THE WEEK IN HISTORY
17 July 1917
The royal family changes its name
On 17 July 1917, King George V changed the British royal family’s name to Windsor. Before then, it was a German name – Saxe-Coburg-Gotha – which came from Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who was German. However, George V decided to changed it to an English name due to anti-German feeling during the First World War (1914–1918), when Britain was fighting against Germany. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is a member of the House of Windsor.