Marie-Chantal's Languages and Accent

[Odette]

If MC doesn't speak proper Greek, to me that is rather rude and unpolite towards her inlaws. Even though it is highly unlikely that Greece will ever restore the Monarchy, the least she could have done to show some respect is to learn it. The fact that her father is a billionaire and is probably singlehandedly financing the Greek RF does not change that.

I never believed that Robert Miller single handedly financed the GRF. There were reports about the dowry she brought with her but it was never cleared whether money changed hands of Mr Miller finances MC and Pavlos's lifestyle.
With regard to learning Greek, it is a difficult language and I do not think she has any interest to even try. She is one of those newly minted princesses (Like Clotilde Coureau) who entered a Royal family without any of the obligations since there is no chance she will ever see her husband reign.

 

[sneeuwklokje]

Well, there still must be some royalists left in Greece, it would be a nice gesture as 'their' crownprincess was able to speek proper Greek. She should have learned it before she had kids imo.

 

[Odette]

Well, there still must be some royalists left in Greece, it would be a nice gesture as 'their' crownprincess was able to speek proper Greek. She should have learned it before she had kids imo.

Absolutely. When they go to Greece in summer they socialise with the magnates and shipowners and it would have been a novelty if a reporter would catch her speaking the language.
In my humble opinion she does not care. She was raised to believe she can do what she wants and she does not want.

 

[iakynthi]

Your last sentence expresses what I always thought about MC.The same happened with her Greek...

 

[Menarue]

I really don´t think it is exactly disrespectful to her parents-in-law not to speak Greek to them as they, I have heard, speak English at home and I am sure that IF and that is an enormous "IF" the Greek Royal family is restored to the Greek throne.....she can always take a crash course(LOL) . I really don´t think she needs to worry about this for some time if ever.

 

[sgl]

She does own a business in Greece (I have read that one of her boutiques has opened in Greece), therefore, she should make an attempt to learn the language, IMO.

 

[Odette]

She does own a business in Greece (I have read that one of her boutiques has opened in Greece), therefore, she should make an attempt to learn the language, IMO.

She was there like the rest of the royal family during the grand opening but I doubt she goes there any more.

 

[BELTRANEJA]

I would like to hear to Marie Chantal miller speak in Greek.I have read in many interviews with Mari Chantal say that she is studing the greek .I think Marie Chantal is not much interested in studying it and she always looks for excuses to justify
I want to encourage marie chantal to speak Greek .... this is hard but she can get
Queen Ana Maria said of her five children that Teodora had had many problems to learned the Greek language, but at present she is the more speaks Greek of all her sons.

 

[sgl]

I agree with you, Beltraneja. She should resume her lessons. The family has nannies, and its not as if she is always working in an office somewhere. She has access to the best teachers in the world. Research shows that once a person learns a second language, they are able to learn a third and fourth language without much difficulty, no matter what type of language it is. Since MC is fluent in French and English, this should not be difficult.

 

[Nad25]

Well, considering she doesn't live in Greece, her in-laws probably speak better English than Greek and that the Greek throne will never be restaured I don't think it is such an insult. And as a working mother of 5 you just have so much time of course.

well said!!!

 

[Charlotte1]

She was there like the rest of the royal family during the grand opening but I doubt she goes there any more.

Marie-Chantal has 2 stores in Greece, the first one in Thessaloniki and later she opened the one in Athens.

Since the case for compensation of the lost properties was settled by Constantine and the Greek government in 2002, MC and family go to Greece each summer and vacation there. ( there are lots of magazine articles, Hello a few years ago, Haakon and MM were staying with them, MC was pregnant with Odysseus. Vanity Fair from last year) In her recent Hello interview she said that even during her childhood she holidayed in Greece during the summer. Odysseus was baptised in Greece and they plan to baptise Aristide there as well. She said that she takes the occasional lesson in Greek and her children are also learning Greek. According to someone who has seen her in Greece ( not from one of MC's interviews) MC actually understands quite a lot of Greek, just doesn't speak it.

 

[iakynthi]

I thought that Pavlos' children were going to the Greek school in London (the one that was funded by Kon. and Anna-Maria) and not just learning Greek (in their spare time,for example...).Does anyone have a clue about that?

 

[Odette]

Marie-Chantal has 2 stores in Greece, the first one in Thessaloniki and later she opened the one in Athens.

Since the case for compensation of the lost properties was settled by Constantine and the Greek government in 2002, MC and family go to Greece each summer and vacation there. ( there are lots of magazine articles, Hello a few years ago, Haakon and MM were staying with them, MC was pregnant with Odysseus. Vanity Fair from last year) In her recent Hello interview she said that even during her childhood she holidayed in Greece during the summer. Odysseus was baptised in Greece and they plan to baptise Aristide there as well. She said that she takes the occasional lesson in Greek and her children are also learning Greek. According to someone who has seen her in Greece ( not from one of MC's interviews) MC actually understands quite a lot of Greek, just doesn't speak it.

Charlotte my comment had to do with her going to the store not to Greece.

I thought that Pavlos' children were going to the Greek school in London (the one that was funded by Kon. and Anna-Maria) and not just learning Greek (in their spare time,for example...).Does anyone have a clue about that?

The school no longer exists. It was closed down years ago.

 

[iakynthi]

Oh,great!Now I can see how "fluent" they are going to be in Greek.I can imagine that "Kalimera"(goodmorning),"kalispera"(good evening) and "ti kanis,baba?"(How are you,dad?) are quite enough...LOL

 

[Charlotte1]

The school no longer exists. It was closed down years ago.

The school does exist, it was sold and is now called The Knightsbridge School. Nikolaos was /is one of the school governors of the new school. The children there can learn different modern languages, one of the choices is still Greek. The Board of Directors still has a Greek background director who had been a former pupil of the Hellenic college.

 

[Odette]

Let me try again. The school KC & Q AM started and where Pavlos, Alexia and Nikolaos attended as young children no longer exists. What became of the building and who is one of the directors and what languages they now teach has no resemblance to the original school the King and Queen established in London. Neither one of them has any association with that school anymore.

 

[iakynthi]

Oh,really??Thanks a lot,Charlotte!!Is Nikolaos still a governor there?Because,I'm interested in "collaborating" with him...Instead of sitting here and working in all this Greek educational mess,I could move to London and teach Greek in this school.Tell me that he still is and I'm booking the airplane ticket right now...

 

[NotAPretender]

I'd like to address the issue about NY and NY accents...there are many, many different "native" NY accents within the five boroughs. Similarly to the multitude of accents of Londoners, an accent can simultaneously identify an ethnic heritage (even if the immigration was 50-100 years ago in a family,) the borough, the neighborhood and often times, the parish.

Within "upper class" New York, I think the finest example in modern media would be the narration done by actress Joanne Woodward for the film "The Age of Innocence." She studied the accents of various of the families of blue-blooded New Yorkers, including several audios of the daughters of President Theodore Roosevelt, to gain an understanding of the accent (as did the actors of the film.) It's a very clear, rounded speech - as someone else here said, "continental" with very slight British boarding school tones.

I heard MC on Martha Stewart and as I mentioned here once, was in a salon in NY when MC was present. I would equate her accent with that style of American accent, with an almost British "flavoring." Not unpleasant at all.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled postings.

 

[BELTRANEJA]

All languages have two parts:
On the one hand, the language of the books and other language speaking people in the street.
For example:
If Marie Chantal Miller decides to learn the language of the street, she only has to drive his car through the streets of Athens, when she will find a jam of cars ... she would learn the language of the street, especially of the taxis drivers, they are worse when the driver of other car is woman .

 

[iakynthi]

Anna Maria would be very "excited" listening to MC speaking the Greek taxi-drivers' language...lol

 

[Warren]

Posts which had no relevance whatsoever to Marie Chantal have been removed.

Warren
GRF moderator

 

[sgl]

Does anyone have any links to footage of Marie-Chantal speaking (in English, or Greek)? I recall hearing that during their engagement, she spoke a few words in Greek during a press conference. I have tried searching YouTube, and have not had any success.

 

[Charlotte1]

Let me try again. The school KC & Q AM started and where Pavlos, Alexia and Nikolaos attended as young children no longer exists. What became of the building and who is one of the directors and what languages they now teach has no resemblance to the original school the King and Queen established in London. Neither one of them has any association with that school anymore.

The original school that Alexia, Pavlos, Nikolaos attended as young children ( not that young as their original schooling was done by private tutor in Rome and then Copenhagen) was closed by Constantine due to political interference from Greece. He then opened a totally independent school with no connection to Greece as The Hellenic College,( with new staff and philosophy of the Round Square Table) which is the school attended by Theodora and Philippos. Alexia was the in the last year to sit the Greek baccalaureat,, Nikolaos, and Theodora attended 6th form colleges to finish their high school as the new Hellenic college didn't have the final 2 years as it did when Alexia finished. (Pavlos and Philippos attended a United World College in New Mexico for 2 years doing the International Baccalaureat. )This is the school that was sold, it wasn't closed down. The teachers continued to work in the new school, the students continued on. Provision was even to gradually phrase out the high school years as the new school was primary only. So those students who had started on their GCSE subjects could complete their study without having to change schools. As Nikolaos remained as a school governor and works in his father's office, then there still is a connection to Constantine.

 

[iakynthi]

When I first read that Nikolaos works in his father's office,some years ago,I thought that his job had to do with financial issues.I could never ever imagine that he's involved with education....so a big "thank you" to you,Charlotte!!

 

[iakynthi]

I read recently that while Pavlos and MC were living in NY,they had a Greek young lady,Aggeliki,living with them.She was looking after the children and that's how all of them,including MC,were learning Greek.Then something happened to her and she had to move back to Greece.That's how MC explains the fact that she hasn't continued her lessons.Perhaps they haven't found another nice and trustworthy person like Aggeliki to have with them.

 

[sgl]

Oh, yes. This must be the reason why they have stopped studying. The world-wide shortage of Greek speakers is very well-known.

I still have not been able to find any links to videos of MC speaking. I am really curious about what she sounds like. Does anyone have any links??

 

[iakynthi]

Dear sgl,I assume that they wanted someone they can really trust,because the new "teacher" would also stay with them or very close to them.Perhaps it's not that easy.I could make them an offer,of course,but we have to negotiate over my salary (extra ancient Greek in the "package"...)....lol

 

[sgl]

< ed Warren > What happened to the teachers who worked for the GRF at the Hellenic School in London? I am surprised that they did not hire one of their former employees.

 

[castell]

There was an article in Hellomagazine that Marie-Chantal just opened a new clothing store for kiddies in Beverly Hills this week.
Here you can hear her voice:

Marie-Chantal of Greece on the inspiration behind her children's line | hellomagazine.com

 

[emmeleia]

I read recently that while Pavlos and MC were living in NY,they had a Greek young lady,Aggeliki,living with them.She was looking after the children and that's how all of them,including MC,were learning Greek.Then something happened to her and she had to move back to Greece.That's how MC explains the fact that she hasn't continued her lessons.Perhaps they haven't found another nice and trustworthy person like Aggeliki to have with them.

Indeed, I heard Pavlos saying this, in a greek lifestyle TV programme, I think...
Aggeliki, with the salary she had got by raising MC' s children built a wonderful house in Saronida, an area outside Athens near the sea and lives there ever since,