What Languages Do The Royals Speak?

[Charlotte1]

Hi, I would like to know, what foreing language can William and Harry speak... I tried to find any information on wiki and other official web.. but I didn´t success

Neither William nor Harry can speak any language fluently other than English. William did take Spanish to GCSE level ( Grade 10 in high school) Harry didn't take any languages at GCSE or A level ( grade 12), William didn't take any language at A level. Both probably know some basic French as it's compulsory at some early level in the UK and latin since that's taught at Eton. ( Beatrice and Eugenie both have GCSE French, no languages at A-level)
William knows a little bit of Swahili from being in Kenya and Harry maybe would have learnt some Afghani ( Farsi?) phrases. He certainly learnt Iraqi ones when he was preparing to serve in Iraq, it was part of his squadron's training.

King Alfonso and Queen Victoria Eugenia when they first met communicated in French, Alfonso knew very little English and Ena no Spanish.

Queen Sofia always spoke to her children in English and even employed British nannies to make sure they would be fluent English speakers. When Sofia and Juan Carlos first got together a common language was a problem. He spoke fluent Spanish, Italian, Portugese and English badly, she spoke fluent German ( she attended boarding school in Germany) English and Greek.

 

[politikgirl]

I'm really enjoying this thread. It has also inspired me to learn a few more languages!

 

[Rice]

I think Queen Paola is very hesitant when she speaks. She seems very guarded. I have heard her speak in her native Italian, and she is as hesitant in Italian as she is in French. I have heard her Dutch isn't perfect. But I believe her natural speaking style is just very cautious, and she thinks about what she says before she says it.

 

[PrincessKLS2007]

Well at least the Queen is fluent in French and William did try to learn Swahili (he might know Spanish) since he spent time in Latin America (during gap year).

It used to be a requirement of royals to be multilingual and well educated. But those were back in the days when they were treated more as true rulers and not just celebrities.

And there are some attractive members of the BRF, it's just some of them...

 

[Boris]

Well... if Prince William tried to learn Swahili, maybe he shouldn't have tried in Latin America... Wrong continent! Someone should have told the poor chap.
I'd say that being multi-lingual is still essential for any Royal with a working agenda. Queen Silvia of course speaks Swedish, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese, but this is exceptional and also due to her former profession and to growing up bi-lingual.
This is something her children didn't - but although Princess Victoria's German is supposed to be rather bad, she does speak English and French. I don't know about her mother's 2nd language, Portuguese.

 

[shb007]

the monaco royals are my favorite they all know at least 3-4 languages
and they are all

 

[PrincessKLS2007]

Well... if Prince William tried to learn Swahili, maybe he shouldn't have tried in Latin America... Wrong continent! Someone should have told the poor chap.
I'd say that being multi-lingual is still essential for any Royal with a working agenda. Queen Silvia of course speaks Swedish, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese, but this is exceptional and also due to her former profession and to growing up bi-lingual.
This is something her children didn't - but although Princess Victoria's German is supposed to be rather bad, she does speak English and French. I don't know about her mother's 2nd language, Portuguese.

I don't think he tried while in Latin America. I think he tried while at university.

 

[ashelen]

what about Maxima?
spanish, english, dutch? anything else? i belive italian?i think she is the mos inteligent preincess from the new generetion

 

[Menarue]

Diana learnt Welsh and Sign Language.

I remember footage of her being given Freedom of the City and she gave a short speech in English, then translated it into Welsh.

In Hello Magazine this week, there is a photo of Edward and Sophie leaving a class, and it says they have been learning French together since last year.

I remember at the time it was said that Diana had memorised this short speech in Welsh but I doubt whether she could speak Welsh. As far as I know she could speak English and that was that. If she went to Swiss Finishing School as most daughters of aristocrats do then she would know some French.

 

[lilytornado]

what about Maxima?
spanish, english, dutch? anything else? i belive italian?i think she is the mos inteligent preincess from the new generetion

Well yes, we know now that she speaks very good french.

 

[Shikha Pal]

I remember at the time it was said that Diana had memorised this short speech in Welsh but I doubt whether she could speak Welsh. As far as I know she could speak English and that was that. If she went to Swiss Finishing School as most daughters of aristocrats do then she would know some French.

Maybe German also because German is 1 of the main Languages of Switzerland

 

[TheTruth]

I believe Diana knew how to speak a little of French (lessons were given at the school : Institut Alpin Videmanette - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).Sarah, Duchess of York also attended this school). Like Menarue pointed out, British aristocrats and upper-class people do tend to learn this language since it used to be the mother-tongue in Medieval England. For that reason, I guess she had already studied French before going. As you can see here, a high majority of people speak French overthere so I suppose she didn't have to learn any German and I can't remember reading that she spoke German either.

