English Speaking Royals

[RoyalEnquirer]

I am going to assume that most Royals from around the world know how to speak English, but I am just curious to see if they speak it fluently and if there are any that don't. Thanks!

Emily

 

[crisiñaki]

Infanta Elena, Infanta Cristina, Prince Felipe and Queen Sofia speak english perfectly; actually they always speak english among themselves; I heard King Juan Carlos speaks English too, but his isn't as good as the rest of his family is.

 

[lamass]

the luxembourgish family speak that at home too.

 

[RoyalEnquirer]

How very interesting that they choose to speak English in their homes. Apparently they were all taught it at a very early age. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, but I don't think I would do that well speaking it in Spain or Mexico. I can't imagine speaking more than one language fluently. I think it would be quite an accomplishment!

 

[crisiñaki]

All the SRF also speaks Greek and French.

The thing about spanish is that comes from a different lingual family from English or German and the same one from Italian and French; also Spanish has much more grammar and spelling rules than English and that's why is easier for a native Spanish speaker to learn English than it is for a native English speaker to learn Spanish; another reason is that the Spanish changes a lot according to the country and their people's culture: the same word has a complete different meaning in México or Perú

PD: I'm a native Spanish speaker by the way

 

[SpiffyBallerina]

Both Queen Margrethe of Denmark and Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands are totally fluent in English. When Princess Beatrix was very small, WWII broke out and the Dutch Royal Family went into exile in Canada, so Beatrix learned English at a young age. Princess Margrethe went to boarding school in England and she also had tutors. Of all the non-native-speaking royals I've heard speaking English, I think these two do it the best (and with such cool accents!).

 

[Little_star]

Queen Rania speaks very good English as does her husband although his mother is English so that's hardly surprising.

 

[melissajames]

Queen Rania speaks very good English as does her husband although his mother is English so that's hardly surprising.

I think Rania studied at the American University at Cairo and I think their teaching lanugage is English.

 

[melissajames]

BTW, I think its shameful that most royals from Europe
(and many outside of Europe, including Rania & Masako) can speak English so well whilst the British RF can only manage English.

It tells a lot about the failures of the BR education system and the British attitude towards the rest of the world.

 

[karla64]

Prince Frederick spoke English of course hiswife mary spoke english from Australia Victoria of sweden speak english??? i am not sure

 

[Warren]

BTW, I think its shameful that most royals from Europe
(and many outside of Europe, including Rania & Masako) can speak English so well whilst the British RF can only manage English.
It tells a lot about the failures of the BR education system and the British attitude towards the rest of the world.

Well for starters The Queen speaks fluent French, Prince Philip speaks French and probably German; Prince Charles: Welsh; Edward and Sophie: French (or at least they are learning); Prince Michael of Kent is fluent in Russian, Princess Michael: French and possibly German; Princess Alexandra: French; the Duchess of Gloucester: Danish (no surprise there), and no doubt there are more. Then there's Prince William, who dabbled in Swahili, but is unlikely to be fluent.

 

[Little_star]

"I think Rania studied at the American University at Cairo and I think their teaching lanugage is English. "

She did but her accent is flawless.

 

[LaChicaMadrilena]

Prince Frederick spoke English of course hiswife mary spoke english from Australia Victoria of sweden speak english??? i am not sure

Of course she does, she studied at Yale in US (I may be wrong).

 

[melissajames]

Well for starters The Queen speaks fluent French, Prince Philip speaks French and probably German; Prince Charles: Welsh; Edward and Sophie: French (or at least they are learning); Prince Michael of Kent is fluent in Russian, Princess Michael: French and possibly German; Princess Alexandra: French; the Duchess of Gloucester: Danish (no surprise there), and no doubt there are more. Then there's Prince William, who dabbled in Swahili, but is unlikely to be fluent.

As far as I know, it is not widely known that the Queen speaks fluent French and I have not known any public occassions where she's been reported to have spoken French fluently.

Yes, Philip probably speaks one or two other languages, but he's actually foreign (related to the Greek RF).

I can hardly agree that Walsh is actually an international language. I doubt a significant number of people actually speak Welsh outside of Wales. As far as I know, a lot of people living in Wales don't speak Walsh.

Prince William - I doubt he's fluent in what ever he's learning, otherwise it would have been reported by the press as the biggest achievement of the BRF this century!

And Harry is only just managing English.

And all these other members who are 'learning' French. Well, I doubt they are actually going to be fluent. And what incentives are there for them to improve? Almost EVERYONE else speaks English fluently!

