Marriage to Commoners vs Royals/Nobles


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
That is strictly subjective. For example if one happens to like the commoner better than the "blue blooded noble" then your automatic opinion is that they are doing the job better.

I can't think of any commoner spouse who-based on actual fact and not personal opinion-is outperforming an aristocratic one.

And for the record it's not a contest/competition, like the Olympics.

Al-bina, as is usually the case I agree with you 100%.

So what does Stephanie bring to the table that makes her more suited to her role than Maria-Teresa? I'm genuinely curious

I mean if Stephanie wasn't a countess but everything else about her was the same would she be less qualified?

I've read comments from various royal watchers saying she hasn't exactly taken her role by storm despite being noble born
 
Stephanie de Lannoy has been married to the HGD of Luxembourg for approximately 30 months. She has accompanied her husband on numerous overseas economic missions to learn the crucial role of her tiny adopted country on the world stage which is frankly...economy/finance. She has done few engagements on her own-perhaps two or three, but is slowly increasing them.

The citizens of the Grand Duchy have invariably described her as charming, polite and unassuming, and highly intelligent.

Most impressively imo within only a year of her wedding she had completely mastered the difficult Luxembourgish dialect, no mean feat when you consider that Charlene of Monaco can't manage basic French after a decade, Mary of Denmark's Danish is reportedly atrocious after the same amount of time, and Kate Cambridge apparently hasn't even bothered with the language of the Principality whose name she will bear someday, Welsh.

Stephanie has also had the manners and breeding not to give her fellow countrymen numerous unwanted glimpses of her bare rear end by stubbornly refusing to realize that gusty winds and lack of underwear are not a good mix. She has not helped herself to excess holidays and extra kitchens for her home(s) at taxpayer expense.

My question to YOU Rudolph is that other than dressing fashionably what were ANY of these women doing to "take the Royal world by storm" after only 2-3 years of marriage?:whistling:

BTW, Stephanie in my opinion brings nothing to the table that makes her superior to her mother-in-law and I never implied that she did. However as I also mentioned I don't think Stephanie would ever have the bad taste to hold a weepy whiny press conference to air her grievances with Maria-Teresa, as M-T did to her own mother-in-law Josephine Charlotte.
 
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:previous: A minor correction. Mary's Danish is not atrocious. She has a distinct accent but her general mastery of Danish is at a very high level.
 
So if Stephanie being a countess brings nothing to the table that makes her superior to her mother-in-law why the emphasis on lineage?

If Crown Princess Mary was born a Serene Highness I can't imagine her being any more successful than she is now.
 
I stand corrected Muhler, as you would of course know better than I. I was referencing several Youtube videos where the comments by Danes was less than laudatory to put it mildly.

No one was impressed.:cool:
 
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I stand corrected, as you would of course know better than I. I was referencing several Youtube videos where the comments by Danes was less than laudatory to put it mildly.

No one was impressed.:cool:

Yeees, but some of these comments were perhaps... slightly biased...
There are continuing and more objective analyzes of Mary's Danish in the DRF forum. - And not always that flattering.
 
So if Stephanie being a countess brings nothing to the table that makes her superior to her mother-in-law why the emphasis on lineage?

If Crown Princess Mary was born a Serene Highness I can't imagine her being any more successful than she is now.

I'd be much obliged if you could point me out to any posts where I insinuated otherwise or emphasized noble lineage?:cool:

As for the former Mary Donaldson she has a closet full of beautiful clothes that she wears flawlessly and that I would kill to have. Other than that I barely notice her, she simply does not interest me at all.

I did see a fascinating video of her online recently.

It had been taken shortly after she became engaged to Frederick. She had enrolled in a course called "MAKE ME A STAR!!" designed to teach her how to appear more poised, aristocratic or Royal I suppose. I was astonished at the sight of the future Queen of Denmark mincing around with her hands on her hips as if she was practicing for a beauty pageant.

It was fascinating, not to mention hilarious.:lol:
 
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I'd be much obliged if you could point me out to any posts where I insisted otherwise or emphasized noble lineage?:cool:

As for the former Mary Donaldson she has a closet full of beautiful clothes that she wears flawlessly and that I would kill to have. Other than that I barely notice her, she simply does not interest me at all.

