Most and Least Intelligent Royals

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Good gracious just answer the question or don't. Whatever you define as smart educated or books smart then answer it that way. Why all this debate over what this or that means.

 

[QueenJen]

I'm wondering too, if part of what should be looked at as far as who is the smartest - is who is the wisest? You can have someone who is intelligent, book smart and maybe even have some common sense, but when put all together, make some really no-so-smart decisions. I think that's where wisdom comes in.

 

[dbarn67]

Common sense is the most important. It is also important as to how these people's intelligence is used to improve their country. That is their job after all. I think it's ridiculous that many of the royal houses are paid millions of dollars and most of what they do is fluff. They should be doing things like promoting their countries around the world. eg. trying to attract tourists and promoting industry.

I think that's the purpose of most of the royals. It's a matter of how successful they are at attracting tourism and commerce. By it's very nature and it's known history the British royals are the most successful...but does that make any of the more intelligent than the mother royal families?

 

[tommy100]

I think its fair to say Prince Harry is not academic but that doesn't necessarily make him not so smart,

 

[American Dane]

you will have to excuse me, but to me teaching your own native language is no particular sign of smartness.

So teaching those of potentially multiple different native tongues and explaining the rules of a new language to them does not require brains? Hmm.. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people who would disagree with you.
One has to be able to understand both the verbal and non-verbal idiosyncrasies of whatever language their student speaks and then teach them a new set of rules of grammar, new vocabulary, and perhaps difficult pronunciation when they are already past the age where this comes naturally to them.
Teaching English as a foreign language to adults is much more difficult than you assume.

 

[Lee-Z]

And the reason I mentioned Carl Philip's shyness is because IME sometimes shy people are perceived as being unintelligent

Funny imo the shy ones are often the intelligent ones..

 

[blauerengel]

There are definitely different perceptions of people- for instance there are a lot of people who believe Prince Charles to be a little bit "dumb" because he did not acchieve impressive grades and academic laurels,but on the other hand you have a lot of people who are impressed with his knowledge about agriculture,history,art etc.

I would also agree that smart people are often more reserved and less talkative,but we also see highly intelligent people who are articulate and socially active. It probably depends on the personality and character wheter one enjoys talking a lot and standing in the spotlight. What we have to keep in mind is that a lot of highly intellectual people are introverted and therefore they rather prefer to keep a low profile and only talk when it is necessary.

 

[eya]

"From multilingual Queen Mathilde of Belgium, a former speech therapist who has a masters degree in psychology to Queen Maxima of The Netherlands who held high ranking positions at big banks, these women have very impressive academic credentials and career achievements."

Europe's very clever queens put UK royals in the shade | Daily Mail Online

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[Duc_et_Pair]

One of the most gifted certainly was the late Prince Friso: academic degree in Mechanical Engineering (Berkeley University, United States), academic degree in Economics (Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands), academic degree in Aeronautical Engineering (Technical University Delft, the Netherlands), post-academic degree in Business Administration (INSEAD Fontainebleau, France). As he was second in line, he took courses in Law as well (Leyden University, the Netherlands), for the eventuality that his brother Willem-Alexander would drop out of the succession.

 

[Countessmeout]

The European royals don't even start to compare to ,any of their middle eastern and Asian counterparts when it comes to education levels. You will find multiple masters and doctorates in many houses.

But for Europeans, the Dutch have definitely done a good job like eith Friso in ensuring younger kids are educated and set for private lives.

 

[Marty91charmed]

I've always been of the opinion that intellingece and education are two separate entities. The don't always go together.

 

[Lee-Z]

I've always been of the opinion that intellingece and education are two separate entities. The don't always go together.

Agreed, more education does not automatically mean more intelligent

 

[Denville]

Of course they are separate things.. but without a certain level of intelligence, its unlikely that someone can benefit from education beyond a certain level. If someone is very limited in brain power, there's no point in tehm going to college

 

[Marty91charmed]

Agreed, more education does not automatically mean more intelligent

Thank you. I think it is very hard to dispute which royal is the more intellingent as intelligence encompasses many traits. In my opinion, you can make such a claim only if you know personally all the royals.

 

[Muhler]

I've always been of the opinion that intellingece and education are two separate entities. The don't always go together.

