Palace announcement of ex-prince’s new name missed out hyphen used by other descendants of Elizabeth II
Ever since the former Prince Andrew was demoted to plain Mr Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, royal observers and historians have scratched their heads over his missing hyphen.
Buckingham Palace’s official statement announcing his new commoner status was clear, in black and white, that aside from losing his HRH and princely title and dukedom, he was also to be deprived of a punctuation mark that had been officially decreed by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Princess Anne signed her 1973 marriage register as Anne Mountbatten-Windsor, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s children use Mountbatten-Windsor, as do the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s children – all with hyphens.
Even in a family with numerous and ever-changing surnames – Windsor, Wales, York, Edinburgh – Mountbatten-Windsor has stood fast since Queen Elizabeth’s decision 65 years ago that her descendants should be so named – in tribute to her husband, Prince Philip.
