British Royal Family Trivia
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100 free British Royal Family trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
49 free British royal family trivia questions with answers. The British royal family has been renamed, rocked by an abdication, an annus horribilis and a Netflix deal, and is still the most famous family in the world. This quiz covers the House of Windsor from George V's 1917 name change to Charles III's coronation: Elizabeth II's 70-year reign, Philip's Corfu birth, the Queen Mother at 101, Edward VIII and 'the woman I love', Diana's wedding at St Paul's and death in Paris, William and Catherine at Westminster Abbey, Harry and Meghan at St George's Chapel, Anne's Olympic ride and kidnap attempt, Andrew's lost titles, plus Buckingham Palace, Balmoral, Sandringham, Trooping the Colour and 'The Firm'. Easy questions ask which palace has the balcony and who married Kate Middleton. Medium ones cover jubilees, weddings and titles. Hard ones want the man who suggested the name Windsor, the Kaiser's joke about it, where Elizabeth was when she became queen, and the number of rooms in the palace. Every answer has been checked against reference articles on the family and its members, and each question shows its citation once you have answered. Ideal for a coronation party, a jubilee quiz or a Crown-watching night.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which German-sounding name did the royal house drop when it became the House of Windsor in 1917?
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was dropped by a royal proclamation on 17 July 1917, to appease anti-German feeling during the First World War.
Q 02Who suggested the name 'Windsor' for the royal house?
Lord Stamfordham
Lord Stamfordham, George V's private secretary, proposed the name, taken from the Berkshire town and its castle.
Q 03On which Caribbean island did Princess Margaret build a holiday villa on land given to her as a wedding present?
Mustique
Mustique was Colin Tennant's private island, and the villa she built on his gift of land was called Les Jolies Eaux.
Q 04Which Scottish boarding school did both Prince Philip and his son Charles III attend?
Gordonstoun
Gordonstoun, in Moray, was Philip's old school, and Charles reportedly called it 'Colditz in kilts'.
Q 05Before marrying Prince Harry, Meghan Markle played Rachel Zane in which American legal drama?
Suits
Suits kept her as Rachel Zane for seven seasons, from 2011 until 2018, the year she married Harry.
Q 06Courtiers' nickname for the royal family, 'The Firm', is said to have originated with which king?
George VI
George VI is said to have coined 'The Firm', and its members, patrons of about 3,000 charities, are expected to stay politically independent.
Q 07Which jubilee did Elizabeth II celebrate in 2022?
Platinum Jubilee
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.
Q 08Elizabeth II was born in 1926 not in a palace but at 17 Bruton Street, in which London district?
Mayfair
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.
Q 09What was Elizabeth II's childhood family nickname, later given to Prince Harry's daughter?
Lilibet
Lilibet was what she called herself as a toddler; her grandfather George V used it too, and she called him 'Grandpa England'.
Q 10In which wartime organisation did Princess Elizabeth train as a driver and mechanic?
The Auxiliary Territorial Service
After Auxiliary Territorial Service training in 1945, she and Margaret slipped incognito into the celebrating London crowds on VE Day.
Q 11In which country was Elizabeth when she learned she had become queen in February 1952?
Kenya
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.
Q 12What made Elizabeth II's 1953 coronation a broadcasting landmark?
TV cameras were allowed inside the abbey
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.
Q 13Which Latin phrase did Elizabeth II use in a 1992 speech to describe that year?
Annus horribilis
Q 21Why was Charles and Camilla's 2005 civil wedding moved from Windsor Castle to Windsor Guildhall?
Licensing it would oblige it to marry anyone who applied
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.
Q 22Charles III's coronation on 6 May 2023 was the 40th held at the abbey since which monarch's?
William the Conqueror
William the Conqueror was crowned there on Christmas Day 1066, and Charles's date was chosen to leave time to mourn Elizabeth II.
Q 23Charles was crowned at his coronation with which historic headpiece?
Annus horribilis came in a Guildhall speech on 24 November 1992, four days after a fire at Windsor Castle.
Q 14With whom did Elizabeth II appear in the 2012 London Olympics opening film?
Daniel Craig as James Bond
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.
Q 15Elizabeth II died in September 2022 at which residence?
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle was where, two days before she died, she accepted Boris Johnson's resignation and appointed Liz Truss as prime minister.
Q 16Which dog breed did Elizabeth II own more than 30 of, most descended from a dog she got for her 18th birthday?
Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Pembroke Welsh Corgi was her breed, and when one of her corgis mated with Princess Margaret's dachshund Pipkin, the first dorgis were born.
Q 17Which Gloucestershire house has been the country home of Charles III, Britain's oldest new monarch at 73?
Highgrove House
Highgrove House was bought by the Duchy of Cornwall in 1980, and Charles later converted its home farm to organic farming.
Q 18Charles's 1969 investiture as Prince of Wales was staged at which castle?
Caernarfon
Caernarfon Castle hosted it, after Charles had spent weeks at Aberystwyth learning the Welsh language.
Q 19Charles was the first British heir apparent to do what?
Earn a university degree
He did earn a university degree, studying archaeology and anthropology, then history, and graduated with a 2:2 in 1970.
Q 20Charles's youth charity, founded in 1976 and renamed after his accession, was originally called what?
The Prince's Trust
He went on to become patron or president of more than 800 other organisations.
St Edward's Crown
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.
Q 24Where did Prince William meet Catherine Middleton?
The University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews housed them both in St Salvator's Hall, and William's geography degree there was an undergraduate MA.
Q 25William and Catherine married on 29 April 2011 at which church?
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey had also hosted his grandparents' wedding in 1947 and his mother Diana's funeral in 1997.
Q 26Which title was William given immediately before his wedding?
Duke of Cambridge
Duke of Cambridge was conferred on the morning of the wedding, so Catherine became Duchess of Cambridge as they married.
Q 27Before becoming a full-time royal, William spent two years flying for which organisation?
The East Anglian Air Ambulance
The East Anglian Air Ambulance paid him a salary, and he donated all of it to charity.
Q 28What is the name of the environmental award William launched in 2020?
The Earthshot Prize
The Earthshot Prize, named after John F. Kennedy's Moonshot, awards £1 million to each of five winners every year.
Q 29Charles and Diana married in July 1981 at which venue?
St Paul's Cathedral
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.
Q 30Diana was born at Park House on the royal estate in which English county?
Norfolk
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.