You are absolutely right.

To quote the late author Arthur C. Clarke: An intellectual: Someone who has been educated above his/her intelligence.

 

[Anfisa]

Unless we have the IQ scores of every royal then theres no way to determine this and IQ isn't all that predictive of intelligence anways

 

[Livia]

King Felipe has a law degree and some economy studies, and he made a Master of Science in Foreign Service , he studied this at Georgetown with his cousin Crown Prince Pavlos, they even shared rooms. I read sometime ago King Felipe has a high IQ.

Anyway the degree they have is not an indicative of the IQ, for example, Queen Letizia was journalist but maybe she has more IQ than Queen Máxima who was economist or vice versa, CP Mette-Marit has more IQ than CP Mary for example....

I think the actual royals are very well prepared but the most prepared of all of them is King Felipe.

 

[Countessmeout]

Yes education is not the only sign of intelligence. But it is a pretty good one. You aren't going to get into a phd program if you're not intelligent.

Since we can't ask for iq scores, education really is the only thing we can base the question on.

Social and street smarts are another matter. Just as hard to judge not actually knowing a person. But that's not really intelligence.

 

[Marty91charmed]

You are absolutely right.

To quote the late author Arthur C. Clarke: An intellectual: Someone who has been educated above his/her intelligence.

I think, in fact, that people who are inclined towards an education/more academic studies, sport more of a skill that intelligence per se.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Good gracious, just saw a list of the BRF education and it just doesn't compare to The Netherlands and Asia. And please don't pull the "education doesn't equate intelligence" PC hyperbole. Whats even more funny are the people who try to defend QE2's lack of knowledge and education.

 

[O-H Anglophile]

Degrees are not everything. Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, among others, were poor students.
And even though Queen Elizabeth II was privately educated, many of her tutors were acclaimed professors.

 

[Iluvbertie]

The Queen may have not had what by today's standards is a less than stellar education but to say she has a 'lack of knowledge' is a bit strong. She has had contact with the greatest minds of the 2nd half of the 20th century and has been involved with the major decisions made in the world in that time. She would have the widest knowledge of world events since the mid-1940s when she started being briefed on British and world affairs.

Her education was specific to what she needed as a constitutional monarch.

As for the education of the BRF. They have degrees to a large extent in areas of interest. I know many people look down on people with History/History of Art/History of Ideas/Geography degrees - but as a person with exactly that I find that offensive.

 

[Curryong]

I think there has been an interesting discussion on this thread as to how intelligence is to be defined and measured and categorised.

As for Queen Elizabeth II, it is true that she did not attend university. Princess Margaret later complained that she and her sister did not receive a very rounded education and that she would have quite liked to have gone to boarding school. However the decision to have her daughters educated by a governess was taken by the Queen Mother and was the usual upper class one of the time. Surely the Queen isn't to blame for her mother's parenting decisions made in the 1930's? It was also very unusual for women in any Royal family to attend university 70 or more years ago, especially in wartime.

Having said that, people are usually surprised by the breadth of knowledge on many subjects that the Queen possesses. She is very well-travelled, and on track with current and political affairs, and several foreign, Commonwealth and British statesmen and women have said so. Private diaries of senior politicians have also attested to the Queen's knowledge. She's used her skills several times at CHOGM meetings, for instance.

What links can you give us, Xenia, that illustrate the Queen's 'lack of knowledge', in your opinion, on any occasion?

 

[camelot23ca]

I think education with royalty is more loosely correlated with IQ/intelligence than it is with the general population. Which is not to say that some royals aren't very smart. But, especially for the prestigious American universities, they're not put in the same applicant pool as some random whip smart kid from Indiana. There would have had to have been something extremely off, for example, for Georgetown not to accept Pavlos and especially Felipe.

It's like Malia Obama going to Harvard. Is she actually smart? Probably, given that both her parents are smart and she's been given every educational opportunity. Would she get in even if she was weak compared to the general Harvard applicant pool? Of course she would. The same goes for the billionaire's kid from Hong Kong, the kid from old money whose family has been donating to the school since it was founded, etc.

