July 17, 1917

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Joel Byers

On July 17, 1917 King George V, King of England decided it would be a good idea to change his family’s last name. It was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and extremely German, and since England was currently at war with Germany and its allies, King George thought a name change might be conducive to keeping his throne. He chose the entirely English last name of Windsor which was suitably British and the peasants put down their pitchforks. You ask why was the English monarchy German at that time? It’s because the European monarchy was so inbred that they could have just as easily been Spanish, French, English, Dutch, Portuguese, or Swedish. But not Russian. Nobody wanted to interbreed with the Russians. They just happened to have the German last name because Queen Victoria married a German prince and her children and their children had his surname, which was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Which wasn’t a problem until World War I started. But when it did, King George V made an executive decision and started the House of Windsor and gave up the German name and all German titles and claims to property. Which kept him on his throne.

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About Joel Byers

Born in North Georgia and educated at some very fine public institutions. Real education started after graduating from college and then getting married and raising two boys. Has the ability to see the funny and absurd in most things and will always remark on it, even if it means getting the stink-eye from his victims.
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