said: "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 topic continued to bother him for years to come, but it wasn't until 1960 that Elizabeth decided to do something more about it.

When the couple fell pregnant with their third child, Elizabeth was Queen and Philip was still keen for his children to have his surname.

So in 1960, Her Majesty is said to have gone to see Harold Macmillan, who had then taken over as PM.

She said "she absolutely needed to revisit" the issue and admitted it "had been irritating her husband since 1952".

Finally, a compromise was met, and on February 8, 1960 - 11 days before Prince Andrew was born - the Queen declared that she had adopted the name Mountbatten-Windsor.

She announced that it would be used by all her descendants who do not enjoy the title of His or Her Royal Highness.

And as we have seen, it's still used today.

A statement on the Royal website explains: "The Royal Family name of Windsor was confirmed by The Queen after her accession in 1952. However, in 1960, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh decided that they would like their own direct descendants to be distinguished from the rest of the Royal Family (without changing the name of the Royal House), as Windsor is the surname used by all the male and unmarried female descendants of George V.

"It was therefore declared in the Privy Council that The Queen's descendants, other than those with the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince/Princess, or female descendants who marry, would carry the name of Mountbatten-Windsor."

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