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Date Posted:16:13:11 04/29/11 Fri Author:BC Subject: a question ....
rather a royal "trivia" question i guess you could say ...
yep, i know kate married prince william ...
- and, kate's maiden name was "middleton" ofcourse ...
- but, in marrying the prince ...
- what has kate's last name now become?! :)
- what is the real last name of the royal family?!
- no google "peeking" please! :)
- bc
Last edited by author: Fri April 29, 2011 17:35:56
Edited 3 times.
"Their name is 'Windsor' now ..."
"but this was not always the last name used by the Royal family..."
"Their name sounded too German so it was changed."
"By decree of the Queen ..."
"their last name is actually 'Mountbatten-Windsor'..."
"The royal family's official name, or lack thereof, became a problem during World War I, when people began to mutter that 'Saxe-Coburg-Gotha' sounded far too German..."
King George V and his family needed a new, English-sounding name..."
"After considering every possible name..."
"from ''Plantagenet' to 'Tudor-Stuart' to simply 'England' ..."
"the king and his advisors chose the name 'Windsor'..."
"To this day, the British royal family is known as ...
the 'House of Windsor' ..."
"When Princess Elizabeth (the current queen) served as a subaltern in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II, she was called 'Elizabeth Windsor' ..."
Then ...
"Elizabeth married Prince Philip of Greece, whose family name was 'Mountbatten' ..."
"and eventually she decreed that most of her descendants would be called 'Mountbatten-Windsor'..."
"... 'Princess Anne' used this name in 1973 when she married 'Captain Mark Phillips'..."
"However, according to statements made by the queen, it appears that 'Windsor' is still the official family name for any British royal who is styled 'Royal Highness'..."
"The queen's youngest son, 'Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex', has used the name 'Edward Windsor' professionally. His wife calls herself 'Sophie Wessex' ..."
- article taken from "answerbag.com"
My mom went to a British boarding school for her education, and she and her friends were around the same age as Prince Charles. They played this game with their apples where they would give the stem a twist and say a letter of the alphabet. So first twist is "a", second is "b", etc. The twist that pulls the stem off is the letter of the person you would marry. Well, my mom kept getting "R" repeatedly and her friends decided it was for "Rex" and that she would marry Prince Charles (Rex is Latin for "king"). I'm still not sure how they didn't know that wasn't really his last name or if they were playing around with the rules.
Anyway, many years later and after marrying an "H" instead, she brought her American children to show them England. She and I were having an argument for some time over the last name of the royal family. She insisted they were all either "Regina" or "Rex", but I was pretty sure they had a different surname. This was before the Internet and being able to look up stuff like that so easily. We were at the Tower of London and all the beefeaters were wearing the "ER" badge, so I decided to put an end to the argument once and for all. I went up to one of them and asked, "What is the Queen's last name?"
"It's Regina, right?" my mom insisted.
The beefeater gave us both a strange look (probably thinking "silly American tourists") and said, "No, it's Windsor."
My mom and I both went, "Ohhhhhhhhhhh!!!" and had a big "DUH!" moment, lol!
I'm still so surprised that she wouldn't know, because our family is so into the royal family.
Then I've got some more random trivia to add to yours, BC, if you don't mind?
Queen Victoria is the reason for the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in the last name since her husband was Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (a collection of German provinces). If she had kept her maiden name, it would have been "Guelph" (I hope I spelled that right . . . ). That's what the Hanovarian's (George I, II, III, IV, William IV, her dynasty) last name was. I think it is strange that the children would have taken on their father's last name when he was only the consort. Anyway, "Guelph" is still German, so I'm wondering if they would have had to change it anyway. Actually, when I heard about the name change, I thought it was from "Guelph" to "Windsor"!
And then even more random trivia . . . I love the movie "The Madness of King George" and have probably seen it way too many times. There is this one scene where they are going through the parish registers to find the documentation of a marriage, and you only see a brief glimpse of the page, but after my gazillionth viewing, I noticed that the name of the husband is listed as "George Guelph"!!! I was quite excited and I loved the movie even more to have added that little bit in there that the audience wasn't necessarily expected to notice :)
hi Brittany! :)
i appreciate your sharing the info with me re: the history of the royal family!
i've never seen the movie to which you referred, but i made a brief search of YouTube and i believe i may have "stumbled" upon the particular scene you mentioned ...
is this it?
Thanks for sharing it with me!
While on vacation, i'll try to watch the movie in its entirety!
and, thank you for sharing those memories of your family with me as well! you've lived an interesting life!
- bc
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The Madness of King George -- Brittany, 18:03:16 05/02/11 Mon
YES!! That is it!!! The guy on the right is one of my favorite actors, too :) He can seriously play anything and I'll totally believe him.
