German royals

He looks and sounds such a terribly English prince, does William Arthur Philip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor, that's with a hyphen in the middle of course. But the British Royal family's REAL family origins are not home grown at all. The House of Windsor, as they now choose to call themselves, actually derives from the marriage of Queen Victoria - who was German, last in line of the Hanoverian Royal family. In I840 she married Prince Albert, son of the Duke of Saxe- Coburg- Gotha - which is also in Germany, as if you hadn't guessed. That recent Oscar winning British film, The King's Speech, is all about one of Albert's descendants - also called Albert, but with a speech impediment. He was the younger son of King George V. When his father died, Albert was never likely to take over- that right went to his elder brother, who became King Edward VIII -- but only for a while. Because he'd fallen in love with a divorced American lady called Wallis Simpson, and after less than a year, he decided to give up the throne to marry her instead. So poor old Albert stammered his way into the job and even changed his name to George VI in order to sound, well -- less German. These days there is nothing particularly wrong with being German, but it's very awkward indeed when Germany and Britain have been at war. Twice in the twentieth century this happened. But never fear -- our Royal Family sorted all that out. Their survival instincts are very strong indeed. In 1917 they quietly dropped their name Saxe- Coburg- Gotha, and instead proclaimed that from henceforth, they were to be known as the Windsors. That sounded much better, and much more British. At the same time the new surname Mountbatten suddenly appeared to cover up the fact that another significant branch of our royal family was actually known as the Battenbergs, no less. Her Majesty the Queen is from the Saxe- Coburg- Gotha line, but when she married Philip, Prince of Greece and Denmark, it introduced yet another German connection because Philip is actually a member of the House of Schleswig- Holstein- Sonderburg- Glucksburg. So in a few weeks time, in the Gothic splendour of Westminster Abbey, when the Archbishop of Canterbury asks Prince William if he will take Kate Middleton to be his wife -- don't be surprised if you hear a quick 'jawohl' pass his lips as he stares lovingly at his bride. You see Prince William isn't quite as English as he seems. This is Ed Boyle for CBS News in London.