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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Zoe Forsey

How Baby Archie's surname caused huge Royal Family row years before he was even born

Archie Harrison is the newest member of the Royal Family, and his parents Meghan Markle and Prince Harry couldn't look more proud.

When they announced his name yesterday afternoon, along with a stunning photo of him meeting the Queen, they also shared his surname and confirmed that he won't have a HRH title.

Instead he will use Mountbatten-Windsor, the family's official surname used by all members who don't have a title.

However the name caused a huge row when it was first introduced back in 1973 - decades before Meghan and Harry wrote it on little Archie's birth certificate.

(PA)

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Before marrying the Queen Philip was Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

However this wasn't neutral enough so he adopted the name Mountbatten after his grandparents.

When the then Princess Elizabeth had the couple's first child Prince Charles, he assumed they would take on his name in the traditional way.

But Prime Minister Winston Churchill didn't agree, and wanted them to continue to use the name Windsor, which was the official Royal Family surname.

The pair wed in 1947 (mirrorpix)

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The Queen's grandmother Queen Mary agreed, and it caused such a row that the matter was even discussed in Parliament.

In the end the Queen made the decision to go with 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."

Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith even went as far as to suggest that the upset over the name was the reason for the 10 year age gap between Princess Anne and Prince Edward.

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However when the couple fell pregnant with their third child Elizabeth was sitting on the throne, which changed things slightly.

Philip reportedly refused to drop the issue, and in 1960 she went to see the Harold Macmillan, who had then taken over as PM.

She said "she absolutely needed to revisit" the issue and admitted it "had been irritating her husband since 1952".

Finally a comprise was met, and on February 8, 1960 - 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.

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