What Languages Do The Royals Speak?

[lucien]

All Dutch Royals,as well as most of their 'subjects'..are polyglotts.

Except english,german,french which all speak affluent,Italian & Spanish are the other favorites in the RF,and without the fat accent as some here call it...Now,..how,many languages does any of you speak...without a fat accent that is..?..

[ANNIE_S]

Originally Posted by lucien

Now,..how,many languages does any of you speak...without a fat accent that is..?..

None, not even Spanish

[CanRoyal]

Originally Posted by sarahedwards2

Princess Anne speaks French; she took it at boarding school and the summer she turned 19.

Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, as reported here, speak French very well. Their children, Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward all speak, at the very least, passable French.

This is because of the BRFs (includes the Queen Mother) strong ties to Canada - which has 2 official languages, English and French.

It's likely that the Queen has 'strongly encouraged' all of her grandchildren to have a real grounding in French as well - William spoke it passably during the 2011 tour of Canada.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs2YfA1D4ns

[BrazilianEmpire]

All members of the Brazilian Imperial Family are poliglots. I believe this is a consequence of still having Dynastic Marriages. It's easier to learn of foreign language when your family members come from Royal Houses from all over Europe.

Prince Luiz, Head of the Brazilian Imperial House, speaks Portuguese, French, German, Spanish, Italian and English.

[tdarlene]

I wonder which languages does Queen Sofia of Spain speak with her siblings. With King Contantine probably in english and greek, and with Princess Irene spanish and greek. Does anyone have any idea what languages this family speaks?

[Iluvbertie]

With Charles and Anne the fact that they speak French has nothing to do with the association with Canada but the fact that at the time they were at school all well-educated children learnt French. Andrew also certainly studied French at school.

I had a friend, in the mid-70s, who spent the first three years of her high school life at school in the UK and she told us that French was a compulsory subject in English schools at the time - she had been studying it for 7 years when she arrived to join us who had been studying it only for 2 and she was probably better than our teacher in many ways. As the Queen's children overlaps mine due to me being agewise between Anne and Andrew I believe that they would have studied it at school because they had to do so.

[Ish]

Originally Posted by CanRoyal

Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, as reported here, speak French very well. Their children, Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward all speak, at the very least, passable French.

This is because of the BRFs (includes the Queen Mother) strong ties to Canada - which has 2 official languages, English and French.

It's likely that the Queen has 'strongly encouraged' all of her grandchildren to have a real grounding in French as well - William spoke it passably during the 2011 tour of Canada.

Canada has only officially been bilingual since 1982. The decision to learn French prior to then amongst both Canadians and the BRF was not mandatory, nor necessarily a concession to French Canadians.

The BRF's French language skills are more likely owing to the fact that French was a traditional language to learn for the upper classes.

[CanRoyal]

Originally Posted by Ish

Canada has only officially been bilingual since 1982. The decision to learn French prior to then amongst both Canadians and the BRF was not mandatory, nor necessarily a concession to French Canadians.

The BRF's French language skills are more likely owing to the fact that French was a traditional language to learn for the upper classes.

The Official Languages Act of 1969 gave English and French equal status in the government of Canada, making them "official" languages. First paragraph here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officia...s_Act_(Canada)

And nowhere in my previous post did I say that speaking French was a concession to French Canadians or mandated by anyone in the BRF. I stated only that the Queen's children speak French and that French language skills were likely "strongly encouraged" by the Queen.

[Iluvbertie]

Originally Posted by CanRoyal

The Official Languages Act of 1969 gave English and French equal status in the government of Canada, making them "official" languages. First paragraph here: Official Languages Act (Canada) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And nowhere in my previous post did I say that speaking French was a concession to French Canadians or mandated by anyone in the BRF. I stated only that the Queen's children speak French and that French language skills were likely "strongly encouraged" by the Queen.

This is what you wrote in your earlier post #383

This is because of the BRFs (includes the Queen Mother) strong ties to Canada - which has 2 official languages, English and French.

clearly implying that the reason the BRF learnt French was due to their ties with Canada and its 2 official languages.

[sancakli70]

What about the egypt royals in the time when they reign ? the family was albanian/turkish but mostly turkish and the country was arab. İ heard that the last kink farouk fluent turkish french and english speak but arab ?? any idea
queen farida was with turkish roots and she was perfect speak turkish

[sancakli70]

-MEMber of the ottoman imperial family is difficult, only a few can speak turkish mostly they speak french or english some arab
- on the video of prince rashid of jordandms wedding speak the 4year old daughter of prince hashim english, did they mean that she can not speak arab or that her first language is english ?

[Prinsessan]

Originally Posted by CanRoyal

Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, as reported here, speak French very well. Their children, Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward all speak, at the very least, passable French.

This is because of the BRFs (includes the Queen Mother) strong ties to Canada - which has 2 official languages, English and French.

