Windsor became the official surname of the British Royal family on 17th July 1917, when King George V issued a proclamation declaring that “The Name of Windsor is to be borne by His Royal House and Family and Relinquishing the Use of All German Titles and Dignities.”
The decision to change the family name came amid strong anti-German feeling following air raids over London, and in particular the bombing of a school in the East End by Gotha bombers - by coincidence, the same name as the royal family.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover who was responsible for picking ‘Windsor’ as the family’s new name; uncover the Royal Albert Hall’s flawed response to the onset of World War One; and reveal the REAL Royal surname…
Further Reading:
• ‘British royal family change their name to Windsor’ (The Guardian, 1917): https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/from-the-archive-blog/2017/jul/17/british-royal-family-windsor-name-change-1917
• ‘Jeremy Paxman: A hundred years of Windsors but still the Queen is partly German (FT, 2017): https://www.ft.com/content/b80a9dde-f1f0-11e6-95ee-f14e55513608
• ‘’The British Royal Family Needed to Seem Less German During WWI’ (Smithsonian Channel, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZaOlJajows
This episode originally aired in 2023
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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.
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