However, in 1960 the royal rule was changed and the Duke was finally allowed to pass on his surname.
The decision was made that any of the Duke’s grandchildren low down the line of succession would be registered under Mountbatten-Windsor surname at birth.
Royal expert and author Clive Irving touches on this compromise in his new book The Last Queen: Elizabeth II’s Seventy Year Battle to Save the House of Windsor, due to be published in January.
The author writes: “The title of The House and Family of Windsor would remain in place, but, with the arrival of any grandchildren whose position in the line of succession was low enough not to entitle them to be called ‘Royal Highness,’ their surname would be registered as Mountbatten-Windsor.”