I did see a fascinating video of her online recently.

It had been taken shortly after she became engaged to Frederick. She had enrolled in a course called "MAKE ME A STAR!!" designed to teach her how to appear more poised, aristocratic or Royal I suppose. I was astonished at the sight of the future Queen of Denmark mincing around with her hands on her hips as if she was practicing for a beauty pageant.

It was fascinating, not to mention hilarious.:lol:



Another little correction, the video was not taken after Mary was engaged to Frederik, it was just after they had met and Mary was booked to do the course prior to the meeting.
 
Stephanie de Lannoy has been married to the HGD of Luxembourg for approximately 30 months. She has accompanied her husband on numerous overseas economic missions to learn the crucial role of her tiny adopted country on the world stage which is frankly...economy. She has done few engagements on her own-perhaps two or three, but is slowly increasing them.

The citizens of the Grand Duchy have invariably described her as charming, polite and unassuming, and highly intelligent.

Most impressively imo within only a year of her wedding she had completely mastered the difficult Luxembourgish dialect, no mean feat when you consider that Charlene of Monaco can't manage basic French after a decade, Mary of Denmark's Danish is reportedly atrocious after the same amount of time, and Kate Cambridge apparently hasn't even bothered with the language of the Principality whose name she will bear someday, Welsh.

Stephanie has had the manners and breeding not to give her fellow countrymen numerous unwanted glimpses of her bare rear end by stubbornly refusing to realize that gusty winds and lack of underwear are not a good mix, nor has not helped herself to excess holidays and extra kitchens for her home(s) at taxpayer expense.

My question to YOU Rudolph is that other than dressing fashionably what were ANY of these women doing to "take the Royal world by storm" after only 2-3 years of marriage?:whistling:

BTW, Stephanie in my opinion brings nothing to the table that makes her superior to her mother-in-law and I never implied that she did. However as I also mentioned I don't think Stephanie would ever have the bad taste to hold a weepy whiny press conference to air her grievances with Maria-Teresa, as M-T did to her own mother-in-law Josephine Charlotte.

I think you need to go back into some threads and read up on many Crown Princesses duties when they married. I'll use Mary as an example. Within two years of marriage, Crown Princess Mary launched The Mary Foundation. She also became patron of the Danish Heart Foundation, the Danish Refugee Council, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Danish Red Cross and the list goes on. Her first solo engagement was one month after she became Crown Princess.

She has accompanied her husband on half-a-dozen international trips representing her adopted country. Her first solo overseas trip was within the first two years. Also, within the first three years, she had two children. Prior to her wedding, she need to go from beginner level to expert level in Danish, which is no easy feat. Yes, she has an accent, but she still uses Danish at her engagements.

I cannot find any patronages Stephanie represents. She hasn't been on any solo international trips, and she hasn't launched her own foundation.
 
What do you mean, the big German marrying farms no longer count? They are still there, often in great wealth, on large estates and with glittering jewels many Queens could be jealous off.

Oh yes, under Queen Victoria apparently one should marry for "love" (I hear Charles mumbling: "Whatever love means"). But let us oversee the list of all her in-laws, the result of her children marrying "for love":

Prince Friedrich von Preussen (later German Emperor)
Princess Alexandra of Denmark
Prince Ludwig von Hessen (later Grand Duke of Hessen)
Maria Vladimirovna Romanova, Grand Duchess of Russia
Prince Christian von Schleswig-Holstein
Lord John Douglas Sutherland Campbell (later 9th Duke of Argyll)
Princess Luise Margaret von Preussen
Princess Helena von Waldeck und Pyrmont
Prince Heinrich Moritz von Battenberg

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Princess Victoria loved Frederich of Prussia, and in his own way Edward VII loved Alexandra. Alice loved Louis (Ludwig), but then realized they were not soul mates. Alfred, you have the wrong Maria he married Maria Alexandronova, he was madly in love when he married her, that too, fell to the wayside, Helena loved Prince Christian and they were happily married for 50 years. Louise and Lord Lorne, there are all kinds of stories, but she cared for him and he wasn't royal at all. Arthur cared greatly for his wife. And Leopold was grateful to have a wife and Helen and he loved one another. And last but not least Beatrice wanted a husband, I think she did love him, she and Liko seemed to be happy together and he was only partially royal as the Battenburgs had Commoner blood. By Victoria rose above that not only for Beatrice, but her granddaughter Victoria of Hesse and Louis of Battenburg.
 
