Prince Andrew became Andrew Mountbatten Windsor when he was stripped of his prince title and his dukedom over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s name may change again — to include a hypen — at a request from the late Queen, it is reported.
It is understood the former prince’s family name should, according to decades of royal precedent, be written as Mountbatten-Windsor. This touches directly on the legacy of the late Queen and her 1960 Privy Council declaration, which officially established the family surname for those descendants who are not princes or princesses.
But after his titles were stripped last month, the ex-Duke was reintroduced to the world as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor — notably missing the hyphen. It is believed Buckingham Palace will now reconsider how to style Andrew’s name in accordance with declaration Queen Elizabeth II signed two weeks before Andrew’s birth.
It stated: “Now therefore I declare My Will and Pleasure that, while I and My children shall continue to be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, My descendants other than descendants enjoying the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess and female descendants who marry and their descendants shall bear the name of Mountbatten-Windsor.”
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The name was created to incorporate Philip Mountbatten’s surname into the Windsor line, a symbolic move reflecting the Queen’s marriage and the continuing link between her family and her husband’s.
And now the rest of the family, including Prince Harry’s children; Archie and Lilibet, both use Mountbatten-Windsor — with the hypen — as per the declaration. On Princess Anne’s 1973 marriage certificate, her full name is written as Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, a Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Ian Lloyd, who is a royal historian and author, said he was surprised Buckingham Palace Palace had ever published his name without a hypen, given the “historic precedent” and the legal wording of the Queen’s notice.
As Andrew was born days after the document was signed, he became the first royal baby officially registered with the Mountbatten-Windsor surname. However, this hasn’t been reflected following the losses of his titles and honours, which happened following allegations Andrew sexually abused Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. Andrew strenuously denies the accusations.
It also emerged in recent weeks that the former prince had emailed Epstein in 2011 saying “we’re in this together”, three months after he claimed he had broken all contact with the paedophile financier.
Andrew’s conduct could be debated by MPs for the first time this week, with the Liberal Democrats intending to raise his Royal Lodge rental arrangements, including details about the size of any payout for leaving the property, after the Commons returns from recess on Tuesday.
