Prince William possessed many things that we mere mortals could not have, including but not limited to: castles, crowns, and corgis. But is there one thing we all have and he doesn't? is a surname.
Prince William's official full name is William Arthur Philip Louis, and we all know that this name is a series of names strung together, but the last name is not visible. So, does he not have a surname at all? The answer is very complicated, so for the time being you'll need to dive into a bunch of (somewhat outdated) royal rules to explain them to you.
To put it this way, Prince William was not "born" with a surname. Look at William's birth certificate, which has the "name and surname" column on it. See figure:
Prince William's birth certificate
As you can see, the royals simply and haphazardly wrote "His Royal Highness Prince William Auther Philip Louis Prince William Arthur Philippe Louis" in the blank space of their names. In the father column, Prince Charles wrote his name as "His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Auther George Prince of Wales, Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales", is not very domineering, the word Prince (Prince, Prince) appears twice in the name column!
It should be noted that Prince William's full name was later changed. Now he is the Duke of Cambridge (which was given to him by Queen Elizabeth after his marriage to Kate), and Prince William's full title is now "His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, Duke of Cambridge", which you can see on Princess Charlotte's birth certificate:
Birth certificate of William's daughter Princess Charlotte
Not having a surname, although it sounds very tall, can be a bit awkward when enlisting in the army or going to school, so Prince William used the surname "Wales Wales" whether while he was in school, or later working in the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, or as an air ambulance pilot, because his father, Prince Charles, was the Prince of Wales (a title for the prince of Wales). Does "William Wales" sound a bit hilarious, when he was a pilot, he used the more formal "Lieutenant Welsh".
William Wales
The surname of other less senior royal descendants is "Mountbatten-Windsor"
As early as 1960, the Queen and Prince Philip decided to give their untitled descendants (i.e. royals who did not use His/Her Royal Highness) a special surname.
According to the royal website:
"The Queen's descendants, with the exception of those with the title of Her Royal Highness, Prince/Princess or married female offspring, will use the Mountbatten-Windsor surname."
That's why the children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor!
Archie's last name is Mountbatten Windsor
The official website of the royal family explains:
"Most of the time, a member of the royal family who holds the title of Prince or Princess does not need a surname, but if at any one of them at any one of them needs a surname (such as marriage), that surname is Mountbatten-Windsor."
So, how did the name come about? Windsor is the surname given to his descendants by King George V, and Mountbatten is the surname of the grandparents of the late Prince Philip.
But Prince William did not often use Mountbatten-Windsor, and only once did the French magazine Closer publish a semi-nude photograph of Kate, and the couple sued the magazine using Mountbatten-Windsor. In this lawsuit, William and Kate were referred to as "Mr. and Mrs. Mountbatten-Windsor.".
By the way, William's children had a *different* last name
William and Kate's children George, Charlotte, and Louis all use the surname "Cambridge" at school, oh? Why do children and fathers have different surnames? Because William and Kate are now Dukes of Cambridge and Duchesses of Cambridge, just as Prince William used wales from his father's title as a surname when he was in school, william's children used the surname "Cambridge" in their father's title when they went to school.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte
The look of happiness