Education and Preparation of the Next Royal Generation

[janelarn]

I was always sure that Leonor spoke Catalan and English fluently, with some knowledge of Mandarin Chinese (there were reports years ago, but it seems it was Arabic instead?). I did not know she was learning Euskara right now (the Basque language), but since it is one of the languages of Spain, it is expected that she learns it (I thought she would learn it later, I don't know why though...).


Euskara is a very unique language. Unlike Germanic and Romance languages, Euskara is a language isolate, which means it is a language that is unrelated to any others. There are only a few alive language isolates in the world, as most are extinct. Learning Euskara will be very important not only for Spain and the Basque people but for the sake of the language continuity.


--

The Japanese royals know Japanese obviously and English, and some members know sign-language. I'm not sure if they speak another language.


.

Thank you very much for the complete information
I forgot about Masako, who had a successful diplomatic training before becoming a princess; According to her bibliography, she studied at Harvard, Oxford and Cambrigde (in different fields and levels of training), and had a stay in France, to perfect the French language at the University of Grenoble. So she, she at least she speaks French, English and her native language

Regarding the learning of "Chinese language " by Princess Leonor, it was something that a yellow magazine said many years ago, because that language is taught in her school, but Spanish Royal House has never commented on learning Chinese by Spanish princesses., which would not help her much either. her, except on a trip to China, I think.
Zarzuela comments on very few things, but whenever she communicates something to us, it is because it is true.

They said that both, Leonor and Sofia, learn Arabic from a very young age, but I cannot comment on the level because I do not know it. And as I said earlier in another comment, they are both, Leonor and Sofía, who learn the same languages. There is no difference in the formation of the two sisters in terms of studies and languages.

Your comment on Basque is accurate, and we don't know how fluent both sisters are until we hear them speak. It is a very old language, very different from European languages. Catalan is more similar to Spanish, especially when you speak the language; Writing Catalan is more complex, especially because of the accentuation of the spelling.

Both sisters, Leonor and Sofía, also study the Galician language, which is more similar to Portuguese and it seems that Leonor is the least fluent.
I must say that it is very useful for learning Portuguese, but the accent is tremendously different from Spanish. It's very musical, if you understand what I mean. If you know the Portuguese language, Galician is very, very similar, but with a more pronounced accent.

Thank you very much for your effort.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Let us keep it simple: there is no any problem when a royal does not speak another language. Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden do perfectly well with only German resp. Russian, Mandarin and English...

And they are the real leaders. For receiving a bouquet of flowers or cutting a ribbon a polyglot tongue is not really a necessity. All heirs will do well. With just one language. Or with five languages. There are interpreters at service, at all.

 

[kathia_sophia]

Thank you very much for the complete information
I forgot about Masako, who had a successful diplomatic training before becoming a princess; According to her bibliography, she studied at Harvard, Oxford and Cambrigde (in different fields and levels of training), and had a stay in France, to perfect the French language at the University of Grenoble. So she, she at least she speaks French, English and her native language

Regarding the learning of "Chinese language " by Princess Leonor, it was something that a yellow magazine said many years ago, because that language is taught in her school, but Spanish Royal House has never commented on learning Chinese by Spanish princesses., which would not help her much either. her, except on a trip to China, I think.
Zarzuela comments on very few things, but whenever she communicates something to us, it is because it is true.

They said that both, Leonor and Sofia, learn Arabic from a very young age, but I cannot comment on the level because I do not know it. And as I said earlier in another comment, they are both, Leonor and Sofía, who learn the same languages. There is no difference in the formation of the two sisters in terms of studies and languages.

Your comment on Basque is accurate, and we don't know how fluent both sisters are until we hear them speak. It is a very old language, very different from European languages. Catalan is more similar to Spanish, especially when you speak the language; Writing Catalan is more complex, especially because of the accentuation of the spelling.

Both sisters, Leonor and Sofía, also study the Galician language, which is more similar to Portuguese and it seems that Leonor is the least fluent.
I must say that it is very useful for learning Portuguese, but the accent is tremendously different from Spanish. It's very musical, if you understand what I mean. If you know the Portuguese language, Galician is very, very similar, but with a more pronounced accent.

Thank you very much for your effort.

You're welcome


Galician is very similar to Portuguese. It is called Galician-Portuguese sometimes, or "Espanhol um bocado aportuguesado" (Spanish a bit Portuguese). In fact, Portuguese came from Galician-Portuguese, and the first recordings of the Portuguese language came from a Spanish King in the form of poetry. Quite interesting.


If Leonor and Sofia learn Galician, they won't have any problem in understanding Portuguese. It seems they will master almost all Romance languages. Learning Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Galician (which will allow them to understand Portuguese), will also give them some knowledge about Italian, which is also a Romance Language that has many similiarities with Spanish. I don't speak that many languages, but because of the close Latin link, I understand Castilian and Galician fluently, and I understand Catalan and Italian to a great extent. French is the most different of the Romance languages (even Romanian is easier than French).

 

[Mbruno]

French is the most different of the Romance languages (even Romanian is easier than French).

French is closer to Portuguese than Romanian. And French is much closer to Catalan than to Spanish or Portuguese.

 

[kathia_sophia]

French is closer to Portuguese than Romanian. And French is much closer to Catalan than to Spanish or Portuguese.

Hmm, interesting. How come I understand Romanian better than French? And I think Catalan is closer to Spanish than French.

 

[Somebody]

This figure gives a helpful perspective on the relationship between the Romance languages.

This one is even more detailed.

The eastern branch for Romanian split off first from the western branch; and Catalan is part of the same branch as French but closed related to Occitan (but I agree that it seems in-between French and Spanish).

 

[Mbruno]

Hmm, interesting. How come I understand Romanian better than French? And I think Catalan is closer to Spanish than French.

I meant that the similarity between French and Catalan is greater than the similiarity between French and Spanish.


Romanian belongs to the Eastern Romance group. French, Spanish/Portuguese and Catalan/Occitan all belong to the Western Romance group, so they are "genetically" closer to each other than to Romanian.


Intelligibility, of course, is a different matter. Portuguese has an 89-90% lexical overlap with Spanish and, yet, many Spaniards do not consider Portuguese intelligible because of differences in phonology.


Something similar happens pehaps in the Scandinavian languages with Danish and Swedish .

 

[kathia_sophia]

I meant that the similarity between French and Catalan is greater than the similiarity between French and Spanish.


Romanian belongs to the Eastern Romance group. French, Spanish/Portuguese and Catalan/Occitan all belong to the Western Romance group, so they are "genetically" closer to each other than to Romanian.


Intelligibility, of course, is a different matter. Portuguese has an 89-90% lexical overlap with Spanish and, yet, many Spaniards do not consider Portuguese intelligible because of differences in phonology.


Something similar happens pehaps in the Scandinavian languages with Danish and Swedish .

Sorry, I didn't explain it well. I didn't doubt what you said, I just described what my ears heard. I can understand Romanian better than French (though I can't speak neither) because Romanian has many similar words, while French sounds the most different. The same with Catalan, I do understand some words too, and the overall meaning of a phrase, while I have difficulties with French.

 

[LauraS3514]

Thank you very much for the complete information
I forgot about Masako, who had a successful diplomatic training before becoming a princess; According to her bibliography, she studied at Harvard, Oxford and Cambrigde (in different fields and levels of training), and had a stay in France, to perfect the French language at the University of Grenoble. So she, she at least she speaks French, English and her native language

Empress Masako is also at least conversant in Russian, if not fluent as her father was posted there in the diplomatic corps and IIRC she also knows German.

 

[Prinsara]

And have any of her languages passed on to her daughter?

 

[valeas]

Let us keep it simple: there is no any problem when a royal does not speak another language. Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden do perfectly well with only German resp. Russian, Mandarin and English...

And they are the real leaders. For receiving a bouquet of flowers or cutting a ribbon a polyglot tongue is not really a necessity. All heirs will do well. With just one language. Or with five languages. There are interpreters at service, at all.

Perfectly well does not mean good enough ;-) maybe for the BRF who has not got anything but ribbon cutting if you like so, but some of the monarchs have stronger roles to fullfill than this.
Learning a lanuguage contributes a lot to both building knowledge and character and I do not reduce the royals to their role, they are human beings with talents, aims and dreams aswell as any of us.
Three of the politicians you mentioned above speak at least two languages themselves instead of only their mother tongue.

 

[Prinsara]

Perfectly well does not mean good enough ;-) maybe for the BRF who has not got anything but ribbon cutting if you like so, but some of the monarchs have stronger roles to fullfill than this.

Elizabeth speaks French fluently, thank you, and Charles seems at least conversant in both French and German. It isn't exactly their fault that their native language became the current lingua franca.

I'd wonder how you'd define a so-called "stronger role", but that really isn't the topic of this thread.

 

[valeas]

Elizabeth speaks French fluently, thank you, and Charles seems at least conversant in both French and German. It isn't exactly their fault that their native language became the current lingua franca.

I'd wonder how you'd define a so-called "stronger role", but that really isn't the topic of this thread.

I think you got my post wrong. I responded to another poster saying that these politicians (he mentioned) do only speak their mother tongue which simply is not true.
I know and appreciate those royals who are capable of various languages and think this is how it should be, like I think for everybody else.

The different forms of monarchies are very well explained if you look up appropriate websites or books.

 

[janelarn]

You're welcome


Galician is very similar to Portuguese. It is called Galician-Portuguese sometimes, or "Espanhol um bocado aportuguesado" (Spanish a bit Portuguese). In fact, Portuguese came from Galician-Portuguese, and the first recordings of the Portuguese language came from a Spanish King in the form of poetry. Quite interesting.


If Leonor and Sofia learn Galician, they won't have any problem in understanding Portuguese. It seems they will master almost all Romance languages. Learning Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Galician (which will allow them to understand Portuguese), will also give them some knowledge about Italian, which is also a Romance Language that has many similiarities with Spanish. I don't speak that many languages, but because of the close Latin link, I understand Castilian and Galician fluently, and I understand Catalan and Italian to a great extent. French is the most different of the Romance languages (even Romanian is easier than French).

Indeed, even for a non-Galician Spanish, we can understand a Portuguese speaker and an Italian speaker quite well, but it is impossible to understand a French speaker
Galician and Portuguese are very similar, certainly, and if Leonor and Sofia are fluent in the Galician language, they will be able to understand each other very well with a Portuguese speaker.
My experience is that Catalan is very similar to Spanish, and it is only necessary to watch a few videos (I was a follower of a series on Catalan TV) and it was quite easy to understand after a few videos.
It is very different to speak perfectly Catalan.
Catalán is a very different language from French. A lot of. Only Catalan borrowed the spelling accents, I think, from French but Catalan and French are not spoken in any way, the same, it is not even understandable for a Spanish, as it is not for a French.
Again, a thousand thanks.

As a curiosity: fundamentally what is important is the "accent". King Felipe VI speaks perfect French with a slight Spanish accent. If you hear Leonor speak in her speech in her catatan at her first "Princess of Girona" awards, you will notice the difference in pronunciation since French is very guttural; in fact I don't know many people who speak French without a Spanish accent, nor do I know many French people who speak Spanish without much "French" accent.
I only met an a moroccan girl who was fluent in classic and variant arabic language, English, French, and Spanish (with a very slight Andalusian accent ? ), perfectly.

Elizabeth speaks French fluently, thank you, and Charles seems at least conversant in both French and German. It isn't exactly their fault that their native language became the current lingua franca.

I'd wonder how you'd define a so-called "stronger role", but that really isn't the topic of this thread.

Spanish is spoken in many countries in the world, and it is the second most spoken language in the world after Chinese, but it is no excuse for not learning other languages.
In fact, the Spanish have not given too much importance to foreign languages, until relatively recently.
In the generation of my great-grandparents, the bourgeois class or aristocracy, I used to learn French or Portuguese, but that was forgotten
It is now when Spaniards try to speak other languages such as German or is it English
There is no excuse to learn another language, saying that ours is the most widely spoken in the world after Chinese, because languages open the doors to other cultures and other countries.

 

[kathia_sophia]

Spanish is spoken in many countries in the world, and it is the second most spoken language in the world after Chinese, but it is no excuse for not learning other languages.
In fact, the Spanish have not given too much importance to foreign languages, until relatively recently.
In the generation of my great-grandparents, the bourgeois class or aristocracy, I used to learn French or Portuguese, but that was forgotten
It is now when Spaniards try to speak other languages such as German or is it English
There is no excuse to learn another language, saying that ours is the most widely spoken in the world after Chinese, because languages open the doors to other cultures and other countries.

I totally agree with you. Just because English is the "current lingua franca" doesn't mean that the other languages won't be important or that nobody will have the need to learn anything else except English. I went to Japan in 2018 and people may think they speak English because they use "Engrish" words, but they do not. Few Japanese speak English fluently. I spoke some Japanese with them and it opened the doors, they were super friendly and I made a lot of friends. All thanks to my effort to speak some Japanese with them (I'm not fluent but I understand a lot).

Learning a language can be beneficial in so many ways. And I'm sure Leonor will find usefulness in the languages she has learned.

 

[Blog Real]

I have been thinking about how Leonor, Christian, Catharina-Amalia, Elizabeth and Ingrid Alexandra look to the monarchic regime and its future as possible monarchs.
How does this generation see the regime they will represent in the future?
Will they make changes to their royal houses when they become kings or will they keep the traditions?

 

[JR76]

I have been thinking about how Leonor, Christian, Catharina-Amalia, Elizabeth and Ingrid Alexandra look to the monarchic regime and its future as possible monarchs.
How does this generation see the regime they will represent in the future?
Will they make changes to their royal houses when they become kings or will they keep the traditions?

