The Queen rarely uses her real full name which is believed to be a tribute to her ancestors which also has a very personal meaning.
Queen Elizabeth II, 95, is Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms. Her Majesty was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
Although her full title is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, we barely see the 95-year-old’s actual real name used at all, despite its lovely meaning. Born in 1926, the senior royal’s birth certificate listed her full name as Elizabeth Alexandra Mary.
The Elizabeth part is well known and it was chosen in tribute to her mom, the Queen Mother, who also had the same name. And as it turns out, her middle name also has sweet meanings too.
It also led to her nickname “Lilibet”, as when she was growing up she had trouble saying her own name properly, and eventually, she would say Lilibet instead.
Alexandra, the Queen’s middle name, was chosen in honor of her great grandmother Queen Alexandra of Denmark, who was the wife of King Edward VII.
Queen Alexandra died in November 1925 at the age of 80, just months before the Queen was born. Alexandra was also known as the Empress of India. Her name lives on in her great-granddaughter.
While her second middle name Mary is likely to be a tribute to her grandmother Queen Mary of Teck, who was the wife of King George V. She died in March 1953, aged 85, a year after her son, and the Queen’s father George VI died in 1952.
However, when it comes to a surname, it appears that the Queen doesn’t really need one.
According to the official Royal Family website, members of the family “often do not use a surname at all”.
At times when she needs one, she uses Windsor, but this is different to some younger members of her family. Royals fans who are close to Her Majesty might know that she’s often called Lilibet by those around her.
The Queen’s full name is rarely used due to her many official titles, but it’s known that even her closest family members don’t even refer to her as Elizabeth.
In 1960, it was decided that those who are direct descendants of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip who need a surname could use “Mountbatten-Windsor”.
“For the most part, members of the Royal Family who are entitled to the style and dignity of HRH Prince or Princess do not need a surname,” the site states. ” but if at any time any of them do need a surname (such as upon marriage), that surname is Mountbatten-Windsor.”
Many royals have Elizabeth as a middle name, in tribute to the Queen, including Princess Charlotte, Princess Beatrice, Zara Tindall, and Lady Louise Windsor.
The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, has the middle Elizabeth as well, following her first name Catherine even though she was not born a royal.
The male form of Alexandra, Alexander, is a middle name for Prince George, while those with Mary as a middle name include Beatrice and Lady Louise.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle recently paid tribute to the Queen by calling their daughter, who arrived on June 4 this year, Lilibet, the monarch’s childhood nickname.
In 1947, Her Majesty married Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, with whom she had four children: Charles, Prince of Wales, Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.
When her father died in February 1952, Elizabeth who was 25 years old at the time became head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon.
Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, the longest-serving female head of state in world history, the world’s oldest living monarch, longest-reigning current monarch, and oldest and longest-serving current head of state.