100 Fun Facts About British Royal Family

Which German-sounding name did the royal house drop when it became the House of Windsor in 1917?

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was dropped by a royal proclamation on 17 July 1917, to appease anti-German feeling during the First World War.

Who suggested the name 'Windsor' for the royal house?

Lord Stamfordham, George V's private secretary, proposed the name, taken from the Berkshire town and its castle.

On which Caribbean island did Princess Margaret build a holiday villa on land given to her as a wedding present?

Mustique was Colin Tennant's private island, and the villa she built on his gift of land was called Les Jolies Eaux.

Which Scottish boarding school did both Prince Philip and his son Charles III attend?

Gordonstoun, in Moray, was Philip's old school, and Charles reportedly called it 'Colditz in kilts'.

Before marrying Prince Harry, Meghan Markle played Rachel Zane in which American legal drama?

Suits kept her as Rachel Zane for seven seasons, from 2011 until 2018, the year she married Harry.

Courtiers' nickname for the royal family, 'The Firm', is said to have originated with which king?

George VI is said to have coined 'The Firm', and its members, patrons of about 3,000 charities, are expected to stay politically independent.

Which jubilee did Elizabeth II celebrate in 2022?

Platinum Jubilee celebrations included the Party at the Palace concert, which opened with a film of her telling Paddington Bear she keeps a marmalade sandwich in her handbag.

Elizabeth II was born in 1926 not in a palace but at 17 Bruton Street, in which London district?

Mayfair's 17 Bruton Street was the London home of her maternal grandfather, the Earl of Strathmore, and she was born there by Caesarean section.

What was Elizabeth II's childhood family nickname, later given to Prince Harry's daughter?

Lilibet was what she called herself as a toddler; her grandfather George V used it too, and she called him 'Grandpa England'.

In which wartime organisation did Princess Elizabeth train as a driver and mechanic?

After Auxiliary Territorial Service training in 1945, she and Margaret slipped incognito into the celebrating London crowds on VE Day.

In which country was Elizabeth when she learned she had become queen in February 1952?

In Kenya she had spent that night at Treetops Hotel, where hunter Jim Corbett wrote that she climbed into a tree a princess and down a queen.

What made Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation a broadcasting landmark?

TV cameras were allowed inside the abbey for the first time, since only the 1937 procession had been televised, though her anointing stayed off camera.

Which Latin phrase did Elizabeth II use in a 1992 speech to describe that year?

Annus horribilis came in a Guildhall speech on 24 November 1992, four days after a fire at Windsor Castle.

With whom did Elizabeth II appear in the 2012 London Olympics opening film?

Daniel Craig as James Bond escorted her to a helicopter in the short film Happy and Glorious, and a stuntman in her dress made the parachute jump.

Elizabeth II died in September 2022 at which residence?

Balmoral Castle was where, two days before she died, she accepted Boris Johnson's resignation and appointed Liz Truss as prime minister.

Which dog breed did Elizabeth II own more than 30 of, most descended from a dog she got for her 18th birthday?

Pembroke Welsh Corgi was her breed, and when one of her corgis mated with Princess Margaret's dachshund Pipkin, the first dorgis were born.

Which Gloucestershire house has been the country home of Charles III, Britain's oldest new monarch at 73?

Highgrove House was bought by the Duchy of Cornwall in 1980, and Charles later converted its home farm to organic farming.

Charles's 1969 investiture as Prince of Wales was staged at which castle?

Caernarfon Castle hosted it, after Charles had spent weeks at Aberystwyth learning the Welsh language.

Charles was the first British heir apparent to do what?

He did earn a university degree, studying archaeology and anthropology, then history, and graduated with a 2:2 in 1970.

Charles's youth charity, founded in 1976 and renamed after his accession, was originally called what?

He went on to become patron or president of more than 800 other organisations.

Why was Charles and Camilla's 2005 civil wedding moved from Windsor Castle to Windsor Guildhall?

Licensing the castle for civil weddings would oblige it to marry anyone who applied, for at least three years, so the ceremony moved to the Guildhall.

Charles III's coronation on 6 May 2023 was the 40th held at the abbey since which monarch's?

William the Conqueror was crowned there on Christmas Day 1066, and Charles's date was chosen to leave time to mourn Elizabeth II.

Charles was crowned at his coronation with which historic headpiece?

St Edward's Crown was removed from the Tower of London in December 2022 to be resized, and Jony Ive's coronation emblem took its shape.

Where did Prince William meet Catherine Middleton?

The University of St Andrews housed them both in St Salvator's Hall, and William's geography degree there was an undergraduate MA.

William and Catherine married on 29 April 2011 at which church?

Westminster Abbey had also hosted his grandparents' wedding in 1947 and his mother Diana's funeral in 1997.

Which title was William given immediately before his wedding?

Duke of Cambridge was conferred on the morning of the wedding, so Catherine became Duchess of Cambridge as they married.

Before becoming a full-time royal, William spent two years flying for which organisation?

The East Anglian Air Ambulance paid him a salary, and he donated all of it to charity.

What is the name of the environmental award William launched in 2020?

The Earthshot Prize, named after John F. Kennedy's Moonshot, awards £1 million to each of five winners every year.

Charles and Diana married in July 1981 at which venue?

St Paul's Cathedral offered more seating and a longer procession, and 750 million viewers saw Diana muddle the order of Charles's names in her vows.

Diana was born at Park House on the royal estate in which English county?

Norfolk's Park House, on the Sandringham estate, was her birthplace; her parents had hoped for a boy and took a week to choose her name.

Diana died in August 1997 in a car crash in a tunnel in which city?

Paris's Pont de l'Alma tunnel was the scene, and a 2008 inquest blamed the grossly negligent driving of the pursuing paparazzi and her drunk driver, Henri Paul.

Which journalist's 1995 Panorama interview with Diana was secured with forged bank statements?

Martin Bashir had a BBC designer mock up the fake bank statements, and the 2021 Dyson inquiry found he used deceitful methods to get the interview.

Harry and Meghan married on 19 May 2018 at which venue?

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle was where Harry had been christened in 1984, and that morning the Queen made him Duke of Sussex.

Which sporting event for wounded servicemen and women did Harry found in 2014?

The Invictus Games takes its name from the Latin for 'unconquered', and Harry got the idea on a 2013 visit to the US Warrior Games.

What is the title of Harry's 2023 memoir?

Spare, named after the adage of 'an heir and a spare', sold about 400,000 UK copies on its first day, a record for non-fiction.

Which sport did Princess Anne compete in at the 1976 Olympics, becoming the first British royal to take part?

Equestrian eventing was her event: she rode the Queen's horse Goodwill for the British team in Montreal.

What did Princess Anne's 1974 would-be kidnapper say the ransom was for?

To donate to the National Health Service was Ian Ball's stated plan, but when he ordered Anne out of the car she replied, 'Not bloody likely!'

Prince Philip was born in 1921 on a dining-room table on which Greek island?

Corfu's Mon Repos villa was his birthplace, and when his family fled Greece, the infant Philip was carried aboard a British warship in a fruit box.

Which vehicle, modified to Prince Philip's own design, carried his coffin at his 2021 funeral?

A Land Rover Defender served as his hearse; he had died at Windsor Castle aged 99, two months short of 100.

Edward VIII gave up the throne after 326 days in order to marry which American divorcée?

Wallis Simpson married him in France in June 1937, and no member of his family attended the wedding.

After German bombs hit Buckingham Palace, the future Queen Mother said she could now look which part of London in the face?

The East End was her answer: 'I'm glad we've been bombed', she said, and the palace was hit nine times during the war.

Which ceremony takes place in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, the 775-room London home of the monarch?

