Fans of the Royal Family will know that its members carry all sorts of prestigious titles, but the Queen's relatives who are further down the line of succession don't have this privilege, which means they have to use normal surnames. So while Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis use their parents' 'Cambridge' title as their surname at school, their cousins Archie and Lilibet use the royal family's 'official' last name - Mountbatten-Windsor.
But the name was the subject of controversy many years ago and even led to a rift between the Queen and her husband, the Mirror reported. The name combines the royal family name, Windsor, with Prince Philip's surname, Mountbatten.
It didn't appear on an official document until 1973, but the story behind it dates all the way back to 1952. 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.
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However, his name wasn't considered to be neutral enough so he adopted the name Mountbatten after his grandparents. The Queen gave birth to the couple's first child, Prince Charles in 1948, before she ascended to the throne.
At the time, Prince Philip assumed that the baby would take his name, but when Elizabeth went on to become Queen in 1952, she had to confirm the official surname of the Royal Family. Many wanted her to continue using Windsor, instead of changing it to Mountbatten. Winston Churchill is said to have been an advocate for the Royals using the name Windsor and The Queen's grandmother 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."
However, it wasn't until 1960 that Elizabeth decided to try and resolve the issue. When the Queen was pregnant with the couple's third child, Philip remained keen for his children to have his surname. So in 1960, Her Majesty is said to have gone to see Harold Macmillan, who was then the Prime Minister.
She said "she absolutely needed to revisit" the issue and admitted it "had been irritating her husband since 1952". A compromise was met, and on February 8, 1960 - just 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.
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."
