It was an idle boast made amid the Royal Family 's grief following the death of King George VI . At a party at his home, Lord Louis Mountbatten had proclaimed that the 'house of Mountbatten now reigned'. It was a reference to how his nephew Prince Philip , as the husband of the new Queen Elizabeth II , expected his surname to be adopted by his children. But, as royal writer Valentine Low delves into in his recent book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, Queen Mary had heard about Lord Mountbatten's comments and was furious. The furore was followed by the Queen's announcement in April 1952 that the Royal Family would keep Windsor as its official name. The decision left Prince Philip deeply upset and prompted him to tell his friends: 'I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his children.' He would go on to add: 'I am nothing but a bloody amoeba.'
