War can be a powerful motivator for change. It can change the destiny of a nation, the culture of a people, or even a single family name. Since 1917, the Royal Family has used the name of Windsor rather than the name of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a name it had held since 1901 and the reign of King Edward VII and had belonged to his father, Prince Albert. So where exactly did the name of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha come from and how did the First World War result in the change?

To examine these questions, we start with the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and its origins. The line was founded in Germany by Ernest Anton, the sixth Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. His duchy was reorganized in 1826 into Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The line connects to Britain in 1840 when Ernest’s second son, Albert, married Queen Victoria of the House of Hanover. In an interesting twist, it was actually Victoria who proposed to Albert. They remained married for twenty-one years until his death in 1861, at which point Victoria entered a period of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life.

Victoria would reign for another forty years, and on her death, her eldest song, King Edward VII, ascended the throne. Edward would end up being the only monarch to carry the name of his father’s family for his entire reign. Sadly, that was a fairly short period of nine years, with a prolonged bout of bronchitis weakening him and several heart attacks finally felling him in 1910. His son, George V, ascended to the throne as only the second British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, but this was not meant to last, and war only a few years later would see a permanent change to the family line.

After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand plunged Europe into war in 1914, King George V found himself at war with his first cousin, German Kaiser Wilhelm II. This connection caused some discontent with the British public, as Wilhelm was viewed as the cause of the war and his connection to George created some doubt as to the king’s willingness to fight his own relative. This is summed up by comments from H.G. Wells that described “an alien and uninspiring court”, to which George replied, “I may be uninspiring, but I’ll be damned if I’m alien!”

Perhaps the final straw occurred when a Germany aircraft bomber, the Gotha G.IV began bombing parts of London in March 1917. The connection of this bomber’s name was not missed by the British public nor by King George. On 17 July 1917, he issued a royal proclamation that the house and family name would be styled Windsor and gave up all claim to any German titles held. The name Windsor was one long associated with the monarchy, from Windsor Castle whose round tower formed the symbol for the family badge to the Town of Windsor where the castle is located. Beyond just the immediate family, George instructed that his family’s descendants would also be styled as Windsor and he stripped his extended German relatives of their British titles.

Today, the name of Windsor endures for the family and the house has seen some of the greatest changes in society and the world. George’s sons, Kings Edward VIII and George VI, would survive an abdication crisis and the coming of World War II. George VI would see the country through one of its darkest hours and the rebuilding that would transform British society. The reign of George’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, has witnessed incredible changes in technology and society, and she is on the verge of eclipsing her great-great grandmother’s record-long reign. And with her son Charles, grandson William, and great-grandson George, the House of Windsor will continue to reign for many generations to come.