Prince Albert
The British Royal House had a problem during the First World War because of its blood ties to the ruling family of Germany, Britain's prime adversary in the war, and because of its name. Following the death of Queen Victoria, the last monarch of the House of Hanover, her successors were known by Prince Albert's family name, the very German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1910, George V, her grandson and also the first cousin of the German Kaiser Wilhelm II, who came to symbolise all the horrors of the war, succeeded to the throne. Queen Mary, his wife, although British like her mother, was the daughter of the Duke of Teck, a descendant of the German Royal House of Württemberg. In 1917, George V resigned all his German titles and changed the name of the House to Windsor.