And since you found this clip . . . did you notice that the page underneath the one torn out is the same exact page as the one torn out?
I am so excited there are so many clips on YouTube of that movie! The first round through, it might seem like your average period movie, but seriously, every time I see it, I see something new. There are so many themes. Here's a scene that will give you a few to think about:
Love how the music from Handel there at the end is used :) You missed a bunch of stuff about protocol before this, though, so it might not be so . . . thought provoking?
And then I have to share my absolute favorite scene:
You get a taste of the theme of what madness really is in the first clip and it is explored throughout the movie (what is madness, what is normal, how a person acts among different people, etc.), and it is sort of answered here ("I have remembered how to seem"). Plus the King Lear part is so beautiful! Ah, and so true. Sometimes I am doing so badly that I desperately look forward to sleep and hate coming out of it. "You do me wrong to take me out o' the grave. Thou art a soul in bliss, but I am chained upon a wheel of fire that mine own tears do scald like molten lead." *wipes tear*
Hmm, methinks the gazillion and oneth time for watching this is in order!
[> [> [>
Re: The Madness of King George -- BC, 08:26:12 05/03/11 Tue
" ... i fear i'm not my perfect mind."
he truly knew and understood himself didn't he?...
it would seem he was not completely "mad" if he were able to recognize his own state / condition ...
it is indeed quite sad though to be somehow "trapped" within himself
thanks for sharing the video clips and introducing me to the story and movie Brittany!
[> [> [> [>
Re: The Madness of King George -- Brittany, 17:10:16 05/03/11 Tue
Yes, earlier when his wife was trying to figure out what was going on, he said, "I hear the words, I have to speak them." He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't stop himself. Sounds more like being compulsive rather than mad, huh?
I think if people pick up on it, they probably relate a lot with him. There are so many people with mental health issues, myself included, be they dramatic or small. It is an issue because it isn't how one is supposed to be. If someone has depression, they know it isn't supposed to be this way. Well, I guess it is more complicated than that because a lot of people don't know they have depression or won't admit it, etc. But the point is, something is off and a person isn't "right". But what is right? Who are they really? Is George truly himself when he is not having these issues? Or is repressing them making him not who he really is? Then with the doctors "fixing" him, how do they know when to stop or what they are working for? As the queen said, "How can they bring him back to his normal self not knowing what that self is?"
It is a real pity about George III and his "legacy". He tried so hard to do good, but he is remembered as being the one who lost America and/or the mad one. I think he must be awfully proud of his granddaughter, Victoria, who set out to rule as he did and achieved it. There are random historical people that are my "friends", and George is one of them :P Yes, we are on a first name basis.
"i have remembered how to 'seem' ..."
- King George
- you know Brittany ...
- it seems there would almost be a "need" for royalty [at least back then] to have some sort of "dual personality / identity"
- having one "persona" with a "regal" sort of "air" for the "sake of appearance" and protocol ...
- and, the other / being just themselves ...
- maybe "george" and "King George" had sort of an ongoing "battle" between the real person and the "image"
Last edited by author: Wed May 04, 2011 16:58:53
Edited 3 times.
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Re: King George - "selves" -- Brittany, 11:50:32 05/04/11 Wed
See??? I keep learning new things about this movie! I had thought about that a little bit (the "madness" coming from the two Georges), but so much is ingrained in him. He was raised to be King, BUT there are times when he acts more like a commoner than a king (he as known as "Farmer George" after all). Maybe this was put in the movie to make us wonder about your idea? The kings before him probably didn't know one pig from another, but this one knew all about them and are sort of his hobby. Did his "selves" get too close?
No matter if we are king or commoner, though, I think we all have different selves. There's Internet Brittany (I try to be my "real" self, but I think it is impossible with only a keyboard), Mom's side of the family Brittany, Dad's side of the family Brittany, Work Brittany, Church Brittany, Sick Brittany, etc. All the same, but still different. Perhaps some people (like George) can't handle all their "selves" and it just turns into a big mess? I know sometimes it is very frustrating trying to be my right "self"!
Actors probably have more "selves" than the normal person, I would think. I wonder if they consider their roles as other "selves" and if it makes it harder to find their real "self" with all these other "selves" running around? Perhaps our friend could answer that ;)
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Re: King George - "selves" -- BC, 17:53:57 05/04/11 Wed
- some interesting thoughts to ponder Britt!
- maybe it's simply a matter of being "multi-faceted"?! :)
“I love the way she projects two facets: a visible persona and a subterranean one. She keeps her thoughts to herself; she seems to suggest that her secret, inner life is at least as significant as the appearance she gives.”
- Francois Truffaut
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