What Languages Do The Royals Speak?

[CyrilVladisla]

Did King Carol I of Romania learn to speak Romanian upon his becoming the sovereign of the country?

 

[Curryong]

Yes, in 1866, shortly after being elected by Romanian officials to be their sovereign. He was a German Prince and had been an army officer so I suppose it is natural that he spoke no Romanian.

 

[FigTree]

Count Sigvard Bernadotte writes that his grandfather (the Duke of Connaught) & his siblings often slipped into a German accent when talking among themselves in private.

The Queen remembered them too doing this. And Albert and Victoria used to fight in German. Given the childrens regression to their accents in adulthood, as do think that whatever the PR was that German was a very commonly spoken language in the household and that they were all pretty multilingual.

As for saying the royals are German. Well they aren’t really any longer. The Queens parents were British. All four of her grandmothers, although one grandmother was nominally German. It was some of her great grandparents what were from either Denmark or Germany.

As for William. He’s basically English. He has one grandparent with mixed Danish, Russian and German heritage, who was nominally Greek, and by the time you get to George…well they aren’t German anymore.

It’s an old trope and it’s really not valid any longer.

 

[IloveCP]

Princess Alexia of Greece speaking Spanish:

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg was Queen Consort of King Gustav II Adolph of Sweden.
Though she was a German princess and a Swedish queen, she did not properly write German or Swedish. She spoke and most often wrote in French, which was the court language.

 

[WhitePine86LoveFam]

I very diverse style of articulation and lingo. It’s almost a universal language at times.

 

[southwind]

Princess Alexia of Greece speaking Spanish:

At 2:28 she perfectly explains how the greek and danish families doesn't have lastnemes...

 

[Izzie]

I believe all the continental royals speak Scandinavian at least 2 languages
Crown Prince Haakon - Norwegian, English
Crown Princess Victoria - Swedish, English
Crown Prince Frederik - Danish, English, French and German
Queen Maxima - English, Spanish, Dutch
Queen Mathilde - French, Dutch, English and Italian
Queen Silvia German, English and Swedish

 

[Curryong]

Doesn’t Queen Sylvia also speak Spanish? I have read that she does. It’s interesting to see this from The Royal Forums in 2004 and read how posters criticised her Swedish language skills, especially the grammar. She must have found it hard.

https://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f185/queen-silvias-language-abilities-skills-26484.html

 

[Prinsara]

Doesn’t Queen Sylvia also speak Spanish? I have read that she does.

I'm certain she speaks Portuguese considering her background.

King Carl Gustav – Swedish and English, understands German only
King Harald — Norwegian, British and American English
Queen Margrethe — Six languages (?)

 

[JR76]

Queen Silvia speaks Swedish, German, Portuguese, Spanish, English and Swedish Sign Language.

 

[Blog Real]

Queen Letizia speaking in English, German and Portuguese:

 

[Sarahbellar]

Queen Silvia speaks Swedish, German, Portuguese, Spanish, English and Swedish Sign Language.

And French!

 

[CyrilVladisla]

By the age of six Infante Manuel (King Manuel II) of Portugal spoke and wrote French.

 

[lucien]

And the Dutch RF,the polyglots,as they speak and write in all the modern languages.

Like most their people.

 

[doro]

Does Crown Princess Victoria speaks Portuguese?

 

[JGio]

I believe all the continental royals speak Scandinavian at least 2 languages
Crown Prince Haakon - Norwegian, English
Crown Princess Victoria - Swedish, English
Crown Prince Frederik - Danish, English, French and German
Queen Maxima - English, Spanish, Dutch
Queen Mathilde - French, Dutch, English and Italian
Queen Silvia German, English and Swedish

How Queen Mathilde speaks Italian? Didn’t know if that!

 

[Magnolia471]

How Queen Mathilde speaks Italian? Didn’t know if that!

Yes, she does. And she is actually quite fluent. She spoke italian in public several times.

 

[Prinsara]

Yes, she does. And she is actually quite fluent. She spoke italian in public several times.

Did she learn it from Philippe or is it unrelated to him?

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Yes, she does. And she is actually quite fluent. She spoke italian in public several times.

I had no idea that Mathilde is fluent in Italian!

 

[Curryong]

The British royals certainly aren’t multilingual. The late Queen spoke fluent French as well as her native English, Prince Philip English, French and German. Charles can speak French and a tiny bit of Welsh.

And the rest of the family??
A great contrast indeed to the Continental Royals.

 

[Prinsara]

The British royals certainly aren’t multilingual. The late Queen spoke fluent French as well as her native English, Prince Philip English, French and German. Charles can speak French and a tiny bit of Welsh.

And the rest of the family??
A great contrast indeed to the Continental Royals.

Charles speaks passable German IIRC. I guess we'll see in a few days.

There seems to be every effort to ensure that the Wales children will at least know Spanish and probably more.

Prince Michael is fluent in Russian for all the good that's done him.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Princess Michael might speak some Russian too. She is fluent of course in her native German, and she also speaks French.

 

[Prinsara]

Princess Michael might speak some Russian too. She is fluent of course in her native German, and she also speaks French.

She would count as a "Continental + royal", though.

 

[JR76]

Does Crown Princess Victoria speaks Portuguese?

Besides Swedish the Crown Princess speaks English, German and French.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I believe all the continental royals speak Scandinavian at least 2 languages
Crown Prince Haakon - Norwegian, English
Crown Princess Victoria - Swedish, English
Crown Prince Frederik - Danish, English, French and German
Queen Maxima - English, Spanish, Dutch
Queen Mathilde - French, Dutch, English and Italian
Queen Silvia German, English and Swedish

CP Victoria is fluent in German, and so is her younger sister Madeleine.

Early in Madeleine's marriage to Chris O'Neill they gave an interview where they stated that German was the language they spoke to one another at home. Madeleine can also handle herself in French, not sure if she is fluent.

Queen Maxima is fluent in French. I have seen her on YouTube.

 

[Friedrich Karl II]

The British royals certainly aren’t multilingual. The late Queen spoke fluent French as well as her native English, Prince Philip English, French and German. Charles can speak French and a tiny bit of Welsh.

And the rest of the family??
A great contrast indeed to the Continental Royals.

Didn't Philip speak Greek too since he was born to Greek royal family?

 

[Curryong]

Didn't Philip speak Greek too since he was born to Greek royal family?

His father Andrew insisted on speaking Greek to his family as a child, but his son Philip said once, a few years ago, that he ‘knew a few words of Greek but not enough to conduct a conversation’.

 

[JR76]

Didn't Philip speak Greek too since he was born to Greek royal family?

No he didn't speak Greek. He told Fiammetta Rocco from The Independent in 1992 that:- "We spoke English at home,' Prince Philip recalls today. 'The others learned Greek. I could understand a certain amount of it. But then the (conversation) would go into French. Then it went into German, on occasion, because we had German cousins. If you couldn't think of a word in one language, you tended to go off in another."

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-...ge-life-profile-of-prince-philip-1563268.html

 

[Curryong]

Off topic for this thread, but I have to say what an extraordinarily interesting profile on Prince Philip JR76 has posted from The Independent. Candid, explanatory, and Highly recommended!