Q 01/05

The royal house was renamed Windsor in 1917. What was its previous, German-sounding name?

A) Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

B) Schleswig-Holstein

C) Battenberg

D) Hohenzollern

Answer · why

A) Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

George V made the change amid wartime anti-German feeling, the same year Gotha bombers began raiding London.

Q 02/05

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

A) Winston Churchill

B) Lord Stamfordham

C) David Lloyd George

D) Queen Mary

Answer · why

B) Lord Stamfordham

Arthur Bigge, the King's private secretary, took it from the Berkshire town and castle.

Q 03/05

On hearing of the name change, Kaiser Wilhelm II joked he would go and see which Shakespeare play?

A) The Taming of the Windsors

B) Much Ado About Windsor

C) The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

D) A Midsummer Night's Gotha

Answer · why

C) The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

The pun was on The Merry Wives of Windsor; George V also stripped three German relatives of their British titles in 1919.

Q 04/05

How many British monarchs have there been from the House of Windsor?

A) Five

B) Four

C) Three

D) Six

Answer · why

A) Five

George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II and Charles III.

Q 05/05

What surname do Elizabeth II's male-line descendants use when one is needed?

A) Windsor-Battenberg

B) Mountbatten-Windsor

C) Mountbatten

D) Glücksburg

Answer · why

B) Mountbatten-Windsor

It reflects the name Prince Philip took on naturalisation; Churchill had blocked Lord Mountbatten's claim that the House of Mountbatten now reigned.