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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 60, 10 March 1880, Page 4

At a dinner in London, the conversatioh lapsedcj as it sometimes will lapse with the best of hosts, into questions hardly distinguishable from conundrums. A celeberated historian was present, and I put a question which I know has puzzled a great many people at different times : ,{ "What is the surname of the Royal Family ?" "Guelpb, of course." That is the usual answer, and it was the historian's. I ventured to suggest that, although the Royal Family are Guelphs by descent, her Majesty's marriage with Prince Albert of SaxeCoburg must have the effect which a marriage of a lady has in all other cases, and that the surname of the present house must be the Prince Consort's. " But what is tbe surname of the Prince Consort's family ? " Simple, but

staggering. No one knew. All guessed and all were wrong. I happened to have looked up the subject a few months ago, so I knew that the name was '• "Wettin. " Of course, no one had heard it before. Everyone smiled ;at the horrible idea of the Guelphs being reduced to Wettins! The point was referred to Theodore Martin. "You are quite right," said the graceful biographer of the Prince Consort, " Wettin is the family name of the House of Saxony, to whom the dominion of Saxony came in the year of 14-20. The King of Saxony and the minor Princes of the house are, therefore, all Wettins ; or, in German, Wettiner." i.