Belgian Official Visit to Germany (Thuringia & Saxony-Anhalt): July 9-10

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by Tatiana Maria

It is nice to see the head of a Catholic royal family visiting the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation, five centuries after. Have Protestant royal families paid similar visits commemorating Catholic history?

They Belgian Royal Family have Protestant roots ,Leopold Ier was Lutheran and Queen Astrid was raised Lutheran also.

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

They Belgian Royal Family have Protestant roots ,Leopold Ier was Lutheran and Queen Astrid was raised Lutheran also.

Yes they became only catholic because the children of King Leopold I. and his second wife Louise Marie where raised in the catholic faith iof their mother.

[maria-olivia]

I don't know if the King and the Queen are speaking German fluently .

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by Stefan

Yes they became only catholic because the children of King Leopold I. and his second wife Louise Marie where raised in the catholic faith iof their mother.

That was not the only reason as Catholicism was also the faith of the vast majority of their Belgian subjects and yes the kings second wife was a French Roman Catholic Princess.

[Marchesina]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

I don't know if the King and the Queen are speaking German fluently .

An interpreter was provided. Mathilde doesn't speak a word of German, I don't know how fluent Philippe is.

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by Marchesina

An interpreter was provided. Mathilde doesn't speak a word of German, I don't know how fluent Philippe is.

According to Wim Dehandschutter, it appeared that Queen Mathilde relied on the interpreter but King Philippe did not.

[Hannelore]

Mathilde indeed speaks French, Dutch, English and Italian. Her Spanish is quite good as well.

As for German, like everyone who speaks Dutch, she'll understand most of what's being said. Speaking it is another matter of course, and it seems she only knows a few basics. There's always an interpreter by her side when visiting German speaking countries.

Philippe does speak German, but I have no idea how well.

The children receive private lessons in German. So they won't be needing an interpreter later on

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by Hannelore

Mathilde indeed speaks French, Dutch, English and Italian. Her Spanish is quite good as well.

As for German, like everyone who speaks Dutch, she'll understand most of what's being said. Speaking it is another matter of course, and it seems she only knows a few basics. There's always an interpreter by her side when visiting German speaking countries.

Interesting! When and for what reason did the Queen learn to speak Italian and Spanish?

[wartenberg7]

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

That was not the only reason as Catholicism was also the faith of the vast majority of their Belgian subjects and yes the kings second wife was a French Roman Catholic Princess.

Indeed. I am sure because of that he chose a catholic woman to be his 2nd wife. How else, if not even one parent was catholic, could they raise their children in that faith which was vital for a new dynasty to reign in Belgium!

[JR76]

Originally Posted by wartenberg7

Indeed. I am sure because of that he chose a catholic woman to be his 2nd wife. How else, if not even one parent was catholic, could they raise their children in that faith which was vital for a new dynasty to reign in Belgium!

Anything is possible. King Leopold's grand-nephew King Ferdinand of Bulgaria had, to the horror of his wife and their royal relatives, his eldest son, the future King Boris II, converted at age two to the Bulgarian Orthodox faith because he felt that a king should share the faith of his people and to appease his Russian neighbours. Not very religious himself it's still strange that given that reason he didn't convert as well. He did get excommunicated for the move, but gained both the approval of his people and his Russian allies in the north.

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by JR76

Anything is possible. King Leopold's grand-nephew King Ferdinand of Bulgaria had, to the horror of his wife and their royal relatives, his eldest son, the future King Boris II, converted at age two to the Bulgarian Orthodox faith because he felt that a king should share the faith of his people and to appease his Russian neighbours. Not very religious himself it's still strange that given that reason he didn't convert as well. He did get excommunicated for the move, but gained both the approval of his people and his Russian allies in the north.

How was it done in the romanian RF with the chidren of King Ferdinand. he was catholic and his wife was anglican/protestant but their children where orthodox.

[JR76]

Originally Posted by Stefan

How was it done in the romanian RF with the chidren of King Ferdinand. he was catholic and his wife was anglican/protestant but their children where orthodox.

