It was just after a year from when they got married that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip had their first child, Prince Charles, in 1948. Then the royal couple had their second baby in 1950, a daughter, Princess Anne.
But it would be ten years before the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh welcomed their third child, Prince Andrew, and the reason for waiting so long is heartbreaking.
According to Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith in her book Elizabeth the Queen, Her Majesty waited so long to bring her third child into the world due to a bitter and devastating family feud.
When Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, died, the Queen ascended the throne, however, Prince Philip wanted his children – the future princes and princesses of England – to take his family name Mountbatten.
However the people high up in royal life, including the then Prime Minister Winston Churchill, all believed the Royal Family name should remain Windsor.


As we now know, the Queen chose to reject her husbands wish and declared her children would take the name Windsor, much to the heartbreak of Philip.
According to the Royal biographer, Earl Mountbatten – Philips uncle – believed that a ten-year “delay” in the couple having children after Princess Anne was because of Philip was furious at his children not taking his name.
When the Queen fell pregnant in 1960 with Prince Andrew, the surname issue again arose.
Bedell Smith cites in her book journal entries from the then prime minister Harold Macmillan, who recorded Philips cruel attitude towards his wife over the issue.
The journal entries read:
“The Queen only wishes (properly enough) to do something to please her husband – with whom she is desperately in love.
“What upsets me is the prince’s almost brutal attitude to the Queen over all this.”
“I shall never forget what she said to me at Sandringham.”

The commotion resulted in the Privy Council declaring that those with the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince or Princess, or female descendants who marry, would carry the name of Mountbatten-Windsor.