Royal House

The term Royal House refers to the official designation and name of a royal family. Most Royal Families do not have surnames: those that have adopted them rarely use them. They are referred to instead by their titles, often related to an area ruled or once ruled by that family. The name of the Royal House is not a surname, just a way of identifying individuals.

Examples of Royal/Imperial House Names

• Austria: Habsburg-Lothringen [deposed]
• Bavaria: Wittelsbach [deposed]
• Belgium: Saxe-Coburg-Gotha [reigning]
• Brazil: Braganza (Bragança) [deposed]
• Denmark: Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg [reigning]
• France: Bourbon (royal) [deposed]
  • France: Bonaparte (Imperial) [deposed]
• Germany: Hohenzollern [deposed]
• Greece: Gluckberg [deposed]
• Hungary: Habsburg-Lothringen [deposed]
• Italy: Savoy [deposed]
• Netherlands: Orange-Nassau [reigning]
• Norway: Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg [reigning]
• Portugal: Braganza (Bragança) [deposed]
• Romania: Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen [deposed]
• Russia: Romanov [deposed]
• Spain: Bourbon [reigning]
• Sweden: Bernadotte [reigning]
• Thailand: Chakri [reigning]
• United Kingdom: Windsor [reigning]

Cases Where a Royal House has adopted a Surname

• Britain's Royal House is the House of Windsor. However, following a decision by Queen Elizabeth II, descendants of Her Majesty and her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, have a different surname to that of the Royal House. It combines the surnames of both of their parents, namely Mountbatten-Windsor. Similarly, though the British Royal House name under Queen Victoria and King Edward VII was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the personal surname of Victoria's descendants was Wettin. In 1917, both the Royal House name and surname were changed to Windsor.