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Mountbatten-Windsor is the personal surname used by the male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Under a declaration made in Privy Council in 1960, the name Mountbatten-Windsor applies to male-line descendants of the Queen without royal styles and titles. Individuals with royal styles do not usually use a surname, but some descendants of the Queen with royal styles have used Mountbatten-Windsor when a surname was required.
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Current use
The British monarchy now asserts that the name Mountbatten-Windsor is used by members of the Royal Family who do not have a surname, when a surname is required. For example, Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Princess Anne, Princess Royal, children of the Queen, used the surname Mountbatten-Windsor in official marriage registry entries. Likewise, the Duke of Cambridge used the name when filing a French lawsuit related to the topless pictures of his wife published by the French magazine Closer.
At the time of the 1960 declaration, palace officials claimed in private communications that it created a hidden surname that would emerge several generations later when some of Elizabeth II descendants were further removed from the throne. On the marriage of the Earl and Countess of Wessex in 1999, the Queen decided, with their agreement, that any children they might have should not be styled His or Her Royal Highness. Consequently, the birth of their daughter in 2003 marked the first emergence of the Mountbatten-Windsor surname. Their daughter was named Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor, though goes by Lady Louise Windsor.
Relation to House of Windsor
Mountbatten-Windsor differs from the official name of the British royal family or Royal House, which remains Windsor. The adoption of the Mountbatten-Windsor surname applies only to members of the British royal family who are descended from the Queen through the male line, including daughters of the male line.