不知道大家有没有注意到,一般在称呼英国王室成员时,都是称呼他们的名字,比如伊丽莎白女王、查尔斯王子等,那么他们到底有没有姓呢?他们的姓氏又是什么呢?
伊丽莎白二世姓“温莎”,是一座王室城堡的名字,她的孩子们可以跟她姓“温莎”,也可以姓“蒙巴顿——温莎”,蒙巴顿是伊丽莎白二世的丈夫菲利普亲王的姓。王室成员也可将封号作为他们的姓,例如威廉王子和哈里王子以他们父亲的封号“威尔士”为姓。
While many people know royals simply by their first name, such as Prince William, royalty has for more than a century taken last names for official purposes.
While most royals rarely use their last names, they do have them and can change them at will.
Queen Elizabeth signs official documents "Elizabeth R" with "R" standing for Regina, meaning queen. Officially, she is Elizabeth Windsor and in 1960 to distinguish her descendants from other royalty decreed they would be called Mountbatten-Windsor. Mountbatten being the name of her husband Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark.
However, the British royal family didn't always have the last name of Windsor. Until Queen Victoria's time, British royalty didn't have last names because they didn't need them. When Queen Victoria married Prince Albert from Germany, he was part of the Wettin family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, so her descendants became part of that dynasty.
The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha became a problem during the First World War when people began to think the name sounded too German. King George V therefore went looking for a new English-sounding name. They considered many names including Plantagenet, Tudor-Stuart and England, but settled on the name Windsor after the castle.
The Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, goes by Edward Windsor, while his wife goes by Sophie Wessex after his title.
British nobles can also chose to use part of their title as a surname. Prince Charles uses the surname Windsor although he also uses Mountbatten-Windsor, or his title Prince of Wales. Therefore his sons William and Harry use his title as their last name - William and Harry Wales. The princes use this surname in school and on their military uniforms.
As of now William doesn't have a territory, but if the Queen confers an Earldom or Dukedom on William his title will change. Therefore, Kate will either become Catherine, Countess or Duchess of X. She will not be allowed to hyphenate her name. If William doesn't have a territory after they get married, she will be called Princess William.
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(来源:雅虎shine 编辑:崔旭燕)