Stephanie de Lannoy has been married to the HGD of Luxembourg for approximately 30 months. She has accompanied her husband on numerous overseas economic missions to learn the crucial role of her tiny adopted country on the world stage which is frankly...economy. She has done few engagements on her own-perhaps two or three, but is slowly increasing them.

The citizens of the Grand Duchy have invariably described her as charming, polite and unassuming, and highly intelligent.

Most impressively imo within only a year of her wedding she had completely mastered the difficult Luxembourgish dialect, no mean feat when you consider that Charlene of Monaco can't manage basic French after a decade, Mary of Denmark's Danish is reportedly atrocious after the same amount of time, and Kate Cambridge apparently hasn't even bothered with the language of the Principality whose name she will bear someday, Welsh.

Stephanie has had the manners and breeding not to give her fellow countrymen numerous unwanted glimpses of her bare rear end by stubbornly refusing to realize that gusty winds and lack of underwear are not a good mix, nor has not helped herself to excess holidays and extra kitchens for her home(s) at taxpayer expense.

My question to YOU Rudolph is that other than dressing fashionably what were ANY of these women doing to "take the Royal world by storm" after only 2-3 years of marriage?:whistling:

BTW, Stephanie in my opinion brings nothing to the table that makes her superior to her mother-in-law and I never implied that she did. However as I also mentioned I don't think Stephanie would ever have the bad taste to hold a weepy whiny press conference to air her grievances with Maria-Teresa, as M-T did to her own mother-in-law Josephine Charlotte.

All good points, for the people of Luxembourg, Stephanie is doing a marvelous job - I'm not damning by faint praise here, I think she has a role, and she fulfills it (sometimes in awful polyester pants, but I digress :lol:)
In fact, I think that most of the spouses chosen by the heirs have been good for their own countries, regardless of where they were born and what their "bloodline" is. Seriously, this is the 21st century. If monarchy falls, it won't be because we suddenly realize that Estelle is the daughter of a gym instructor, etc. We've moved beyond the idea that royalty means anything other than what it is; ambassadors.

:previous: A minor correction. Mary's Danish is not atrocious. She has a distinct accent but her general mastery of Danish is at a very high level.

I've heard varying accounts on Mary's Danish but the point to remember is that she has learned it as best she can, and it is an incredibly difficult language. I think it's also very hard for English speakers to pick up new languages because we simply don't have to.
 
I've seen Crown Princess Masako mentioned in the thread but I wonder what people's thoughts are on the marriage of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. I think Michiko was the first commoner to marry a Japanese crown prince(although she came from a wealthy family).
 
She is a lovely and intelligent woman who suffers from depression and cannot deal with the outdated lunacy of the Japanese Court.
 
I think you need to go back into some threads and read up on many Crown Princesses duties when they married. I'll use Mary as an example. Within two years of marriage, Crown Princess Mary launched The Mary Foundation. She also became patron of the Danish Heart Foundation, the Danish Refugee Council, WHO Regional Office for Europe, Danish Red Cross and the list goes on. Her first solo engagement was one month after she became Crown Princess.

She has accompanied her husband on half-a-dozen international trips representing her adopted country. Her first solo overseas trip was within the first two years. Also, within the first three years, she had two children. Prior to her wedding, she need to go from beginner level to expert level in Danish, which is no easy feat. Yes, she has an accent, but she still uses Danish at her engagements.

I cannot find any patronages Stephanie represents. She hasn't been on any solo international trips, and she hasn't launched her own foundation.

You haven't found any probably because you haven't been looking.:cool:

Luxarazzi : New Patronage for the Hereditary Grand Duchess

I never said Mary had been idle as princess, or hadn't done anything.I know enough about her to understand that the she is very popular with the Danes.

