The Windsor family name

The Windsor family name originated in Berkshire, England. Andrew Windsor, son of Thomas Wyndesore (who was made 1st Lord Windsor in 1529) was a descendant of Edward I (Longshanks), King of England.

The House of Windsor had several peers named Lord Windsor, or deWindsor, or variations thereof. However the line died out with the last descendant, the Earl of Plymouth. Robert Windsor/ Clive was one Earl of Plymouth. He inherited the title when it went in dispute between his grandmother and great aunt after the death of their brother. The Earldom of Plymouth became extinct with the death of Henry, 8th Earl of Plymouth. He died on 8 Dec 1843. This line went back Walter Fitz-Other.

Gerald deWindsor, the brother of one of the William deWindsors went to Ireland and became the progenitor of the Fitzgerald clan, the name Fitzgerald meaning son of Gerald.

Windsor is the name of the royal house of Great Britain. The name Wettin, family name of Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria, was changed to Windsor by George V in 1917. The new name was adopted by all members of the family. In 1952, Queen Elizabeth II, who married Philip Mountbatten, duke of Edinburgh, decreed that she and her descendants (other than females who marry) should retain the name Windsor. A declaration of 1960, however, restricted the name to those descendants bearing the title prince or princess (i.e., the sovereign’s children, the children of the sovereign’s sons, and the eldest son of the eldest son of the prince of Wales); all other descendants are to be known as Mountbatten-Windsor.