Place Name
As with adjacent Eton Avenue, this was laid out as part of the Littlegrove Estate. Like many suburban streets, it was presumably named to mark the ruling royal house. But it may also have a dual meaning; the name Eton Avenue may have been a joke or even named after a sense of civic pride, since it led to two of the area’s schools. As with the Berkshire towns, Windsor neighbours Eton, home of the famous school. The House of Windsor was established on 17 July 1917, when King George V changed the royal family’s name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in response to strong anti-German sentiment during the First World War. The name, suggested by Lord Stamfordham, was taken from Windsor Castle, a symbol of the English monarchy. George V also limited the use of princely titles to his closest relatives and, under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917, stripped several German relatives of their British honours. The house has since produced five monarchs: George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II, and Charles III. While the royal family is styled as Windsor, the descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip also belong genealogically to the House of Oldenburg through Philip’s Glücksburg line. The renaming occurred against a backdrop of crisis: German bombing raids on London by Gotha aircraft, the abdication of Nicholas II in Russia, and a growing fear of the monarchy’s collapse across Europe. The decision provided a clear break from German dynastic connections and reinforced the monarchy’s English identity.
