Could Royalty rename their Dynasty/Royal House?

[GameBawesome]

I’ve always had an interest in Royal lineages. About how different Royal houses rule different countries, and some inherited titles and kingdoms due to Marriages and Succession laws, like the Bourbons or the Habsburgs.

But what I’m curious about, is, in the past, could the Monarch legally rename their Royal House to a Parental or Maternal or Ancestral Royal surname or something new?

A lot of people would bring up about how George V changed the name of House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor.

However, could a monarch, rename their Royal lineage to a previous Parental or Maternal lineage? In a real-life example, Gustav III of Sweden presumably wanted to change the name of Holstein-Gottorp to Vasa, due to being descended from the Lineage, but there was effective way to force this change.

But, hypothetically, could a monarch do this if they wanted to?
Like for a made-up, hypothetically example, if the Spanish Monarch wanted to change their Royal House from Bourbon, back to Trastámara, could they?

So what I’m asking is could a monarch legally change the name of their Dynasty, back to something ancestral or something else?

 

[The Professor]

If you're asking can they change their current designation, sure. George V of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha did that when he changed to Windsor.
If you're asking if George could change it to Plantagenet, yes but it might not stick with historians who use differentiated names for a reason.
If you're asking if they could change e.g. Plantagenet to Windsor, yes but as previously it might not stick with historians.

 

[Jürgen]

The modern House of Habsburg is technical the House of Lorraine, which changed its name after the extinction of the male line Habsburgs. The House of Romanov is technical the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp a cadet branch of the Oldenburg, changed their name to Romanov after they gained Power in Russia, of course the Swedish line kept the family’s old name.

 

[mcdnab]

If you're asking can they change their current designation, sure. George V of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha did that when he changed to Windsor.
If you're asking if George could change it to Plantagenet, yes but it might not stick with historians who use differentiated names for a reason.
If you're asking if they could change e.g. Plantagenet to Windsor, yes but as previously it might not stick with historians.

Quite a few were suggested to George V before Windsor. But yes legally any British monarch can change the dynastic name as he did by simple proclamation (as the Queen amended hers in 1960 to allow agnatic descendants who weren't Royal Highness to use Mountbatten-Windsor as their surname).

 

[wwbgdiaslt]

In my Hohenzollerns of Great Britain timeline, I have Maximillian William of Hanover try and fail to claim Hanover and be made Duke of Lauenberg instead, so changes his House to The House of Lauenberg due to family friction.

 

[pompejus]

Quite a few were suggested to George V before Windsor. But yes legally any British monarch can change the dynastic name as he did by simple proclamation (as the Queen amended hers in 1960 to allow agnatic descendants who weren't Royal Highness to use Mountbatten-Windsor as their surname).

Kind of the same as in the Netherlands, which is ruled by the house of Orange-Nassau, even though you could say it is technically the house of van Amsberg, the title of the father of our king.

You could even claim that Orange-Nassau is an incorrect term, since the house of Orange died out when William III died childless in 1702. You could claim the Dutch Royal family should have been Van Nassau-Dietz.

 

[krieger]

Quite a few were suggested to George V before Windsor. But yes legally any British monarch can change the dynastic name as he did by simple proclamation (as the Queen amended hers in 1960 to allow agnatic descendants who weren't Royal Highness to use Mountbatten-Windsor as their surname).

Do you know any of these suggestions to George V?

 

[mcdnab]

Do you know any of these suggestions to George V?

Stamfordham was the one tasked with finding an alternative to Saxe Coburg Gotha - Wettin didn't translate into English well, Tudor-Stuart was suggested among others - all the historical ones basically but there were issues with dodgy historical figures etc. Windsor was settled on as the easiest and of course now seems to have been the perfect choice.

The Battenburgs of course became Mountbatten - and the Tecks (Queen Mary's family) simply swapped to Cambridge (for their grandfather's title Duke of Cambridge)

There were a few problems with what the Queen's husband's surname should be which her courtiers used to stop his name initially being used for their children. He'd adopted the made-up Mountbatten but there was an issue with his paternal surname because the Danish royal house claimed not to have one - their male line ducal title was of course Schleswig Holstein Sonderburg Glucksburg - so was that his name - of course it is a branch of the House of Oldenburg so was that his surname - either way none of them were considered acceptable.

 

[wwbgdiaslt]

Stamfordham was the one tasked with finding an alternative to Saxe Coburg Gotha - Wettin didn't translate into English well, Tudor-Stuart was suggested among others - all the historical ones basically but there were issues with dodgy historical figures etc. Windsor was settled on as the easiest and of course now seems to have been the perfect choice.

The Battenburgs of course became Mountbatten - and the Tecks (Queen Mary's family) simply swapped to Cambridge (for their grandfather's title Duke of Cambridge)

Yes, they considered Plantagenet and Wessex too, as Guelph/Welf (iirc, this is technically the families name when you follow the family back - but this was still too German), Tudor (rejected due to Henry VIII), Stuart (rejected due to the Civil War).