Royal Voices & Accents

[Countessmeout]

Its natural, you tend to pick up the accent of the person teaching you. When I lived in Cuba, I had to laugh. I came home and there was a nice gentleman in the kitchen. He spoke English with a heavy English accent but he had some odd Jamaican slang thrown in. I found out he was my Cuban abuelo. He spent seven years living in Jamaica, so while he had picked up the phrases and slang of Jamaica, his accent came from the little British women who taught him.

Margrethe not only went to boarding school in England but later studied at Cambridge and London school of economics. Not only would majority of her teachers been British, but her fellow students as well.

Her mother may have been half English but she spoke Swedish around her daughter. I have read where she said that her Swedish was awful, visiting her cousins, until Benedikte was in the hospital and her nanny was with her. She spent more time with her mother then usual, and her Swedish improved.

 

[IloveCP]

I have never heard princess Haya speak

 

[Rudolph]

From today’s engagement in Scotland

Meghan Markle pronounces scone like the British | Daily Mail Online

 

[Curbside]

In England, I was told I was pronouncing "duty" incorrectly.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught addressed the British Legion in 1936.

Emperor Wilhelm II's speech about the First World War

Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia's 1932 Fox Movietone News interview

Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians
https://www.facebook.com/queenElisabeth/videos/vb343775275798649/470816586427850

 

[Mbruno]

Queen Máxima's accent seems to have gotten worse over the last years. Of course, she had s strong accent when she was learning Dutch (and our double vowels must have been a nightmare to learn), later she seemed to be doing better but in recent years she might have become lazier as both her accent and grammatical mistakes are quite obvious.

Who speaks her adoptive language better ? Máxima Zorreguieta or Mary Donaldson ? The native speakers on TRF tell us that both royal ladies, in addition to having a foreign accent (which is to be expected), also make grammatical mistakes in spontaneous speech.



Comparing Danish, English and Dutch :


1) Danish is harder than Dutch in terms of noun morphology and noun agreement (but not quite as hard as Swedish, I think). Both languages are harder than English though in that category.


2) Dutch is harder than Danish (and English) in terms of verb morphology and word order.



3) Danish is harder than Dutch as far as pronunciation is concerned. Dutch spelling is also easier (more phonemic) than Danish spelling. English spelling on the other hand is notoriously difficult (perhaps the toughest category in the English language).



4) Dutch is closer to English in vocabulary than Danish. Partial intelligibility of Dutch, but not of Danish, should be possible for someone who speaks both English and German, but not for someone who speaks English alone.


Overall then, for someone who is a native speaker of English (like Mary Donaldson) or is a proficient L2 speaker of English (like Máxima), learning Dutch should be easier than learning Danish,although both languages would be non-trivial/hard to learn properly. In that sense, Máxima would have an advantage over Mary.


Máxima was also, I believe, more experienced in learning other languages. She is a native Spanish speaker who had already learned another European language (English) from a different branch than her own, and a third European language (French) from the same branch as Spanish.

 

[Leopoldine]

[...]

Queen Mary's voice and accent surprised me. I was sure she would have had a higher and perhaps huskier voice from smoking. I was also led to believe she had a hint of a German accent but I don't detect it in this recording.

[...]

 

[CyrilVladisla]

King Simeon of Bulgaria

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria spoke in favor of a military fund established for Austrian widows and orphans December 14, 1915

 

[Blog Real]

Queen Amelia of Portugal:

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Why Prince William and Prince Henry's accents are different from King Charles III

 

[SLV]

Why Prince William and Prince Henry's accents are different from King Charles III

Very interesting. It seems as if I speak neither. People tell me, I speak BBC-english. So, what did I learn in my Dutch highschool?

 

[Katymcwaity]

Very interesting. It seems as if I speak neither. People tell me, I speak BBC-english. So, what did I learn in my Dutch highschool?

Most people seem to have an American accent nowadays when they have learnt English as a second language. I watched a video of crown princess Victoria the other day and she has a twang. I guess it’s the influence of tv and films with alot coming from the US?I love the fact that I went to Denmark and the us tv shows I saw weren’t dubbed, it must a great learning tool in some ways.

 

[SLV]

Speaking American English was not allowed on my school. One of my classmates had a Scottish grandfather, but was called out for using the accent, it sounded too American. Only 'proper' English allowed. We were taught to speak all syllabes and letters, no swallowing like KC and PW do.

 

[Katymcwaity]

Speaking American English was not allowed on my school. One of my classmates had a Scottish grandfather, but was called out for using the accent, it sounded too American. Only 'proper' English allowed. We were taught to speak all syllabes and letters, no swallowing like KC and PW do.

My Yorkshire accent would be no good then especially when I say I am going t’shop or t’pub!

 

[Lilyflo]

I find it quite amusing that William's diction is quite sloppy, whereas Catherine's is precise. I don't know how they've arrived at that difference, given that William's parents were aristocracy/royalty and Catherine's are working/middle class. Perhaps she had elocution lessons as a child because I don't think it's a Marlborough College effect (I've heard several ex-pupils with sloppy diction).

 

[Prinsara]

It's because William is a prince that he can speak however he wants (except not RP like his father; he would have been seen as hopelessly out of touch and mercilessly ridiculed all through school). Catherine is very careful with how she speaks because she's a middle-class commoner who married the heir and got enough snobbery for it. She can't afford to sound less-polished the way William can.

 

[SLV]

My Yorkshire accent would be no good then especially when I say I am going t’shop or t’pub!

It would have been interesting to have you in class. [emoji38]
I can't even pronounce the words the way you say it.
I have always found it strange that our teacher was so difficult about it, we were Dutch, so would always have an accent anyway.
But then, that particular student and teacher never did get along.


I seem to recollect that Catherine got speech lessons after her engagement/marriage. In order to better hold speeches. Perhaps pronunciation was one aspect of it.

 

[Lilyflo]

I seem to recollect that Catherine got speech lessons after her engagement/marriage. In order to better hold speeches. Perhaps pronunciation was one aspect of it.

She might have had help with speeches but it was at the engagement interview that William's and Catherine's difference in accent was so noticeable to me. I was surprised that she sounded more royal than he did, given her background.

 

[Tirilschatz]

I have to say, I hardly understand her when she speaks, and normally I don't have any problems with accents.

 

[Alison H]

My Yorkshire accent would be no good then especially when I say I am going t’shop or t’pub!

I'm with you - same with my Manchester accent!

People who are trying to sound upper class usually sound more upper class than those who genuinely are, because they try so hard. Margaret Thatcher, daughter of a grocer, had elocution lessons and really overdid the Received Pronunciation accent. It's the same as with clothes - Princess Anne is often seen in a headscarf and old wellies, because she doesn't have to prove anything to anyone, but Catherine always looks immaculate. William possibly speaks "less posh" deliberately, to sound like a man of the people, and he can do that because he doesn't have to prove his social class.

 

[Toledo]

I was going to ask if Queen Mary had a German accent or if she was raised with English alongside German and found the info she was actually born and raised in England, not in Teck.

 

[Blog Real]

Voices of 6 British monarchs:

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Queen Elizabeth II of England spoke French to the French Senate on her State Visit to France in 2004.

 

[Blog Real]

In this video we can hear the voice of Pierre Casiraghi: