What Languages Do The Royals Speak?

[DuchessMia]

Had no idea Meghan was fluent in Spanish. Bet it was a nice surprise to the woman she spoke to. Probably wasn’t expecting that. Seemed like a lovely visit and fervently hope this becomes a regular visit for her.

 

[ACO]

This clip features the woman Meghan spoke in Spanish with. She was very impressed.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1075132284154597376

16 min clip of her visit.

 

[Prisma]

Princess Tsuguko of Takamado spoke some English in her speech at the International Orchid and Flower Show 2019 on February 15. Here are timestamps and I transcribed the English parts. There was a slight echo. Video by a Russian attendee.

4:40-4:51: "Good morning, it is my great honor to spend this opening ceremony of the International Orchid and Flower Show 2019 here with all of you."

6:18-7:01: … "And last, one of the aims of this international show is to bring countries and cultures together through the orchids and flowers. Of course, what we cannot forget is the great effort of the table displays of the embassies. My mother joins me in thanking Her Excellency the ambassador of Bangladesh, Her Excellency the ambassador of Lithuania, and the wives of the ambassadors of Belgium, New Zealand, Morocco, and Paraguay for putting much time and effort into producing table displays represented in these countries."

 

[Prisma]

Crown Prince Akishino speaking English, skip to 0:28

 

[carlota]

some great catalan being spoken by leonor!

and wow princess hisako's english is very impressive.

There is a vid from her Suits days. They had some fun with Ric and Meghan being both fluent in Spanish and shot a typically telenovela-style dream sequence + there is a blooper with Ric and Meghan having fun.

I have to say I was unexpectedly impressed with her spanish. While definitely accented, her speech is grammatically seamless, with great rhythm and near perfect intonation. They did really well with the telenovela aspect too.

I hope she'll get to meet Letizia, Maxima or Maria Theresa one day - would be lovely to hear her exchange a few words with them.

hard to judge what her conversational spanish is like as those lines were obviously part of a script, but from individual's accounts it seems to be very good. interesting that the lady she spoke to said she 'spoke perfect spanish, perfect castilian' which makes me understand that her spanish has a spain spanish accent, rather than the south american sounding spanish in the video above, or even argentinian spanish where she/the press claim she learnt it.

 

[IloveCP]

Queen Mathilde briefly speaking Italian:

 

[Prisma]

Crown Princess Kiko's speech in English for the virtual 51st Union World Conference on Lung Health on October 20.

Skip to 18:50

 

[Countessmeout]

Crown Princess Kiko's speech in English for the virtual 51st Union World Conference on Lung Health on October 20.

Skip to 18:50

Having spent her elementary and secondary education living in the US and Austria, she was fluent in English (and German) from a young age. She is also a trained sign language interpreter.

 

[Prisma]

Part of her secondary education was abroad. The Kawashima family returned to Japan in autumn 1979 and Kiko attended Gakushuin Girls' junior and senior high school.

ETA: Her elementary education was also partially in Japan, 1973-1976 where Kiko attended Shizuoka City Nakata Elementary School, Toshima Ward Mejiro Elementary School, and Gakushuin Elementary School.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Queen Mathilde briefly speaking Italian:

Her accent was great, they were praising her in the comments section !?

 

[An Ard Ri]

I wonder if Mathilde got any tips from her mother in law

 

[LadyFinn]

Victoria and Daniel speaking english

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Daniel is so amazing.

 

[IloveCP]

King Philippe, Queen Mathilde and their children speaking Dutch at the 2020 Christmas concert:

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Anna Maria van Schurman instructed Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of Frederick V, King of Bohemia in Hebrew.

 

[Tweetybird]

Random comment

I remember reading that Catherine Middleton and her friends don't use any French terms. For instant instead of saying, pardon or pardon me. Catherine will say excuse me or please excuse me. And English terms and expressions are different than American terms and expressions although technically it is considered the same language.

I know that the British royal family has a German influence, the Royal family with Albert started the German tradition of Christmas trees. The Queen was taught French as a child but had a very limited formal education focusing mostly on manners and French. Although after all the office paper type reading she has done all her life and travels I am certain she has attained a rather high level of studies by her experiences.

I assume that Charlies speaks French also. So it is funny how things have chanced with Catherine and the younger crowd make such a show of not using French terms when it was something stressed to the Queen growing up. And many consider elegant.

I do remember Diana insulting the royal family by calling them a bunch of Germans. And Diana grew up in a very old English family, while the royals due to often marrying foreign Royalty for a variety of reasons likely have a peculiar mix of traditions and languages on some level.

Just in general for me speaking English and another language it does make me think a slightly different way. I am putting words together in my head in another language to try and say it the correct way. English is my native language. Anyway, speaking a second language myself not everybody has the same level of proficiency or abilities.

 

[JR76]

I remember reading that Catherine Middleton and her friends don't use any French terms. For instant instead of saying, pardon or pardon me. Catherine will say excuse me or please excuse me.

Using originally French terms such as "pardon" is one of the words and expressions deemed "non-u" by Nancy Mitford and therefore seen as terribly common.
That Nancy did her division of these words into "u" and "non-u" quite ironically went over the heads of most of her contemporaries who to her delight took it all to seriously.

 

[Tweetybird]

Please define non-u or u

JR76 or anyone chime in. I am sure non-u is some sort of commonly known term to the English but to me as an American I don't know what non-u or u means. I thought it had something to do with no using French all of a sudden. Although I believe she has an Art History degree and most people who love Art also have a fondness for languages. So she might have studied French at some point. i think Italian is fun sounding. Che uno mechina rosa.

 

[Denville]

JR76 or anyone chime in. I am sure non-u is some sort of commonly known term to the English but to me as an American I don't know what non-u or u means. I thought it had something to do with no using French all of a sudden. Although I believe she has an Art History degree and most people who love Art also have a fondness for languages. So she might have studied French at some point. i think Italian is fun sounding. Che uno mechina rosa.

It has nothing to do with French. U Means Upper class... Non U means "not upper class"..
Using fancy Frenchfied words like "Pardon", or elaborate overly polite phrasing is considered "Non U" and upper class people tend to be blunter in their speech. it has nothing to do with French per se.

 

[Tweetybird]

I wasn't being clear at all. Thanks for explaining non u an u. What I meant to explain but wasn't able to do it. Was that I thought the reason might be she was trying to use non French terms. Not that non-u and u meant no French terms. Phew. That was taxing. Thanx though that was nice to explain. And if you are English please be gentle when I do my careless grammar and spelling. I have a good English friend and I don't mean to generalize but she seems to worship these things. And finds great pain in small mistakes. I do not give a rats blank.

 

[Denville]

I wasn't being clear at all. Thanks for explaining non u an u. What I meant to explain but wasn't able to do it. Was that I thought the reason might be she was trying to use non French terms. Not that non-u and u meant no French terms. Phew. That was taxing. Thanx though that was nice to explain. And if you are English please be gentle when I do my careless grammar and spelling. I have a good English friend and I don't mean to generalize but she seems to worship these things. And finds great pain in small mistakes. I do not give a rats blank.

no, it has nothing to do with French. If Kate "didn't use words like pardon", (not sure where you saw this) it would be because she was mixing with the upper class and didn't want to sound lower class. Her History of Art degree or her language abilities have nothing to do with this....

 

[SLV]

What has using pardon to do with upper or not upper class?
I use pardon in Dutch but excuse me when talking in English. I never learned in school that there is a difference in usable.

 

[Denville]

What has using pardon to do with upper or not upper class?
I use pardon in Dutch but excuse me when talking in English. I never learned in school that there is a difference in usable.

Its a class thing. The upper classes think that overly fancy words and overly polite talk is "non U", or "not quite quite".. and that its a mark of a lower class. In old fashioned upper class English,, if you don't hear what someone has said, you say "What?" not "Pardon..."

