Prince George’s last name: Future king has 2 surnames to choose from

Prince George will be entering school in September, and although he can get away with using no surname at all, he still needs one for the school registry. Fortunately, the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has not one, but two last names to choose from.

The third in line to the throne, who turned 4 years old on Saturday, can just go by Prince George if he wanted to. But it may be a little awkward if his teachers would always refer to him as prince. The designation would automatically make him stand out from other 4-year-olds.

There’s also school register form that Prince William and Kate Middleton have to fill out. And so the royal parents can choose from two surnames for George. He can either go by Mountbatten-Windsor or Cambridge.

George Mountbatten-Windsor

Mountbatten-Windsor is the combined surnames of George’s great-grandparents, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Windsor is the surname used by all the male and unmarried female descendants of King George V, the Queen’s father. The late king adopted Windsor as the name of the House (or dynasty) and the surname of his family in 1917.

When Prince Philip of Greece became naturalised in 1947, he assumed the name of Philip Mountbatten in the Royal Navy. In 1960, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip decided that they would like their direct descents to be distinguished from the rest of the royal family. And thus it was declared in the Privy Council that the Queen’s descendants, save for those styled with Royal Highness and have the title of Prince or Princess, would carry the last name of Mountbatten-Windsor.

Therefore, George, the future king, may use Mountbatten-Windsor as his surname. But again, he can also use Cambridge.

George Cambridge

British princes historically use their father’s titles as their surname. When George’s dad, Prince William, was commissioned in the military in 2006, he used the name Wales and had been called Lieutenant Wales based on his father Prince Charles’ title as the Prince of Wales.

This can also apply to George. As William is the Duke of Cambridge, George can be called George Cambridge as well. But like William, who was called Wales in the military but used Mountbatten-Windsor in his lawsuit filing against a magazine in 2012, George can use both Cambridge and Mountbatten-Windsor, just not at the same time.

George’s name on his birth certificate

For the record, the preschooler’s last name was not written on his birth certificate. His full name, as it appears on the official document, is His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge.