Spinning 'in His Grave': Prince Philip Would Be Angered That Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Didn’t Give Kids His Last Name
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April 2021, would likely be livid over his surname, "Mountbatten-Windsor," being ditched for Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet Diana. The late Queen Elizabeth II's long-serving consort struggled for years to have his adopted last name of Mountbatten given to his male-line descendants before winning the argument in 1960. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's children bore this combo of Philip's surname and hyphenated with the royal house of Windsor until the pair adopted "Sussex" recently.
"How sad, therefore, that only three generations later, Harry should so blatantly disregard his grandfather’s wishes and effectively abandon the family name for which Philip had fought," royal author Ingrid Seward shared.
Upon Elizabeth II's accession to the throne in 1952, and unlike the wife of a reigning King, a reigning Queen's husband gets no automatic title upgrade of any kind, which was said to have annoyed the pragmatic and blunt Philip. "I'm just a bloody amoeba," he was reported to have said in the late 1950s, when highlighting that he was nothing more than a procreation tool of sorts to produce heirs to the throne. All their children bore the surname of "Windsor" based on the royal house's moniker, even though a married couple's children typically take a father's surname.
Her late Majesty agreed to Mountbatten-Windsor to honor her spouse for all their male-line descendants, although it is worth noting that the surname is not mandatory for Archie and Lilibet. This is because both are now a prince and princess and those with royal styles and titles technically have no surname.
The latest controversy erupted over the details of the redesign of Harry and Meghan's website, which is filled to the brim with their royal styles and titles.
"When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex scooted off first to Canada and then to California, which was probably always her intended destination, it was made clear to them that although they would retain the honorific titles Her Royal Highness and His Royal Highness, Their Royal Highnesses, they were not allowed to use those letters," royal journalist Michael Cole explained when pointing out the new drama.
"In fact, it's not correct to say that Sussex is their surname," he added. "Sussex is two rather lovely counties in this country, West Sussex and East Sussex. But Prince Harry's birth name was Mountbatten Windsor. That's the family name of the royal family of this country. It's the House of Windsor, but the actual name the children are born into is Mountbatten Windsor."
"Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet Diana of Sussex" is meant to highlight the ducal or princely designation of their father's main title and is not a direct surname.
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The New York Post reported on Seward's remarks.