While King Ferdinand and Queen Marie didn't convert to the Orthodox Church there was a requirement in the Constitution of 1866 that any descendant of King Carol I was to be raised a member of the Romanian Orthodox church which later happened with King Carol II and his siblings.
Ferdinand and Marie were crowned outside the Orthodox cathedral of Alba Iulia because they didn't belong to the church, but Marie later converted in 1926 to share the faith of her people. Later she is known to have practiced the Bahai faith and is honoured by that religion as one of their own.

[maria-olivia]

Our 3 languages are french, Dutch and german (King's Speech).
Queen Mathilde should speak this language currently instead of Spain.
Her Dutch is not fluent and she his a terrible french accent.
Princess Elisabeth and her siblings will be the first speaking Dutch fluently.

[maria-olivia]

King Leopold I last word was "Nein" because the Duchess of Brabant asked him to convert.
The Priest of ND of Laeken did not want the dead King enterring his Church. They had to build a Tent outside for the last prayers and then he was buried in the Royal Necropole.
I forgot if he was the first one , his first born Child Louis Philippe was buried in the then Collegiale St Michel et Gudule and Queen Louise Marie in Ostend.

[JR76]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

King Leopold I last word was "Nein" because the Duchess of Brabant asked him to convert.

Thanks, Maria-Olivia! Just the kind of royal anecdotes that I love to hear.

I forgot if he was the first one , his first born Child Louis Philippe was buried in the then Collegiale St Michel et Gudule and Queen Louise Marie in Ostend.

I think that Queen Louise-Marie and her little Babochon were moved to Laeken when the Royal crypt was finished.

[Hannelore]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

Our 3 languages are french, Dutch and german (King's Speech).
Queen Mathilde should speak this language currently instead of Spain.
Her Dutch is not fluent and she his a terrible french accent.
Princess Elisabeth and her siblings will be the first speaking Dutch fluently.

Here we go again. Her Dutch is more than fluent. If you watch her last interview in Dutch, with Katelijne Boonen then you'll have to admit she speaks it very very well. She will always have a French accent, but she masters Dutch very well.

Please tell me when Mathilde's Dutch was so bad that you yourself thought she isn't fluent. Give me an example from the last years.

[Mbruno]

Originally Posted by Hannelore

Here we go again. Her Dutch is more than fluent. If you watch her last interview in Dutch, with Katelijne Boonen then you'll have to admit she speaks it very very well. She will always have a French accent, but she masters Dutch very well.

Please tell me when Mathilde's Dutch was so bad that you yourself thought she isn't fluent. Give me an example from the last years.

How would you rate Mathilde's Dutch compared to Máxima's ?

[An Ard Ri]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

King Leopold I last word was "Nein" because the Duchess of Brabant asked him to convert.
The Priest of ND of Laeken did not want the dead King enterring his Church. They had to build a Tent outside for the last prayers and then he was buried in the Royal Necropole.
I forgot if he was the first one , his first born Child Louis Philippe was buried in the then Collegiale St Michel et Gudule and Queen Louise Marie in Ostend.

Excellent Madame I had never heard that quote before!

[Marchesina]

Originally Posted by Hannelore

Here we go again. Her Dutch is more than fluent. If you watch her last interview in Dutch, with Katelijne Boonen then you'll have to admit she speaks it very very well. She will always have a French accent, but she masters Dutch very well.

Please tell me when Mathilde's Dutch was so bad that you yourself thought she isn't fluent. Give me an example from the last years.

Exactly, accent is not the right meter to judge the level of fluency. Personally, when I speak English or French (of which I am not a native speaker) I can go from an accentless performance to a thick italian-accented one, depending on my level of stress or difficulty of subject.
My opinion is that she improved a lot during the years (and it is only natural when you speak a language almost daily). The accent is French, but it is understandable given she wasn't raise bilingual unlike her children.

[Hannelore]

Originally Posted by Mbruno

How would you rate Mathilde's Dutch compared to Máxima's ?

Their accents are very different, and most of all, the way they are judged is very different. Maxima has been hailed as the new icon of Holland since day 1, while Mathilde has put up with all sorts of unsubstanciated rumours and lies about "not speaking Dutch" spread by those who want to collect political gain from it. Every sentence of Mathilde gets scrutinized, no-one would ever do that with Maxima. And good for her!

Another thing, Mathilde spends her public and professional life switching between *at least* 2 languages daily.