What I did post is that beyond her outfits(particularly her evening wear) CP Mary of Denmark has never really interested me and she still doesn't.

As far as her Danish goes, I only mentioned remarks and criticism I'd read from OTHER DANES. As I told Muhler, I am in no position to personally judge her Danish skills as I don't speak, read or understand a single word of that language.
 
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What hasn't been mentioned (i think) and what might indeed *be* a factor in the reign of a royal family is their heritage as far as actually coming *from* the country they reign.
At least in the Netherlands, if you read comments of people wanting to get rid of the monarchy afaik the argument that the Queen is a commoner has never been used, but what has been used and comes up regularly in those circles is that the Dutch RF is only for a small part actually dutch (and P.Amalia will be even less so than her dad is).

At least P.Estelle, who is mentioned a lot here as "daughter of a personal trainer", is more than 50% actually swedish; in some countries that may come to be greater effect to the continuation of the royalty than the completely blue bloodline
 
So if Stephanie being a countess brings nothing to the table that makes her superior to her mother-in-law why the emphasis on lineage?

If Crown Princess Mary was born a Serene Highness I can't imagine her being any more successful than she is now.

You are applying logic (A + B = C) for an institute which is profoundly logic. It is the same as saying "We want a modern monarchy". If you want to be 'modern', go for a presidency, thát is modern, giving any citizen a say.

The handful monarchies which are still apparent in Europe make an appeal on the underbelly, on sentiments. Would thay make an appeal on logica, they would be scrapped immediately.

Right because they apply on the sentiment, they have to beware what makes then different, special, connected to the nation's and Europe's glorious past. When a Dylan Jansen from Eindhoven falls in love with The Princess of Orange and becomes His Royal Highness Prince Dylan of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, then this is the end, then even die-hard monarchists will have a difficult time to swallow. Maybe Dylan will manage it, but the core base of the monarchy, that the kid of Dylan Jansen becomes the Sovereign...

Once again, it is not mathematics. It is not A + B = C. Imagine that Crown Princess Victoria had engaged with Jean-Christophe Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon. (Picture: Prince Jean-Christophe with his sister Princess Caroline and his mother Princess Béatrice de Bourbon-Deux Siciles). Everyone will understand that it would have added a whole new dimension to the Royal House of Sweden. Anyway, for me a Prince Napoléon speaks more to my imagination than a Sofia Hellqvist or am I a "male chauvinist pig" again, as I was labelled a few pages ago?

:flowers:
 
What hasn't been mentioned (i think) and what might indeed *be* a factor in the reign of a royal family is their heritage as far as actually coming *from* the country they reign.
At least in the Netherlands, if you read comments of people wanting to get rid of the monarchy afaik the argument that the Queen is a commoner has never been used, but what has been used and comes up regularly in those circles is that the Dutch RF is only for a small part actually dutch (and P.Amalia will be even less so than her dad is).

At least P.Estelle, who is mentioned a lot here as "daughter of a personal trainer", is more than 50% actually swedish; in some countries that may come to be greater effect to the continuation of the royalty than the completely blue bloodline

I think very, very few in the Netherlands can claim that the official registers go back to 1403 to see that a Nassau married in Breda and the family has since then played a prominent role in the Netherlands, until the day of today. Very, very few Dutchmen can. At the same time, until recently, it was almost impossible for any member of any royal family to find an "equal partner" in the own country, it was also seen as "not desirable" that a subject became related to the Sovereign ánd in some monarchies (like Sweden) it was even not allowed to marry a fellow Swede. So Dutchies claiming that the royal family is not Dutch enough (eeeh... Mabel, Laurentien, Ànne-Marie, Tjalling, Albert, Marilène, Anita, Aimée, etc. etc....) are just talking pub-trash.
 
Stephanie de Lannoy has been married to the HGD of Luxembourg for approximately 30 months. She has accompanied her husband on numerous overseas economic missions to learn the crucial role of her tiny adopted country on the world stage which is frankly...economy/finance. She has done few engagements on her own-perhaps two or three, but is slowly increasing them.

The citizens of the Grand Duchy have invariably described her as charming, polite and unassuming, and highly intelligent.

Most impressively imo within only a year of her wedding she had completely mastered the difficult Luxembourgish dialect, no mean feat when you consider that Charlene of Monaco can't manage basic French after a decade, Mary of Denmark's Danish is reportedly atrocious after the same amount of time, and Kate Cambridge apparently hasn't even bothered with the language of the Principality whose name she will bear someday, Welsh.

Stephanie has had the manners and breeding not to give her fellow countrymen numerous unwanted glimpses of her bare rear end by stubbornly refusing to realize that gusty winds and lack of underwear are not a good mix. She has not helped herself to excess holidays and extra kitchens for her home(s) at taxpayer expense.

My question to YOU Rudolph is that other than dressing fashionably what were ANY of these women doing to "take the Royal world by storm" after only 2-3 years of marriage?:whistling:

You posed the question. I gave you one example. As much as I like Stephanie, she has not accomplished as much as some of her counterparts. This is probably a decision that lies with the Grand Ducal family, however, one patronage, a handful of trips does not equate the same as to the level of work CP Mary has done.

And Mary, Letizia, Maxima have taken the royal world by storm because they made their Royal family more relevant to the everyday person. Having an aristocratic or royal lineage isn't required to marry into a Royal family anymore. As many have stated before, a Royal family will not fall due to commoners marrying into it, but because the general population believe they are not required.

On a side note: learning languages is hard. Princess Charlene may not find French easy to learn. The Duchess of Cambridge may never become the Princess of Wales if the future King Charles does not bestow the title of Prince of Wales on his son. She may be the Duchess of Cambridge and Cornwall until her husband ascends the throne.
 
Princess Stephanie has also not been married nearly as long as any of her counterparts. How can she have reasonably accomplished as much as Mary, Letizia, Maxima...every one of them has had 10+ years to take the Royal world by storm whatever that even means. It's frankly absurd to compare the accomplishments of someone who has been married a couple of years to someone who has had over a DECADE to make her mark.

By all accounts, the citizens of the Grand Duchy are very proud of Stephanie according to a documentary that was produced about her in Luxembourg in June 2013. She picked up their difficult dialect in an amazingly short time. She has attracted none of the adverse publicity in Luxembourg that Mary and Kate have received due to clothes spending and excess holidays. Until she became queen last year Letizia seemed to struggle with her image and her press and had not taken even Spain by storm, let alone the entire Royal world.

If you are referring to public engagements she has attended, last year Luxarazzi listed data detailing first public appearances for each woman-commoner and noble who had married into a Royal family.

Luxarazzi : Stéphanie's First Solo Engagement

Less than a month after her wedding she accompanied Guillaume to the People's Republic of China on an economic mission, and her first solo engagement was roughly about the same point as when Letizia of Spain made hers...two years after marriage.

Especially when you take into account the size and population of the Grand Duchy in comparison to Denmark and the others and the fact that Luxembourg is a prosperous, small country with very few of the social and economic problems of the others, Stephanie's workload since her marriage has been more than adequate.(And for the record, she has more than one patronage as the information I gave you confirmed.)

As for the fact that she is childless, I am a woman whose inability to bear a biological child of my own has been one of the great heartaches of my life. I am not about to reproach Stephanie or ANY woman for that. Hopefully her situation will not be the same of mine.

As for learning languages? No it's not hard if you've had years and years and access to the best resources and instructors! Unless she has a learning disability there is no excuse for Charlene not being very fluent in French at this point but at least Charlene at least UNDERSTANDS French even if she can't hold a conversation. What does the fact that Kate may never be princess of Wales have to do with her not taking the initiative to learn Welsh? Or Spanish or French? She is the only Royal princess in Europe besides Charlene who is not at least bi-lingual. Considering the education Kate was given and her position as future queen, that implies either lack of motivation or indifference, or a combination of the two.

Stephanie might not be better than her peers at this very early point in her public career, but she is certainly not worse than any of them either.
 
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I think it's wrong of people to assume Stephanie is childless because she wants to be. I have a SIL who is unable to have children, plus we are Catholic, there have been some hurtful comments/questions directed to both she and my BIL about it.