 

[sofajr]

some words of Letizia in english:

Audio: La Princesa Letizia da una bienvenida en inglés en CADENASER.com

 

[lucien]

Maxima speaks english, spanish and dutch
Mary speaks english, french and danish

For Máxima,you can add Italian and French as well.

 

[principessa]

I didn't know that Mary speaks French. On the website of the Danish Royal Family only English and Danish are mentioned.

 

[Saturn]

Letizia should improve her English because it is very poor.

 

[acdc1]

I didn't know that Mary speaks French. On the website of the Danish Royal Family only English and Danish are mentioned.

I heard somewhere that she was learning French. I don't know how fluent she is.

I also was surprised about Letizia's English. I was told that she didn't speak it particularly fluently, so she was getting help with that. She seemed to speak it well on the clip, albeit with an accent.

 

[whataboutboo]

the funny thing about TSH Prince Albert and the Princess' caroline and stephanie is that albert speaks english with and american accent caroline an english and stephanie has a slight french accent i think thats hillarious

 

[whataboutboo]

ive noticed that people are displeased with the fact that some royals speak english or another language that is not there native tongue with an accent well heres a bit of inf for you growing up i was raised by a nanny who was from jamaica so for the first 7 years of my life i spoke with a slight jamaican accent i was taught spanish as a teenager by my grandmother who worked as an interpreter in NY back in the 60's shes from germany so i speake spanish with a german accent and my mom is from australia and she taught me french so i speak french with an australian accent when your learning a language you may be able to speak it well but it takes a while to get the accent right or get rid of an accent and also if the person whos teaching you has an accent your going to pick up the accent too

 

[ashelen]

i think Maxima is the CP who speak more languages! goof for her

 

[Odette]

Letizia should improve her English because it is very poor.

I was actually struck by the fact that the majority of the Spaniards do not speak English well or do not wish to. I go to Spain often and for a country with such a booming tourist industry, the majority of the population cannot communicate in English.

 

[magnik]

i think Maxima is the CP who speak more languages! goof for her

Victoria - Swedish, English, French, German
Sophie of Liechtenstein - German, English, French maybe
Mathilde - French, Dutch, English, Italian
Mette-Marit - Norwegian, English
Maxima - Spanish, English, Dutch, Italian, French
Mary - English, Danish (official website)
Letizia - Spanish, English (how about Asturian language?)
Camilla - English, French, maybe German, Latin (in Queen's Gate School are Spanish and Italian languages too)

Any other ?

 

[princess leonor]

I was actually struck by the fact that the majority of the Spaniards do not speak English well or do not wish to. I go to Spain often and for a country with such a booming tourist industry, the majority of the population cannot communicate in English.

True but it has been improving. English is a language which is now taught on high school as well so I'm sure this will only improve in time!

 

[Turkish Delight]

Victoria - Swedish, English, French, German
Sophie of Liechtenstein - German, English, French maybe
Mathilde - French, Dutch, English, Italian
Mette-Marit - Norwegian, English
Maxima - Spanish, English, Dutch, Italian, French
Mary - English, Danish (official website)
Letizia - Spanish, English (how about Asturian language?)
Camilla - English, French, maybe German, Latin (in Queen's Gate School are Spanish and Italian languages too)

Any other ?

Thanks for the list! I wonder ,what about Q.Rania?

 

[magnik]

Q. Rania - Arabic, English, some French (she was in HEC Paris School of Management).

 

[royalty101]

Does anybody know how many languages Princes Harry and William speak? This is just out of curiosity.

 

[Turkish Delight]

I have a question. How many languages can Empress Farah speak & what are these languages?

 

[NotAPretender]

I think they all speak "money" and "jewels" rather well, some better than others.

I know one who speaks "light on the public engagements unless it's the Saudi Royal Family, then I'm front and center for the baubles."

I hope they all speak "duty." Fluently.

 

[royalist]

some words of Letizia in english:

Audio: La Princesa Letizia da una bienvenida en inglés en CADENASER.com

Letizia's English is not good at all, she must improve her accent...

 

[Alberto2244]

Victoria - Swedish, English, French, German
Sophie of Liechtenstein - German, English, French maybe
Mathilde - French, Dutch, English, Italian
Mette-Marit - Norwegian, English
Maxima - Spanish, English, Dutch, Italian, French
Mary - English, Danish (official website)
Letizia - Spanish, English (how about Asturian language?)
Camilla - English, French, maybe German, Latin (in Queen's Gate School are Spanish and Italian languages too)

Any other ?

Mathilde can speak Spanish quite well, I saw a video on YouTube of her speaking in this language.

Where did you get the information about Maxima speaking Italian and French??

Letizia cannot speak English according to every one and more precisely the royal author and journalist Pilar Eyre.