 

[Al_bina]

"From multilingual Queen Mathilde of Belgium, a former speech therapist who has a masters degree in psychology to Queen Maxima of The Netherlands who held high ranking positions at big banks, these women have very impressive academic credentials and career achievements."

Europe's very clever queens put UK royals in the shade | Daily Mail Online

​

Queen Mathilde's academic achievements and knowledge of four languages are impressive.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

I will only say this regarding Elizabeth IIs job, meeting people and being a constitutional monarch doesn't equate knowledge or intelligence; shes a constitutional monarch only leaving the heavy lifting to others.
And Albert Einstien proved his intelligence by teaching himself and bypassing even the masters of his day. Just because Einstein didn't go to college does not negate a college education and that the pursuit of it at least shows a thirst for knowledge and a curiosity about the world. It is a fact that the Queen and her sister were badly educated, whether they were empty headed we will never know.
That list of Queen's of Europe doesn't take into account the Prince's who are also greatly educated, even the ones born royal.
@Curryong, its not just university that is related to her lack of education but a bad formal education as well, looking at the things she was taught as a child. Were the other monarchs around Elizabeth's age so badly educated? I know her mother, father, and grandfather weren't very much into books. But I'm going to go look into Margrethe etc.
No I don't blame Elizabeth for her mother and fathers choices, but I don't see pointing out how lacking her education is compared to others is somehow blaming her.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Degrees are not everything. Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, among others, were poor students.

So somehow that translates into school and education are pointless? Geniuses that can bypass formal education are rare and for every 1 Einstein there are 12000 students who need teaching to further their education.

Sorry for my rant, but I'm just looking at stats of my countries intelligence and education of are children and I am seriously bummed. I just feel I I've in a society that no longer values learning.

 

[MARG]

I totally agree. The frame of reference here is "Most and Least Intelligent Royals". We would do well to remember that and not disrespect royals who don't have a BA, MA, a Doctorate, or multiples thereof.

I would think that HM's years of studying Socio-Economics, International Affairs and Diplomacy alone have more than qualified her for a Doctorate or two! It's a pity she would not accept an honorary degree or three.

Once upon a time nurses used to start at the bottom and both work and study in a hospital, progressing and examined in both written and practical exams. Now they are University qualified and more and more they are finding that fresh out of University they are not much use on a Ward. They lack the depth of knowledge and experience that on-the-job-training provided. They are considering crash courses of OJT to try to make up that difference before they let someone "qualified" loose in a Ward. Going backwards so to speak.

The rebuild after the earthquake here meant many national and international workers were required and while some had degrees they were virtually unskilled while others had degrees that they attained after first finishing a good old-fashioned, Apprenticeship and they were golden.

Defining how "Intelligent" any royal is or isn't is a sheer impossibility as we do not even have their basic IQ to start with. Worse, many people are far smarter than their formal education would suggest. They can also be far denser!

What I am trying to say is that regardless of how "educated" you are or are not, it does not necessarily equate to your level of intelligence.

 

[O-H Anglophile]

So somehow that translates into school and education are pointless? Geniuses that can bypass formal education are rare and for every 1 Einstein there are 12000 students who need teaching to further their education.

Sorry for my rant, but I'm just looking at stats of my countries intelligence and education of are children and I am seriously bummed. I just feel I I've in a society that no longer values learning.

I never said education was pointless. People can be educated or educate themselves in many ways other than formal schooling. I only said degrees are not everything in determining intelligence.

And how are problems with formal educational institutions and educating young people in this day and age have anything to do with the education attained by any prince or princess?

 

[Curryong]

Xenia, Queen Margrethe went to university, in the 1950's. She is also about 20 years younger than Queen Elizabeth.

Constitutional monarchs don't remain dumb (in the sense of not speaking out to PM's and Ministers of the Crown) and powerless, at least in the UK. Queen Elizabeth has shown considerable skill in dealing with politicians over the years and has played a part more than once at CHOGM at times of crisis.

As well as lessons from her governess the Queen took twice weekly lessons in Constitutional History in the 1940's from a very distinguished scholar, Sir Henry Marten, who was Vice Provost of Eton College.

She also took lessons at the same time from Viscountess de Bellaigne, who was no doubt responsible for the Queen's flawless French. The Viscountess taught Elizabeth and Margaret French, French literature and European history.