Belgian Official Visit to Germany (Thuringia & Saxony-Anhalt): July 9-10

[Stefan]

Anything is possible. King Leopold's grand-nephew King Ferdinand of Bulgaria had, to the horror of his wife and their royal relatives, his eldest son, the future King Boris II, converted at age two to the Bulgarian Orthodox faith because he felt that a king should share the faith of his people and to appease his Russian neighbours. Not very religious himself it's still strange that given that reason he didn't convert as well. He did get excommunicated for the move, but gained both the approval of his people and his Russian allies in the north.

How was it done in the romanian RF with the chidren of King Ferdinand. he was catholic and his wife was anglican/protestant but their children where orthodox.

 

[JR76]

How was it done in the romanian RF with the chidren of King Ferdinand. he was catholic and his wife was anglican/protestant but their children where orthodox.

While King Ferdinand and Queen Marie didn't convert to the Orthodox Church there was a requirement in the Constitution of 1866 that any descendant of King Carol I was to be raised a member of the Romanian Orthodox church which later happened with King Carol II and his siblings.
Ferdinand and Marie were crowned outside the Orthodox cathedral of Alba Iulia because they didn't belong to the church, but Marie later converted in 1926 to share the faith of her people. Later she is known to have practiced the Bahai faith and is honoured by that religion as one of their own.

 

[maria-olivia]

Our 3 languages are french, Dutch and german (King's Speech).
Queen Mathilde should speak this language currently instead of Spain.
Her Dutch is not fluent and she his a terrible french accent.
Princess Elisabeth and her siblings will be the first speaking Dutch fluently.

 

[maria-olivia]

King Leopold I last word was "Nein" because the Duchess of Brabant asked him to convert.
The Priest of ND of Laeken did not want the dead King enterring his Church. They had to build a Tent outside for the last prayers and then he was buried in the Royal Necropole.
I forgot if he was the first one , his first born Child Louis Philippe was buried in the then Collegiale St Michel et Gudule and Queen Louise Marie in Ostend.

 

[JR76]

King Leopold I last word was "Nein" because the Duchess of Brabant asked him to convert.

Thanks, Maria-Olivia! Just the kind of royal anecdotes that I love to hear.

I forgot if he was the first one , his first born Child Louis Philippe was buried in the then Collegiale St Michel et Gudule and Queen Louise Marie in Ostend.

I think that Queen Louise-Marie and her little Babochon were moved to Laeken when the Royal crypt was finished.

 

[Hannelore]

Our 3 languages are french, Dutch and german (King's Speech).
Queen Mathilde should speak this language currently instead of Spain.
Her Dutch is not fluent and she his a terrible french accent.
Princess Elisabeth and her siblings will be the first speaking Dutch fluently.

Here we go again. Her Dutch is more than fluent. If you watch her last interview in Dutch, with Katelijne Boonen then you'll have to admit she speaks it very very well. She will always have a French accent, but she masters Dutch very well.

Please tell me when Mathilde's Dutch was so bad that you yourself thought she isn't fluent. Give me an example from the last years.

 

[Mbruno]

Here we go again. Her Dutch is more than fluent. If you watch her last interview in Dutch, with Katelijne Boonen then you'll have to admit she speaks it very very well. She will always have a French accent, but she masters Dutch very well.

Please tell me when Mathilde's Dutch was so bad that you yourself thought she isn't fluent. Give me an example from the last years.

How would you rate Mathilde's Dutch compared to Máxima's ?

 

[An Ard Ri]

King Leopold I last word was "Nein" because the Duchess of Brabant asked him to convert.
The Priest of ND of Laeken did not want the dead King enterring his Church. They had to build a Tent outside for the last prayers and then he was buried in the Royal Necropole.
I forgot if he was the first one , his first born Child Louis Philippe was buried in the then Collegiale St Michel et Gudule and Queen Louise Marie in Ostend.

Excellent Madame I had never heard that quote before!

 

[Marchesina]

Here we go again. Her Dutch is more than fluent. If you watch her last interview in Dutch, with Katelijne Boonen then you'll have to admit she speaks it very very well. She will always have a French accent, but she masters Dutch very well.

Please tell me when Mathilde's Dutch was so bad that you yourself thought she isn't fluent. Give me an example from the last years.

Exactly, accent is not the right meter to judge the level of fluency. Personally, when I speak English or French (of which I am not a native speaker) I can go from an accentless performance to a thick italian-accented one, depending on my level of stress or difficulty of subject.
My opinion is that she improved a lot during the years (and it is only natural when you speak a language almost daily). The accent is French, but it is understandable given she wasn't raise bilingual unlike her children.

 

[Hannelore]

How would you rate Mathilde's Dutch compared to Máxima's ?

Their accents are very different, and most of all, the way they are judged is very different. Maxima has been hailed as the new icon of Holland since day 1, while Mathilde has put up with all sorts of unsubstanciated rumours and lies about "not speaking Dutch" spread by those who want to collect political gain from it. Every sentence of Mathilde gets scrutinized, no-one would ever do that with Maxima. And good for her!

Another thing, Mathilde spends her public and professional life switching between *at least* 2 languages daily.