Languages of the Royal Family


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
saloua said:
i think the royal familly speak frensh english and spanish those are the perfect spoken language plus arabic wish is the first .

Hi saloua we're talking here about the Greek royal family :) ...
 
laskaris said:
Greek is Her native language-doesn't count-so,English,Spanish,Danish,Italian,French and as I heard in this forum arabic and japanese:D :eek:
Why is Greek her native language? She's Danish and English. She never lived in Greece.
 
Obviously King Constantine speaks Greek natively, and Queen Anne Marie adopted the language as her own. It is a widely known fact that all the royal children were brought up speaking Greek. They even went to Greek schools in England. So their native language is very much Greek with English as a very proficient second language.
 
I find it hard to believe QA adopted Greek as her own when she lived in Greece for what--3 years?
 
Living or not living in a place doesn't have to mean the difference in knowing or not knowing a language. I haven't lived in my homeland for most of my life, but my family still speaks our native language at home. Besides, all members of the royal familiy have said in interviews that they speak Greek at home.

Also, if you look at the interview I translated on another thread in this forum, you'll see that QAM gave the interview in Greek!
 
Bubbette said:
Why is Greek her native language? She's Danish and English. She never lived in Greece.

Her Highness is Greece Herself. Do you want more prooves??
 
Yes, she is part Danish. That really has nothing to do with what languages she knows. Greek is her native language whether or not you personally consider the Greek Royal Family Greek.
 
Yeah, and the rest of her is German and English. So my question remains unanswered---why would she speak Greek? She's lived in London most of her life.
 
Why German. German was almost forbidden at the danish court after 2. world war.
at court they spoke danish and english and when the got married she learned greek.
why is that so hard to understand.

Betina
 
Since MC spent the early years of her life in Hong Kong does she speak Chinese?
 
Your native language or "mother tongue" is what you grew up hearing and speaking. What you spoke first. I have no doubt that the Greek Royal family brought up their children to speak Greek as their "first" or native language even thought they have spent most of their lives outside of Greece. You have to remember that their is still a faint glimmer of hope, however unlikely, that they will regain the throne. She the King and Queen have prepared their children for this. Even though it will never happen. They also still have ties to the nation of Greece even thought they were exiled. NOw they visit and plan to buy homes there as private citizens. So it will come in handy!

As far as learing Arabic. Considering how close Greece is to the Middle East it makes sense to be able to communicate in that language. Also, haven't Greece and Turkey been at odds over land in the past? It would make sense to learn it for that reason.

As far as Queen Anne Marie and the King saying they are Greek, blood IMO does not make you a nationality alone. They came to Greece and choose to learn the language live there and adopt the lifestyle. That IMO makes them Greek.

Maybe my opinion of this is different being American with all of our nationalities, even my own blood is a mix. My grandfather came from Germany and said if a country like America is good enough to take you in you owe it to that nation to become one of them. Which is true. He came to America, learned the language, worked his way up etc. I have no doubt that when Anne Marie came to Greece she embarked upon her Greek life. She was no longer a Dane.

After all, the English royal family was primarly of German decent. Prince William will be the first King to have a decenct amount of "English/British" blood in him. Mainly b/c of his mother Diana. Does that make him less of a citizen of the UK? Nope. Is Princess Maxima or Alexandra or Mary less citizens of their nations b/c they were not born there? No, while they may retain some of their former nations in them, the have embraced their new national identies.
 
Fashionista100 said:
After all, the English royal family was primarly of German decent. Prince William will be the first King to have a decenct amount of "English/British" blood in him. Mainly b/c of his mother Diana. Does that make him less of a citizen of the UK? Nope. Is Princess Maxima or Alexandra or Mary less citizens of their nations b/c they were not born there? No, while they may retain some of their former nations in them, the have embraced their new national identies.

What about the mother of queen Elizabeth 1. Her mother was english to
 
Another reason might be because "King" Constantine was offered to keep his citizenship but only if he were to agree to live like an average citizen and he did not want to do that. If he loved Greece as much as he says he does he would have taken the offer. Had he not tried to intervene with the government in the first place none of that would have happened.
 
