A Brief History of the House of Windsor Read Online Free PDF Page B

moment it was first mooted, it sounded right. It worked on every level and it followed precedent, for to take the name of a castle was established practice in Europe. The Habsburgs, rulers of Austria, had done so. The Oldenburgs had too. The Hohenzollerns, kings of Prussia and German emperors, took their high-sounding family name from their ancestral castle – Burg Hohenzollern – which was not in Prussia but in Swabia (the name literally meant ‘high toll’, and referred to the levies they imposed on those passing through their lands). Windsor was not only a name already familiar to every citizen of British territories, it also conjured up images of a building that itself symbolized both monarchy and empire. Depicted endlessly on postcards and biscuit tins, the Castle, invariably seen from the water meadows across the Thames from which it rises on its bluff, presented an image of unshakable solidity, majesty and power. The surrounding landscaped parks, crafted over centuries into a royal Arcadia, embellished with houses, cottages, monuments and follies, had loomed large in the life of all British monarchs for a millennium. In the imagination of the public its Round Tower was an instantly recognizable emblem of their sovereigns and their heritage.
    The adoption of the new family name was immediately, immensely popular with the public, both in Britain itself and in her overseas territories. It was perceived as representing a massive sea-change in the attitude of the royal family. The monarchy was seen to have redefined its loyalties, and for the first time sided with its people rather than its own class. This decision proved its worth not only in the climate of wartime but in the inter-war period of austerity which followed.
    Though their name had been Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, it is important to remember that neither they nor anyone elsehad actually
used
it. Royalty did not actually need a surname. Kings, queens and princes signed their first name only; dukes used only their title (‘Gloucester’). With the adoption of Windsor, the royal family had, for the first time, a surname like other families. It also sounded straightforward and simple and much like anyone else’s – indeed, it is a not especially uncommon name among the British. This added to the perception that the royal family had joined the ranks of its people.
    The war had changed more than the name of Britain’s ruling family. It had altered the perception of them by society as a whole. Nothing like the experience of 1914–18 had happened before – a conflict that affected every family and every individual in the land, in some capacity or other. The fact that all classes were active participants was a great social leveller, and the royal family almost at once became less aloof. There was a vast increase in the amount of charity work to be done – the war hospitals and comforts funds to be visited or encouraged – and there was a far greater need for public appearances. Queen Mary, for instance, extensively visited the street shrines erected to local people killed overseas or in air raids. Royalty, both in uniform and out, became much more conspicuous at a time of heightened patriotism. The king’s visits to the Western Front were well documented.
    It was believed that the royals, who for obvious reasons could not undertake active duty at the Front, were irritated by this restriction and wished to ‘do their bit’ like other families. The Prince of Wales did his utmost to be posted to places of danger, while his brother Bertie actually took part in the war’s most important naval battle. Relatively speaking – but in a way that had not previously happened – royalty was sharing the day-to-day hardships and anxieties of its subjects. Members of the royal family were seen to be concerned about the plight of ordinary citizens, as they had been in peacetime when some occasional disaster had befallen a community. Members of the public, in turn, could worry