Really people need to just mind their own beeswax and when did it become okay to comment about people's private details like that?

I have friends with large families who have had complete strangers walk up to them in a store (their kids all in tow) and make comments about them being irresponsible or 'don't they know what causes that' etc etc.

I'm not that old...but it seems that nowdays people don't respect privacy like they used to when I was growing up.


LaRae
 
Stephanie might not be better than her peers at this very early point in her public career, but she is certainly not worse than any of them either.

Earlier in the thread you were holding up Stephanie's aristocratic background as evidence she is more suited to her role than other Crown Princesses.

Given the current Grand Duchess is a commoner it is an odd stance to take. The success of Mary, Maxima et al makes its clear being an aristocrat isn't a prerequisite to marring a royal.

Its only been your last few comments that you've backed away from this position and stated Stephanie isn't any better.
 
As for learning languages? No it's not hard if you've had years and years and access to the best resources and instructors! Unless she has a learning disability there is no excuse for Charlene not being very fluent in French at this point but at least Charlene at least UNDERSTANDS French even if she can't hold a conversation. What does the fact that Kate may never be princess of Wales have to do with her not taking the initiative to learn Welsh? Or Spanish or French? She is the only Royal princess in Europe besides Charlene who is not at least bi-lingual. Considering the education Kate was given and her position as future queen, that implies either lack of motivation or indifference, or a combination of the two.

Generally speaking, the British Royal Family scores pretty low when it comes to speaking foreign languages. Queen Elizabeth II speaks French, but William for example, who may be king one day, doesn't speak any foreign language fluently as far as I know. That may be surprising for someone who attended Eton and the University of St. Andrews, but I guess it has to do with the fact that the British school system does not place a great importance in foreign languages. In fact, if I understand it correctly, one is not required to take a foreign language in secondary school and, in university, one only takes courses related to his/her chosen major, which normally does not involve foreign language requirements either. Having said that, William could (or maybe should ?) have received private tutoring or taken a foreign language as one of his A-level options at school.

Going back to the original discussion, Kate is not a crown princess yet, but she will be one day. Compared to other current or former crown princesses in the continent like Maxima, Mary, Mathilde, Stéphanie or Letizia, Kate is probably the least qualified in academic or professional terms .
 
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I think it's wrong of people to assume Stephanie is childless because she wants to be. I have a SIL who is unable to have children, plus we are Catholic, there have been some hurtful comments/questions directed to both she and my BIL about it.

Really people need to just mind their own beeswax and when did it become okay to comment about people's private details like that?

I have friends with large families who have had complete strangers walk up to them in a store (their kids all in tow) and make comments about them being irresponsible or 'don't they know what causes that' etc etc.

I'm not that old...but it seems that nowdays people don't respect privacy like they used to when I was growing up.


LaRae


I agree. Stéphanie's lack of issue so far is off-topic here. Luxembourg has plenty of people anyway to ascend the throne if, for some hypothetical reason, Guillaume and Stéphanie never have children of their own.
 
I think the reason the British Royals don't put much emphasis on foreign languages is the empire and commonwealth were/are English speaking. I don't see too many American Presidents being multi lingual.

The only language other than English that was used by the BRF was German but that was because of family.

Kate is the first future Queen of England to hold a university degree. So she is certainly academically qualified. Lady Diana being 'noble' born didn't even pass her O levels despite sitting them twice.

As to the topic of the thread its clear being a noble or aristocratic doesn't give one a leg up over non aristocrats.
 
Pierre Casiraghi , whose italien grandfather had no background , whose Father was lucky handsome and ambitious , married the Princess of Monaco because she was pregnent of him, enters in the illoustrisme Famille Borromeo.
 
Since it's been stated that it's unfair to compare Stephanie to Mary, Maxima, etc. then I think the same holds true for Catherine. Not only is she not in the same position (Camilla is the next consort), but she's only been married 4 years. I imagine if you look at the accomplishments of any of the other women after 4 years, you'll find that they were still finding their footing in the royal world.

Princess Stephanie has also not been married nearly as long as any of her counterparts. How can she have reasonably accomplished as much as Mary, Letizia, Maxima...every one of them has had 10+ years to take the Royal world by storm whatever that even means. It's frankly absurd to compare the accomplishments of someone who has been married a couple of years to someone who has had over a DECADE to make her mark.

By all accounts, the citizens of the Grand Duchy are very proud of Stephanie according to a documentary that was produced about her in Luxembourg in June 2013. She picked up their difficult dialect in an amazingly short time. She has attracted none of the adverse publicity in Luxembourg that Mary and Kate have received due to clothes spending and excess holidays. Until she became queen last year Letizia seemed to struggle with her image and her press and had not taken even Spain by storm, let alone the entire Royal world.

If you are referring to public engagements she has attended, last year Luxarazzi listed data detailing first public appearances for each woman-commoner and noble who had married into a Royal family.

Luxarazzi : Stéphanie's First Solo Engagement

Less than a month after her wedding she accompanied Guillaume to the People's Republic of China on an economic mission, and her first solo engagement was roughly about the same point as when Letizia of Spain made hers...two years after marriage.

Especially when you take into account the size and population of the Grand Duchy in comparison to Denmark and the others and the fact that Luxembourg is a prosperous, small country with very few of the social and economic problems of the others, Stephanie's workload since her marriage has been more than adequate.(And for the record, she has more than one patronage as the information I gave you confirmed.)

As for the fact that she is childless, I am a woman whose inability to bear a biological child of my own has been one of the great heartaches of my life. I am not about to reproach Stephanie or ANY woman for that. Hopefully her situation will not be the same of mine.

As for learning languages? No it's not hard if you've had years and years and access to the best resources and instructors! Unless she has a learning disability there is no excuse for Charlene not being very fluent in French at this point but at least Charlene at least UNDERSTANDS French even if she can't hold a conversation. What does the fact that Kate may never be princess of Wales have to do with her not taking the initiative to learn Welsh? Or Spanish or French? She is the only Royal princess in Europe besides Charlene who is not at least bi-lingual. Considering the education Kate was given and her position as future queen, that implies either lack of motivation or indifference, or a combination of the two.

Stephanie might not be better than her peers at this very early point in her public career, but she is certainly not worse than any of them either.

Has it been stated that Kate isn't trying to learn Welsh? It's not a language that she needs to speak regularly out in public, so we have no idea if she has been taking lessons. Nor do we know if she is trying to learn another language.

I don't think having an aristocratic background makes one qualified, or any more special than those born without a title. The so called commoners that have recently married into the royal families (Letizia, Mary, Daniel, Kate, Maxima, etc), all seem to be doing well for their respective houses. In fact, they have done just as well as their aristocratic counterparts.
 
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The Duchess of Cornwall

Does Camilla speak Welsh?
 
A few words I think. Prince Charles had an Investiture ceremony at Caernarfon Castle in 1969 and received just enough instruction to be able to read out a prepared speech in Welsh. Even the Prince of Wales isn't fluent in Welsh despite decades in the role.
 
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Does Camilla speak Welsh?


I don't know, but I'd be surprised if she did. In fact, I don't think Charles speaks Welsh either. Keeping things in perspective though, only 20 % of population of Wales itself speaks Welsh as first language.

BTW, I know Charles got an A-Level in French at school with a grade C (not very stellar then), so I assume he must speak at least basic French . William's A-Levels were in geography , history of art and biology with grades A, B and C respectively, which makes him one of the best students in the Royal Family in recent times (compared e.g. to his father, brother and uncles), but far from academically gifted.

Also, on the topic of consorts, Camilla left school with O-levels only. In other words, she didn't even get a qualification that would have enabled her to apply to a university. Compared to Camilla, Kate's qualifications (a bachelor's degree in art history) are "outstanding".
 
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Yeees, but some of these comments were perhaps... slightly biased...
There are continuing and more objective analyzes of Mary's Danish in the DRF forum. - And not always that flattering.

There is also a You Tube video out there where Mary is giving a speech, not in Danish, and part way through she starts speaking Danish. That would seem to indicate that she is becoming much more adept in the language and is actually feeling like it is her language now.
 
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