I recall reading somewhere that Queen Anne-Marie really can't speak any Greek, at least not with any degree of fluency. Greek is a trés difficile language, remember.
As far as MC and her kids speaking Greek- please. I can't see it.
 
Well for quite a long time, Hong Kong was a protectorate (?) under the United Kingdom, so I am sure a great deal of English coudl be accessed.

marezdote said:
Since MC spent the early years of her life in Hong Kong does she speak Chinese?
 
She can speak Greek too....

She said a few words on T.V recently!!The accent was erasmian though!:D
 
I think MC speaks French too. She went to a bilingual boarding school.
 
As far as I know...

she speaks French,Italian,Chinese(mandarin version),Greek (Erasmian).Ithink it's enough for her bussiness:D :D
 
MC went to Le Rosey boarding school in switzerland ,but the students don't come out of there speaking french,they can probably order a cafe but that is about it.Lady Diana went there as well.She wasn't bilingual by a long shot.As for her speaking Greek ,I have a feeling that she knows some phrases but that is a long way from being fluent.
 
cuervo said:
she speaks French,Italian,Chinese(mandarin version),Greek (Erasmian).Ithink it's enough for her bussiness:D :D


she speaks Mandrain? that's quite impossible...unless she has private lessons....because in Hong Kong...most people speak Cantonese not Mandrain! and given that she was raised in HK until she was 10 years of age....during the 1970's.....ppl hardly speak mandrain in HK unless they immigrated from mainland china to hk...
 
bigheadshirmp said:
she speaks Mandrain? that's quite impossible...unless she has private lessons....because in Hong Kong...most people speak Cantonese not Mandrain! and given that she was raised in HK until she was 10 years of age....during the 1970's.....ppl hardly speak mandrain in HK unless they immigrated from mainland china to hk...


lolololol That is what I heard too!She probably forsaw that China would be 'free market one day!!!lololol ...but I dont think that there is so big difference between Cantonese and Mandarin version..lololol As a matter of act,is like the Greek version of greek language and Cypriot version..lololol
 
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There is a big difference between Mandarin and Cantonese,most expats who lived in Hong Kong never learned the language as there wasn't any need because english was spoken in most places.There are British schools ,clubs etc and the western expats for the most part hang around together.MC only speaks english.
 
marlene said:
MC went to Le Rosey boarding school in switzerland ,but the students don't come out of there speaking french,they can probably order a cafe but that is about it.Lady Diana went there as well.She wasn't bilingual by a long shot.As for her speaking Greek ,I have a feeling that she knows some phrases but that is a long way from being fluent.

Rosey is a childrens co-ed school 10-19 in Gstaad that formerly had a less than spectacular accademic rep but it has worked hard to change this perception.
Diana went to Videmanette school in Rougemant/D'oex after her O'Levels at an English school(spelling not sure). It was on the way up from Montreaux before you get to Gstaad. It was a girls only finishing school and closed in the 90's.
 
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According to the IOC website, King Constantine speakes Greek, English, and German.
 
Queen Anne Marie definitely speaks fluent Greek and her older children do too. She stated in an article that she would only speak Greek with the children (Alexia, Pavlos, and Nikos) when they were growing up. She also added that from the moment she got married, she totally immersed herself in being Greek and she wanted her children to be Greek. So I don't know about the younger children (or MC), but the King, Queen, and three eldest children all speak fluent Greek.
 
Anne Marie went to school in Switzerland, so I think she must speak French. I think she was there twice at school, once as teenager and then one year before she married. Or was the first of her schools an English school? But even so, I think one learns something of other languages.
Alexia must speak Spain, she lives there.

Princess Christina of Spain can speak Greek, I think. Didn't she go to the Greek School in London with Alexia?
 
Marie-Chantal probably speaks some French, enough to make basic conversation. She does speak some Greek, according to someone who saw her in a restaurant in Greece following a conversation (Pavlos had to translate some of the harder words and sentences).

Sofia allegedly taught all of her kids some basic Greek, though how fluent they are is up for debate.

The Danish Royal Court operates in French (see their menus and invitations), so Anne-Marie must speak some French.

All of Constantine's kids must speak Greek, the HC of London teaches the language, and they would have heard it at home. So Pavlos' kids must speak Greek, too, since they go to the HC.
 
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