Changing of the Guard happens there at 11am, daily in early summer, with a military band of at least 35 musicians.

Which monarch's accession made Buckingham Palace the sovereign's official London residence?

Victoria became the first sovereign to live there, and found its chimneys smoked so badly the fires had to die down, leaving the palace cold.

Who bought the royal family's Aberdeenshire estate outright in 1852, after leasing it from 1848?

Prince Albert bought it privately and amended William Smith's designs for its new castle, so it is still the monarch's personal property, not the Crown's.

Sandringham House was the setting for which royal milestone in 1932?

The inaugural royal Christmas broadcast was George V's, written by Rudyard Kipling.

Trooping the Colour, held on Horse Guards Parade, celebrates what?

The sovereign's official birthday has been marked by the parade since 1748, and it ends with a 41-gun salute and an RAF flypast.

After losing his royal titles in 2025, what name did the former Duke of York adopt?

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is how he has been known since Charles III removed his royal styles in October 2025, and he left Royal Lodge for the Sandringham estate in 2026.

Andrew served as a helicopter pilot in which conflict?

The Falklands War saw him fly Sea King helicopters, including Exocet decoy missions, and the Queen insisted he stay with his ship.

Which Caribbean country became a republic in November 2021, removing Elizabeth II as its head of state?

Barbados swore in Dame Sandra Mason as its first president on 30 November 2021, the 55th anniversary of its independence.

In which Berkshire town was Catherine, Princess of Wales, born?

Reading's Royal Berkshire Hospital was her birthplace, and when she was two her family moved to Amman, Jordan, for her father's British Airways job.

In 2005, Catherine, Princess of Wales, graduated in which subject?

Art history was her degree subject, earning a 2:1 after she began with psychology, and she worked part-time as a waitress while studying.

For which Andrew Lloyd Webber organisation did Prince Edward work as a production assistant?

The Really Useful Theatre Company took him on after he left the Royal Marines in 1987, and he worked on musicals including The Phantom of the Opera.

Which title, previously held by his father, did Prince Edward receive on his 59th birthday in 2023?

Duke of Edinburgh had been promised to him at his 1999 wedding, and it is a life peerage, so his son James will not inherit it.

Which title has Anne held since 1987?

Princess Royal is held for life, and Anne is only the seventh holder since Charles I first gave the title to his daughter Mary in 1642.

Where was Princess Anne born in 1950?

Clarence House was then Elizabeth and Philip's married home, and it later housed the Queen Mother until her death in 2002.

Sophie Rhys-Jones met Prince Edward in 1987 while working for which broadcaster?

Capital Radio employed her in press and promotions, but the couple only began dating after meeting again at a 1993 promotional shoot.

Where in London was Prince George born in July 2013?

St Mary's Hospital's private Lindo Wing also saw the births of his father William and uncle Harry, and Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin there.

Where did Prince George spend his first months before his family moved to Kensington Palace?

Anglesey, Wales was home because William flew Sea King search-and-rescue helicopters at RAF Valley, finishing his last shift in September 2013.

Under the Perth Agreement's succession reforms, which princess kept her place in line ahead of a younger brother?

Princess Charlotte stayed ahead of Prince Louis in 2018, as the rules cover royals born after 28 October 2011, making her the first British princess to outrank a brother.

Succession to the British throne is restricted to Protestant descendants of which princess?

Sophia of Hanover died in June 1714, about two months before Queen Anne, so her son took the throne instead as George I.

Legend warns that the Crown will fall if which birds ever leave the Tower of London?

Ravens at the Tower have the flight feathers on one wing clipped so that they cannot stray far, and at least six are kept there.

Which document can the British monarch travel without, as it is issued in the monarch's own name?

A passport is issued in the monarch's name and on royal authority, so holding one would be superfluous. For everyone else it is granted under the royal prerogative, a privilege and not a right.

Which king, killed at Bosworth in 1485, was found buried beneath a Leicester car park in 2012?

