The House of Mountbatten reigned… until it didn’t: How idle boast ensured Prince Philip’s children and the Royal Family would NOT formally adopt his surname – prompting him to say: ‘I am nothing but a bloody amoeba’

It was an idle boast made amid the Royal Family’s grief following the death of King George VI.

At a party at his home, Lord Louis Mountbatten had proclaimed that the ‘house of Mountbatten now reigned’.

It was a reference to how his nephew Prince Philip, as the husband of the new Queen Elizabeth II, expected his surname to be adopted by his children. 

But, as royal writer Valentine Low delves into in his recent book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, Queen Mary had heard about Lord Mountbatten’s comments and was furious.

The furore was followed by the Queen’s announcement in April 1952 that the Royal Family would keep Windsor as its official name.

The decision left Prince Philip deeply upset and prompted him to tell his friends: ‘I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children.’ He would go on to add: ‘I am nothing but a bloody amoeba.’ 

Princess Elizabeth holds baby Princess Anne following her christening ceremony as Prince Charles sits on the lap of his mother Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary sits the other side. Standing behind them are King George VI and Prince Philip

Prince Philip was originally a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg.

His mother Alice was Lord Mountbatten’s sister, but Philip only adopted the surname of Mountbatten when he renounced his position as a Prince of Greece and Denmark to become a naturalised British subject. 

The Queen’s decision to keep Windsor rather than choosing her husband’s surname would have been influenced by her grandfather King George V’s proclamation in 1917.

With Britain at war with Germany in the First World War, he dropped the royals’ distinctly German name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and chose Windsor instead.

King George declared that ‘henceforth our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor’. 

After hearing of Mountbatten’s boast, Queen Mary summoned the private secretary of prime minister Winston Churchill to complain.

With Churchill allegedly left as outraged as Queen Mary, the decision was taken that the family name should remain Windsor.

Princess Elizabeth holds Princess Anne at her christening as Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (left) and her mother Queen Elizabeth (right) sit next to her. Standing are Earl Mountbatten, Prince Philip’s sister Princess Margarita and Andrew Elphinstone, the Queen’s cousin

Prince Charles, nearly two, seen being patted on the head by Queen Mary as Princess Elizabeth holds her newborn daughter Anne in her lap alongside her mother Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip watches on

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip seen with their young children Prince Charles and Princess Anne at Balmoral, 1951

Queen Mary sipping from the Challenge Cup, before presenting it to Lieutenant Commander Lord Louis Mountbatten, after a polo match at Ranelagh Club, London, 1931

Prince Philip’s fury did nothing to change the minds of the PM, the Cabinet and Alan ‘Tommy’ Lascelles, the Queen’s abrasive Private Secretary. 

The Queen’s decision was formally announced to the Privy Council on April 9. 

It was declared that it was the monarch’s ‘will and pleasure that she and her children shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that her descendants, other than female descendants who marry, and their descendants, shall bear the name Windsor.’

The Mail reported the day afterwards: ‘Until yesterday’s announcement there had been speculation about whether the Royal Family would take the name of Windsor, Mountbatten or even Edinburgh.’ 

The furious Mountbatten family blamed Churchill for the decision. John Brabourne – Lord Mountbatten’s son-in-law, later told author Gyles Brandreth: ‘It was Churchill, encouraged by Lascelles. They forced the Queen’s hand.’ 

According to author Ben Pimlott’s biography of the Queen, Lascelles drew a parallel with King John signing the Magna Carta when he described how he stood over the Queen like ‘one of the Barons of Runnymede’ as she gave her formal approval to the proclamation.

Prince Philip celebrating his bachelor party in a private suite at the Dorchester Hotel with Captain McGregor and his uncle Earl Mountbatten, November 18, 1947

The Duke of Edinburgh enjoys himself with Lord Mountbatten and friends at his bachelor party

Queen Mary was still furious and allegedly said of Philip: ‘What the devil does that damned fool Edinburgh think that the family name has got to do with him.’ 

In his 2001 work, Pimlott quoted an unnamed sympathiser of the Duke of Edinburgh. They said: ‘But it really did upset Philip. If she had realised how hurt he was going to be, a way round would have been found from the beginning.’

Jock Colville, private secretary to the PM, allegedly felt that Philip had not shown ‘wisdom or tract’ in his attempts to ensure his surname would be adopted by his wife and children, Pimlott noted. 

However, Philip did have precedent on his side. In 1947, the then Lord Chancellor had been in no doubt that any children produced by Elizabeth and Philip would bear his surname. 

The recent precedent of King Edward VII backed him up. 

He reigned as a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (his father’s house) and not of the House of Hanover, which is mother Queen Victoria was part of. 

However, both Churchill and his Cabinet were not fans of Lord Mountbatten. 

According to Pimlott, they ‘deplored the prospect of linking the British dynasty to the Duke’s uncle, a politically engaged and often controversial figure who, though related to royalty, had none of the passive attributes considered desirable in a constitutional monarchy.’