The point I am trying to make is:

Haakon, Fred, etc have studied at top universities where English is the teaching language. Do you honesting think any member of the BRF, Will, Harry, Beatrice, Zara have mastered a 2nd language so well that they can go and study for a degree at a French/German speaking university? I don't think so!!!

Fact - other Europeans (and possibly the rest of the world) are just better at teaching and learning languages.

 

[kittencrews]

The Grimaldi's speak fluent English (of course). Stephanie and Albert have a perfect American accent while Caroline has an English accent because she attended school in England. Pierre and Charlotte Casiraghi are said to be fluent in English and I know Andrea is because I have seen him in a video.

 

[melissajames]

"I think Rania studied at the American University at Cairo and I think their teaching lanugage is English. "

She did but her accent is flawless.

Hard work and talent.

 

[melissajames]

The Grimaldi's speak fluent English (of course). Stephanie and Albert have a perfect American accent while Caroline has an English accent because she attended school in England. Pierre and Charlotte Casiraghi are said to be fluent in English and I know Andrea is because I have seen him in a video.

I think they also speak German (esp Albert).
I read somewhere that Charlotte speaks Italian.

 

[Princess BellyFlop]

ayoe ouch awfully harsh on our Majesty's family!

As far as I know, it is not widely known that the Queen speaks fluent French and I have not known any public occassions where she's been reported to have spoken French fluently.

Well, when Her Majesty visits Canada, where a large percentage of the population speaks French (as in Quebec for example), she always has a few words in French for us. A few year back, she even read the message - French part included - at the opening of the Canadian parliement. Her accent is international.

PLUS, a few year back, some silly radio guys in Montreal put a phone prank on her. God only know how they got her phone number and got HER on the phone. They pretended to be our Prime Minister (at the time) Jean Chretien (whose 1st languague is French) and they talked with her. She clearly understood everything the guy was saying. Her French was good enough so she suspected that it was not the real Canadian Prime Minister - or if it was he would have been highly intoxicated - and she diplomatically ended the conversation as if nothing had happened. She actually took control of the conversation, all of that in French.

I was very surprised by her fluency and her wit.

And all these other members who are 'learning' French. Well, I doubt they are actually going to be fluent. And what incentives are there for them to improve? Almost EVERYONE else speaks English fluently!]

Princess Michael is fluent in French. She was interviewed by Ardisson in France - the same guy who interviewed Nicole Coste. Everything went very well with her. She even showed an excellent sense of humor.

 

[melissajames]

ayoe ouch awfully harsh on our Majesty's family!

Well, when Her Majesty visits Canada, where a large percentage of the population speaks French (as in Quebec for example), she always has a few words in French for us. A few year back, she even read the message - French part included - at the opening of the Canadian parliement. Her accent is international.

PLUS, a few year back, some silly radio guys in Montreal put a phone prank on her. God only know how they got her phone number and got HER on the phone. They pretended to be our Prime Minister (at the time) Jean Chretien (whose 1st languague is French) and they talked with her. She clearly understood everything the guy was saying. Her French was good enough so she suspected that it was not the real Canadian Prime Minister - or if it was he would have been highly intoxicated - and she diplomatically ended the conversation as if nothing had happened. She actually took control of the conversation, all of that in French.

I was very surprised by her fluency and her wit.

Princess Michael is fluent in French. She was interviewed by Ardisson in France - the same guy who interviewed Nicole Coste. Everything went very well with her. She even showed an excellent sense of humor.

BTW, I am British and I am not criticising the RF just for the sake of it. I genuinely feel that the GB are terrible at languages and considering globlisation etc this will prove to be a huge handicap and the RF esp the young ones are not setting high standards. We have just been lucky because of US dominance and hence been able to get away with just speaking one language.

I also think the lack of ability in this area is a reflection on the RF's education standard - not comparable with other European RFs imo.

Thanks for providing info about he Queen's French, I wonder how they got her number??? Having said that, I am not surprised she has a knowledge of French as it was THE diplomatic language not long ago.

 

[Britters]

I thought I had heard somewhere that William could speak either french or spanish (I'm not sure...I could be completely off base!) fairly well, as he took the course through out most of his years at Eton...

 

[norwegianne]

Crown Prince Haakon has a degree from Berkeley, and one from London School of Economics. One would presume that he's fluent in English. Actually both him and his sister had an English nanny when they were young, after having asked for it themselves, so that they could learn the language for speaking with guests.

King Harald and his sisters were in the same situation as Queen Beatrix and her sisters during the war, exile. Harald, Ragnhild and Astrid all went to American schools while they were there. Furthermore, King Harald studied at Oxford later in life.