Richard III was identified by matching his DNA with two descendants of his sister Anne, and was reburied in Leicester Cathedral in 2015.

The midnight-blue velvet gown Diana wore to the White House in 1985 is named after which actor?

John Travolta danced with her at a White House gala in November 1985; the Victor Edelstein gown later sold for £264,000 to the charity Historic Royal Palaces.

News of which mountain's first ascent reached London on the morning Elizabeth II was crowned?

Everest had been climbed by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on 29 May, and the press called the timing a coronation gift for the new Queen.

Which fictional bear took tea with Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in a 2022 comedy sketch?

Paddington, voiced by Ben Whishaw, watched the Queen pull a marmalade sandwich from her own handbag in the pre-recorded film, made for a televised concert at the palace.

Which unmarked birds on open water belong to the Crown and are rounded up each July on the Thames?

Mute swans on the Thames are caught, ringed and released in a five-day ceremony called swan upping, shared with two London livery companies, the Vintners and the Dyers.

Which prime minister called Diana 'the People's Princess' in a tribute on the morning of her death?

Tony Blair had been in office only a few months when he gave the tribute in August 1997, and had been discussing an official role for her campaigns.

Which actress won an Oscar for playing Elizabeth II in the 2006 film The Queen?

Helen Mirren dedicated her Oscar to the real monarch, who invited her to dinner at Buckingham Palace; filming commitments in Hollywood made her decline.

Which prime minister was already in office when Elizabeth II came to the throne in February 1952?

Winston Churchill, born in 1874, was the first of her 15 British prime ministers and developed a friendship with the young queen.

Which singer performed a rewritten Candle in the Wind at Diana's funeral in September 1997?

Elton John sang it in public only that once, and the single released afterwards became the best-selling single in UK chart history.

Which prime minister did Elizabeth II appoint just two days before her death in September 2022?

Liz Truss was received in Scotland and not at Buckingham Palace, the usual setting, and the photographs taken that day were the last public images of the Queen.

Which actor won an Oscar as Elizabeth II's stammering father in the 2010 film The King's Speech?

Colin Firth played opposite Geoffrey Rush as the Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue, and the film won four Oscars, Best Picture among them.

Which royal yacht, launched in 1953 and retired in 1997, is now a visitor attraction at Leith?

Britannia travelled more than a million nautical miles to over 600 ports in 135 countries during 43 years of service.

Which nickname is given to the Yeomen Warders, the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London?

Beefeaters may owe the name to a 1669 remark by the visiting Cosimo III de' Medici about the large daily ration of beef at court, though its origin is uncertain.

Which condition did Diana, Princess of Wales, help destigmatise in 1987 by holding a patient's hand?

HIV/AIDS was also the cause of the hospital unit she opened in 1987, the first in Britain dedicated to it, and Nelson Mandela later said she had transformed public attitudes.

Which flag flies over Buckingham Palace only when the monarch is in residence there?

The Royal Standard is never flown at half-mast, because there is always a monarch on the throne.

Which ceremonial road runs from Buckingham Palace to Admiralty Arch and on to Trafalgar Square?

The Mall has been coloured red since the 1950s to give the effect of a giant red carpet leading up to the palace, and it is closed to traffic on Sundays.

Which chained Scottish beast faces the crowned English lion as a supporter of the royal arms?

The unicorn replaced the Welsh dragon used by the Tudor monarchs when the Scottish Stuart dynasty inherited the throne.

Which diamond in the Queen Mother's crown has been claimed by India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan?

The Koh-i-Noor was acquired under the 1849 Treaty of Lahore, which Britain cites as legal title; the crown lay on the Queen Mother's coffin in 2002.

Which royal home at the foot of the Royal Mile is the monarch's official residence in Scotland?

Holyrood Palace hosts the monarch for one week each summer, and visitors can see the rooms where Mary, Queen of Scots saw her secretary Rizzio murdered in 1566.

Which estate, created in 1337 to fund the heir to the throne, passed to Prince William in 2022?

The Duchy of Cornwall was set up by Edward III for his son the Black Prince, and its holder enjoys the income but may not sell its assets for personal benefit.

Which divorced RAF group captain did Princess Margaret publicly decide against marrying in 1955?

Peter Townsend, a Battle of Britain squadron leader, had been equerry to her father; the Church of England then refused to remarry the divorced while a former spouse lived.

In which African country was Diana photographed touring a minefield in a flak jacket in 1997?

Angola gave her landmine campaign its defining images, and her work has been described as influential in the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel mines.

Which codename covered the official plan for the days following the death of Elizabeth II?

London Bridge named a plan first drawn up in the 1960s, in which a phrase saying the bridge was down would carry the news to the prime minister over secure lines.

Which four-tonne carriage, completed in 1762, has been used at every coronation since 1831?

The Gold State Coach is so heavy that eight horses can pull it only at a walking pace; it was built for George III's crowning but was finished too late.

Which granddaughter of Elizabeth II won a team silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics?

Zara Tindall was presented with the medal by her own mother, and had been voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2006.

In which Pacific nation do villagers on Tanna revere Prince Philip as the son of a mountain spirit?

Vanuatu villagers matched him to a legend of a spirit's son who travelled far overseas, and the belief grew after the royal couple's 1974 visit.

Which Scottish relic, seized by Edward I in 1296, came back to London for Charles III's crowning?

The Stone of Scone, also called the Stone of Destiny, was carried off from London on 25 December 1950 by four Scottish students. It has been kept in Scotland since 1996.

By which of his seven given names was Edward VIII always known to family and close friends?

David honoured the patron saint of Wales; the last four of the seven names came from the patron saints of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Which Scottish castle was the Queen Mother's childhood home and the birthplace of Princess Margaret?

Glamis is also the home Shakespeare gave Macbeth, though the historical king had no connection to it; the Lyon family has held it since 1372.

Foreign ambassadors to Britain are still accredited to the court of which Tudor palace in London?

St James's was built by Henry VIII in the 1530s on the site of a leper hospital, and the Accession Council still meets there to declare each new monarch.

At which annual ceremony does the British monarch hand specially minted silver coins to the elderly?

Royal Maundy descends from medieval monarchs washing the feet of beggars in imitation of Jesus; the silver coins are legal tender but do not circulate.

In the Channel Islands' loyal toast, the British monarch is saluted under which medieval title?

Duke of Normandy is the islanders' name for the monarch, king or queen alike, because France conquered mainland Normandy by 1204 but not the islands.

Which governess of Elizabeth II was shunned by the royal family after writing The Little Princesses?

Marion Crawford, known to the princesses as Crawfie, gave up her grace-and-favour cottage at Kensington Palace, and no member of the family spoke to her again.

At a State Opening of Parliament, whom does Buckingham Palace hold 'hostage' until the monarch returns?

An MP, usually the Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, is kept as surety for the monarch's safe return and is well entertained until the ceremony ends.

Which Gloucestershire estate did Elizabeth II buy in 1976 as a country home for Princess Anne?

Gatcombe Park previously belonged to the former Home Secretary Lord Butler, and Princess Anne has designed courses for horse trials held in its grounds.

Which Dorset development, begun in 1993, was built to the architectural principles of Charles III?

Poundbury, on the edge of Dorchester, was planned by architect Léon Krier, with utilities buried in shared ducts to avoid constant roadworks.

Which racecourse, founded by Queen Anne in 1711, starts each royal meeting day with a carriage procession?

Ascot began when Queen Anne, out riding, came upon an open heath that she thought ideal for horses to gallop at full stretch.

Prince Philip gave up his titles as a prince of Greece and which other country before his engagement?

Denmark and Greece both counted him a prince by birth; as a baby he was evacuated from Greece on a British warship, carried to safety in a fruit box.