 

[SLV]

Interesting, responding with 'what?' in Dutch is considered rude.

 

[Denville]

Interesting, responding with 'what?' in Dutch is considered rude.

That's the point.. that the upper classes dont need to sound overly polite...

 

[Tweetybird]

Interesting side chat about Upper class speech

I am very curious following the entire Meghan Markle thing. I am never been a big royal watcher previously. I mean just from being alive in a grocery store line with magazines staring at you type royal watcher.

Anyway, I do remember some quote Harry saying to Meghan we will have to teach you to say plaster and not bandage. Anyway, I wonder if Catherine's mother and father both airline stewardesses use the u and non-u now.

What? Excuse me? What did you say? Watching Victoria and Albert being German and them having such a large family who married all over Europe. I wonder how much German cultures is embedded in the English Royal family.

 

[Denville]

I am very curious following the entire Meghan Markle thing. I am never been a big royal watcher previously. I mean just from being alive in a grocery store line with magazines staring at you type royal watcher.

Anyway, I do remember some quote Harry saying to Meghan we will have to teach you to say plaster and not bandage. Anyway, I wonder if Catherine's mother and father both airline stewardesses use the u and non-u now.

What? Excuse me? What did you say? Watching Victoria and Albert being German and them having such a large family who married all over Europe. I wonder how much German cultures is embedded in the English Royal family.

this is really a bit off topic, since class differences in how language is used, aren't really do do with how many languages royal families speak.

 

[Mbruno]

What? Excuse me? What did you say? Watching Victoria and Albert being German and them having such a large family who married all over Europe. I wonder how much German cultures is embedded in the English Royal family.

Victoria was English as was also her father. Her mother was German. Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was German too.

I don't think there is much German influence on the British RF nowadays. In 1917, the British RF changed its name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor and several German descendants of Queen Victoria were stripped of their British titles. George V's wife, Mary of Teck, had German parents (I think), but she was born and raised in the UK, so was in fact English. King George VI on the other hand married an Anglo-Scottish aristocrat, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, and his daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth II, married Philip Mountbatten, who was born in Greece in a family of German and Danish origin, but lived most of his life in England.


In the newer generation, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, married Diana Francis Spencer, from an English aristocratic family, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, married Catherine Middleton, who is also English.


Charles is said to speak some German (I don't know how fluent he is). William doesn't speak any German as far as I know.

 

[Tweetybird]

I think Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles likely both speak French . I just remember from People magazine Diana calling them Germans as an insult. And they love to follow tradition so I wondered if secretly they all sported secret lederhosen. That is a joke not meant to be off topic. Yes I am guessing that they wouldn't follow traditions from great grandparents. I always found it interesting that through Albert having a Christmas tree it became popularized in the USA too I think I am not sure. And then Prince Phillip speaks perfect French and lived their for years as a child.

I know for centuries royals married for political reasons and often royal families have many foreign marriages as a matter of practicality. I always enjoyed reading European history when young not as much now. I do remember one of Queen Victoria's grand daughters a little unknown princess Sophie Zelbts sp and married a Russian royal and ended up Catherine the Great. And of course her descendants the sad fate of the Romanovs. Which when I was a young girl I found very sad and tragic. I know the English royal family wanted to help them.

 

[Mbruno]

I think Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles likely both speak French .

Yes, the Queen has spoken French several times in public, including at official events in Canada and in France. Prince Charles has also spoken in French during offficial visits to Canada.


Prince Philip lived in Paris as a young child, but actually attended an English-speaking American school there. He moved to a school in England when he was about 7, I think. He studied briefly in Germany for two school terms in 1933 (?), but then moved to Gordonstoun in Scotland. He said his family spoke "English, French and German" at home, but, while I am confident he is fluent in German (and obviously in English, which is his primary language), I don't know how well he speaks French.