What languages do the British Royals know?

[Madjenn]

Princess Alexandra speaks french, she learned it when she was in Paris in 50's.

[Lakshmi]

It's interesting to know that William and Harry learnt Latin at school. So few people learn this language today.

[Maxie]

Originally Posted by Lakshmi

It's interesting to know that William and Harry learnt Latin at school. So few people learn this language today.

Latin ... gives you a broad background which can help you understand the arts and other things in western culture a lot better.
Btw, when learning Latin you focus mainly on translating old texts, so I don't think they're fluent.

[altagrace]

I live in Canada and I can confirm that the Queen and Prince Phillip speak French well. The late Queen mother spoke it even better!

[BeatrixFan]

Prince and Princess Michael speak Russian - how do I know? Well, when I was at Angus Ogilvy's memorial service, they were standing a little way from me waiting to leave and they were chatting together in Russian so that little eavesdroppers like me couldn't tell what they were saying. They speak German and French apparantly.

[sydney00]

i think sophie also speaks french because she learnt it at school, wonder how fluent she still speaks, perhabps she became good in it again after marriying and meeting diferent people from all over the world

[srivishnu]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

Prince Michael speaks Russian or Polish or both, doesn't he?

It has been confirmed by The Office of HRH Prince Michael of Kent that apart from English,HRH Prince Michael of Kent can speak French, Russian, German and Italian.

[bleu roi]

When the Queen is shown on French television speaking French, it is curiously enough greeted with great pleasure and interest. The French upper classes speak French with an accent approaching the equivalent English one.

As great efforts are made by the French to speak English wherever possible (a point of pride), the fact that someone as important as the Queen reciprocates is truly appreciated. I get the feeling sometimes that the French really admire (and would wish to have) the English monarchy...

[magnik]

Can I ask what languages British royal from the past spoke?
F.ex. Kings George VI, Edward VII, VIII and Queens Victoria, Alexandra, Mary, Elizabeth (Queen Mother) etc. Anyone know that?

[Lozza]

The Queen would have some knowledge of German though wouldn't she? She was learning the language up until 1939 so she'd know the basics.

[Claire]

I think that Sophie also had a good knowledge of Welsh. Her father, uncle and brother are fluent - so I take the liberty to say that she probably knows it better than the Prince of Wales.
Edward and Sophie were taken refresher courses in Advance French at the Language Institute in London a few years ago.

[milla Ca]

Originally Posted by Lozza

The Queen would have some knowledge of German though wouldn't she? She was learning the language up until 1939 so she'd know the basics.

I don´t know if she has some knowledge in German, but when she was here some years ago for a state visit, i didn´t hear her speaking a word in German.
And i think if she could speak the language, she maybe has made a little speech in German.

I know that when Charles visited Hamburg many years ago, he made a speech in German, and i´ve also heard him reading his book ´The old man of Lochnagar´in German. I love it to hear his German...

[Anonymoose]

Originally Posted by magnik

Can I ask what languages British royal from the past spoke?
F.ex. Kings George VI, Edward VII, VIII and Queens Victoria, Alexandra, Mary, Elizabeth (Queen Mother) etc. Anyone know that?

For the first years of her life Victoria only spoke German (her mother was German and did not speak much English at the time), apparently this affected her speech and she still used strange idioms in later life.

Since the Hanovers were Germans the all spoke German (3 of George III's sons attended school in Hanover) and also French because that was the Court language at the time.

George IV could speak Italian as well.

I think most of the Royal family learnt German until the 1st World War when relations with Germany became extremely bad and George V changed the family name to Windsor.

[HRH_Liz]

Originally Posted by kelly9480

When did Harry take Spanish lessons? He definitely had Latin and French because Eton requires them. But I've never read anything about him having Spanish lessons.

Beatrice definitely had French because her school requires it. Eugenie probably took it though her school offers other languages. There's no reason to believe either Beatrice or Eugenie took Latin. Neither of their schools (St George's and Marlborough) require it.

I am still new and learing. Can you please tell me what is Eton? Is that the school that Harry attended? Thanks

[magnik]

Originally Posted by HRH_Liz

I am still new and learing. Can you please tell me what is Eton? Is that the school that Harry attended? Thanks

The King's College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is an internationally renowned public school (privately funded and independent) for male students, founded in 1440 by Henry VI.
It is located in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor in England, situated north of Windsor Castle, and is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868.

http://www.etoncollege.com/Splash.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eton_College

[lilytornado]

What languages does Camilla speak?

[lord_rankin]

While researching information for George V I learned that he knew no other languages fluently the closest he came to one was German because his father and Grand mother spoke it like natives according to Kaiser Wilhelm II's friend Eulenburg.

[BeatrixFan]

Camilla speaks English and French, I'm not sure what other languages she speaks though.

[kpusa1981]

Originally Posted by chrissy57

I went looking a bit further and came up with the following site:

http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/prin...8_15_eton.html

According to this information his GSCEs were in

French, Latin, Biology, English, English Literature, Geography, History, Spanish, Maths and Additional French. The Prince also studied Divinity, Chemistry and Physics, along with courses in Art, Music and Design, as well as PE.

Additional French?
I didn't know they anything called additional French, however I know they have further maths. I always thought he the two Foriegn Languages and Latin, English, English Literture, Geography, History, Maths and further Maths.

[coco]

Does anybody know which languages Diana spoke?
Did she speak french too? And maybe german?
I think she spoke french . . .