 

[crisiñaki]

Prince Phillipe has a degree in Stanford University in the US so I guess he speaks english as well as the other

 

[lizz70]

BTW, I think its shameful that most royals from Europe
(and many outside of Europe, including Rania & Masako) can speak English so well whilst the British RF can only manage English.

It tells a lot about the failures of the BR education system and the British attitude towards the rest of the world.

As English is the international language this does not surprise me. However, HM Queen Elizabeth speaks French too and I think Charles speaks some too.

People forget that with English being so dominant in business and through US movies/TV that it is easy for non - English speakers who only have to learn one other language - English

whereas a native English speaker would have to learn dozens of languages to communicate effectively

 

[magnik]

I know that Danish Royals are fluent in English like Greeks (btw. how is they Spanish?). I watch them on Discovery's programme - it was European Royal Families or smth like that. There was few other royals - Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte and prince and princess from Germany, Russia, Greece.

King Abdullah is fluent in English too. Few months ago there was a TV programme about Arabian History in 20th century.

 

[RoyalEnquirer]

Thanks everyone for posting what you know of the English speaking Royals! If anyone else knows anything about the Royals who speak English, feel free to post!!!

Emily

 

[bct88]

United Kingdom
HM the Queen - English and French
HRH the Duke of Edinburgh - English, French, and possibly some German
HRH the Prince of Wales - English and Welsh
HRH the Princess Royal - English and possibly French

Sweden
HM the King - Swedish and English
HM the Queen - Swedish, English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and I believe sign language, but I am not positive.

Norway
HM the King - Norwegian and English
HM the Queen - Norwegian and English

Denmark
HM the Queen - Danish, English, Swedish, German, and French
HRH Prince Henrik - French, Danish, English, Vietnamese, and Chinese
HRH Prince Frederik - Danish, English, French, and German
HRH Princess Mary - English and Danish

the Netherlands
HM the Queen - Dutch, German, French, English, and possibly Italian. It is said that she understands Spanish as well.

Belgium
HM the King - French, Dutch, German, and possibly English and Italian, although I do not know.
HM the Queen - Italian, French, German, English, and Spanish.
HM Queen Fabiola - Spanish, French, Dutch, German, English, and possibly Italian.

Luxembourg
HRH Grand Duke Jean - Luxembourgish, French, German, and English
HRH the Grand Duke - Luxembourgish, French, German, English and possibly Spanish
HRH the Grand Duchess - Spanish, Luxembourgish, French, and German

Spain
HM the King - Spanish, English, possibly French, and I read Catalan. He probably speaks some Portuguese and Italian as well.
HM the Queen - Greek, Spanish, English, French, and possibly German and Italian

 

[pinklady1991]

BTW, I am British and I am not criticising the RF just for the sake of it. I genuinely feel that the GB are terrible at languages and considering globlisation etc this will prove to be a huge handicap and the RF esp the young ones are not setting high standards. We have just been lucky because of US dominance and hence been able to get away with just speaking one language.

Still, I think the British linguistic abilities are heads and shoulders above most Americans. I think the British and American failure to understand the need to be at least bi-lingual has much to do not only with a common history but also with relative geographic isolation. Continental Europeans have much more of a need to speak more than one language and their education starts early. Bravo for them.

When most people immigrated to the United States during the 19th & 20th centuries, they were forced to speak English (or at least their children were). I know that my grandparents isolated themselves in an Italian immigrant neighborhood and as a result my father and his siblings grew up in an Italian speaking world until they went to school (and it was a sink or swim situation) and then served as my grandparents' translators. My grandparents spoke limited English -- most of which they learned from their children, radio, and later television. My generation wasn't raised to be bi-lingual because there was a sense of shame that was attached to speaking Italian: it marked you as not "American." And all they wanted to be was "American." I feel like I missed out on something special -- a way of preserving my heritage.

Of course, I learned Italian in school by choice but I learned Florentinian Italian in high school & college (along with French, and a couple of semesters of German) which really doesn't resemble the Naples dialect my grandparents spoke. My grandmother used to tell me I spoke like a princess when I called her; she could understand me but often I couldn't understand her. Now it's chic to be a hypenated-American... How things change.

 

[HRH Kerry]

The Swedish Royals are all fluent in English since they have all studied in England and/or the U.S. I believe that CP Victoria also speaks French.

 

[crisiñaki]

Wow, it seems like all the Spanish Royal Family are poliglots, and that's why I believe they have been excellent embassadors of their country around the world

 

[Am I Bothered]

Most of the Jordanian Royal family speak both English and Arabic. I believe Princess Rym also speaks French

I even heard that when Abdullah became king, he was criticised because his Arabic wasn't very good, but I don't know for sure!