It's likely that the Queen has 'strongly encouraged' all of her grandchildren to have a real grounding in French as well - William spoke it passably during the 2011 tour of Canada.

Honestly I don't think William "spoke French quite passably" in this video, he read most of it from his notes and has a strong accent.

Here's a video of Willem-Alexander speaking some German and Maxima speaking English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZtA7sr-CDw

[miche]

He also read his speech in English from a note, most of the BRF do.

[NGalitzine]

Originally Posted by Iluvbertie

With Charles and Anne the fact that they speak French has nothing to do with the association with Canada but the fact that at the time they were at school all well-educated children learnt French. Andrew also certainly studied French at school.

I had a friend, in the mid-70s, who spent the first three years of her high school life at school in the UK and she told us that French was a compulsory subject in English schools at the time - she had been studying it for 7 years when she arrived to join us who had been studying it only for 2 and she was probably better than our teacher in many ways. As the Queen's children overlaps mine due to me being agewise between Anne and Andrew I believe that they would have studied it at school because they had to do so.

Actually there is a Canadian connection. HM used to bring young officers from the Royal 2nd Regiment, aka the Van Doos, a famous French Canadian army regiment over to Balmoral to spend time with her children and teach them French.

[blauerengel]

Originally Posted by Prinsessan

Here's a video of Willem-Alexander speaking some German and Maxima speaking English.

OMG,I didn´t know that Willem-Alexander speaks German!He could easily pass as a national, he has no accent,good pronounciation and a nice voice!
Maxima is also gifted for language and obviously well-trained,I have read that the school she went to was emphasizing foreign languages and encouraged the students to learn the languages well!Congratulations to both of them,hopefully they will pass on their language talent to their daughters

[ANNIE_S]

I think I´ve said this before, but I like W-A voice very much. It´s...sexy

[Avicenna]

Originally Posted by blauerengel

OMG,I didn´t know that Willem-Alexander speaks German!He could easily pass as a national, he has no accent,good pronounciation and a nice voice!
...

Well, he had a German father and probably some other relatives, too. Plus Germany is a neighbour of the Netherlands. Therefor it would have surprised me, if he hadn't picked it up.

[Avicenna]

Originally Posted by Thtregoddess11

Monaco:
Albert: English, French, German, Italian and lang moneguse
Jazmin, Albert's oldest child: English, French?, Fijian?
Alexandre, Albert's oldest son: French, English?
Caroline: English, French, Italian, German & Spanish
Andrea: English, French, Italian, some German,possibly Spanish/Portuguse as well (Santo Domingo/Dellal influence)
Charlotte: French, English, shy in Italian, some german, possibly Spanish/Portuguse as well (Santo Domingo/Dellal influence)
Pierre: French, Italian, English, some German, possibly Spanish/Portuguse as well (Santo Domingo/Dellal influence)
Alexandra: French, English, German, and is likely learning Spanish, Italian or Moneguse in school
Stephanie: English, French, Italian
Louis: French, English, Italian
Pauline: French, English, maybe Italian
Camille: French, English, and learning either German, Italian or Spanish in school
Christian de Massy: French, English, Spanish?
Cecile de Massy: French, English
Keith-Sebastien Knecht de Massy: French, English, Italian
Donatella Knecht de Massy: French, English, Italian
Christine Knecht de Massy: French, English, Italian, and learning either German, Italian or Spanish in school
Alexia Knecht de Massy: French, English, Italian, and learning either German, Italian or Spanish in school
Vittoria Knecht de Massy: French, English, Italian, and learning either German, Italian or Spanish in school
Andrea Knecht de Massy: French, English, Italian, and learning either German, Italian or Spanish in school
Brice de Massy: French, english
Antoine de Massy: French, English
Leticia de Massy: French, English, Spanish, Dutch (her husband's dutch)?
Elisabeth-Anne de Massy: French, English
Jean-Leonard taubert-natta de massy: French, English, German?, Italian?
Melanie-Antoinette de Massy: French, English

I am suprised that neither Stephanie nor Louis or Pauline speaks German. After all they spent some time in Switzerland and even though Louis and Pauline attended the French Lycée in Zürich, I would have assumed they learned at least a bit German, too, simply by living there.

[Frelinghighness]

I agree with Prinsessan that William did not speak French passably, his accent and prononciations were truly beginner.
Both WA and Maxima have lovely voices. Obviously, he had a German father, and she spent many years working in the US before studying at multi lingual schools.

[Moonmaiden23]

I am pretty sure that Albert of Monaco is fluent in Spanish. One of Grace's biographers wrote that one of Albert's girlfriends spoke of Albert taking a business call while they were in bed together(!) and he conducted the entire conversation in perfect Spanish.

I am surprised that Prince William's French is so rudimentary.His father Prince Charles speaks the language flawlessly, with virtually no accent.