Windsor Castle in Berkshire, the chief residence of the Royal Family. The family took the name ‘Windsor’ in 1917 during the First World War, dropping the German name Saxe-Coburg inherited from Queen Victoria’s husband Albert, the Prince Consort, who was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
AFTER she died in 1901, beloved by her subjects – by then, one quarter of the world’s population – Victoria was succeeded by her son Edward VII, and he in turn by his son George V in 1910.
During the Great War against the German Empire in 1914-1918, George changed the Royal family’s name from Saxe-Coburg to Windsor, underlining his commitment to British sovereignty, regardless of family ties, in the face of another would-be European superpower.
Southern Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom in 1922, and fears for the Crown’s prestige grew when George’s son Edward VIII abdicated less than a year after his accession in 1936, to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson.
However, Edward’s brother George VI, and George’s consort Elizabeth, proved popular and strong leaders in the Second World War of 1939-1945, and victory over yet another tiresome, would-be European superstate left a sovereign nation eagerly anticipating a new ‘Elizabethan Age’ in 1952, with the accession of their daughter, Elizabeth II.
Précis
The Royal Family’s German background did not tempt them to fall in with Germany’s dreams of a single European state, whether it was George V in the Great War, or his son George VI and the Third Reich. Public affection survived both Irish independence and the abdication of Edward VIII, and Elizabeth II was welcomed in 1952 with hopes high. (59 / 60 words)
