One in ten grooms now take their wife's surname, study finds

Among the many sacrifices made by the Duke of Edinburgh over the years, the rejection of his family name by the Queen was taken as the gravest of personal injuries.

But as the Royal couple prepare to celebrate their platinum wedding anniversary, a new study has revealed that modern men are far less precious about marital customs.

According to a study published on by the London Mint Office, more than one in 10 young men now take their bride’s surname.

After the Queen’s accession in 1952, the monarch declared that the royal family's surname would still be Windsor and not Mountbatten, much to the Duke’s annoyance.

"I'm just a bloody amoeba," he is said to have shouted, and complained: "I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.”

Now however, just 72 per cent of married couples adopt the groom’s surname, compared to more than 97 per cent aged 55 or over.

Of the 2,003 adults surveyed, 11 per cent confirmed they had compromised by taking a double-barrelled surname.

And while loyalty and dedication were considered vital tenets of any marriage when the Queen and Duke wedded in 1947, today just 36 per cent of newly weds believe fidelity must be adhered to.

The study, which has been published to coincide with the historic wedding anniversary, also found that younger men are twice as likely to bend the knee when proposing compared to previous generations.

The research coincides with The London Mint Office unveiling a platinum wedding anniversary commemorative coin, which bears an image of the Queen and the Duke on their wedding day.

The coin is embellished with the words “strength” and “stay” - terms used by the Queen to describe her husband on their golden wedding anniversary.