Naturally there will be many changes during their respective reigns. Every generation changes things and both get rid off traditions and create new ones. Few people today realise for instance that the grand Danish New Year's Cour has only been carried out in the form it is since the beginning of the reign of the current queen or that the "ancient" Ceremonial Opening of Parliament in the UK isn't really older in its current form than since the reign of Edward VII. Things have always and will always continue to change.

 

[Blog Real]

I'll put here what the new generation of royals will do next year:

Leonor: Will study at UWC Atlantic College.

Elisabeth: Military training will continue (?).

Catharina-Amalia: Will have a gap year where you will do internships in various companies.

Christian: Will study at the Herlufsholm Gymnasium in Næstved.

Ingrid Alexandra: There is nothing new.

Estelle: There is nothing new.

 

[amaryllus]

Estelle is still a child so that’s a given but we should hear about IA in the near future I would think.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

Elisabeth: Military training will continue (?).

It was announced that she would take one year of military training.

https://www.theroyalforums.com/foru...vents-october-2019-a-46853-3.html#post2315438

Estelle is still a child so that’s a given but we should hear about IA in the near future I would think.

She has two more years of high school to complete.

 

[Mbruno]

I'll put here what the new generation of royals will do next year:

Leonor: Will study at UWC Atlantic College.

Elisabeth: Military training will continue (?).

I don't think Elisabeth will continue her military training. The next step for her should be to pursue a bachelor's degree at a university, but I don't know.

 

[Blog Real]

Royals on the first day of secondary school

Princess Leonor - UWC Atlantic College (2021)
https://c4.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/G6c176392/22149878_JCNTO.jpeg

Princess Elisabeth - UWC Atlantic College (2018)
https://c5.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/Gda1816dd/22149746_rFWja.jpeg

Prince Christian - Herlufsholm School (2021)
https://c8.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/B3c18b603/22149745_puqdK.jpeg

Princess Ingrid Alexandra - Elvebakken Upper Secondary School (2020)
https://c8.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/B43173d8d/22149744_sMK8Y.jpeg

Princess Catharina-Amalia - Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet (photo of the end of your graduation)
https://c4.quickcachr.fotos.sapo.pt/i/G0d178386/22149879_ASk1u.jpeg

 

[Somebody]

Bachelor's degree is for university studies... Most of these pictures are of teenagers starting their final years of secondary school.

Amalia's picture at the age of 11 years old doesn't really fit with the others. She went to first grade of secondary school (this is the picture of Alexia 2 years later (aged 12) for her first day in first grade of secondary while she now left for the equivalent of 5th grade).

 

[W.Y.CII]

Yes, the only one who is currently eligible to start a degree is Elisabeth only...hope we will hear the news soon.

 

[Blog Real]

All princesses and queens of that generation have had a college education and work experience.

Queen Letizia:
Letizia Ortiz has a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master's Degree in Audiovisual Journalism from the Institute for Audiovisual Journalism Studies.
From a very young age, as a student, she also worked at the newspapers La Nueva España and ABC, and at the EFE News Agency, where she worked in international editing during her last year at university. She began her PhD studies in Mexico, where she collaborated with the newspaper Siglo 21.

Queen Maxima:
Queen Máxima passed her baccalaureate examinations at Northlands School in 1988.
She graduated in economics from the Universidad Católica Argentina in 1995.
From 1989 to 1990, while still at university, she worked for Mercado Abierto SA, where she did research into software for financial markets.

Queen Mathilde:
She also studied psychology at the Université catholique de Louvain and earned a master's degree in psychology in 2002 with honours (cum laude).

Crown Princess Mary:
Mary Donaldson enrolled at the University of Tasmania in 1989 and graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor's degree in Commerce and Law (B Com. LLB).
Between 1994 and 1996, The Crown Princess qualified for a Certificate in Advertising from The Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) and later a Certificate in Direct Marketing from the Australian Direct Marketing Association.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit:
In 2000 - 2002 she studied ethics at the Faculty of Social Science and the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Oslo.
In 2003 the Crown Princess followed courses at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.
In autumn 2008 the Crown Princess began studying part-time at BI Norwegian School of Management in Oslo, where she completed her Master of Management in 2012.

Crown Princess Victoria:
During the 1996-97 academic year, The Crown Princess studied French at the Centre International D'Études Françaises at the Université Catholique de L'Ouest in Angers, France.
In autumn 1997, The Crown Princess followed a specially designed programme in order to gain a general insight into the workings of the Riksdag (the Swedish Parliament) and the Swedish Government.
In the spring of 1998, Crown Princess Victoria began academic studies in Political Science and History at Yale University in the United States.
In autumn 2000 The Crown Princess completed studies in conflict resolution and international peace-building.
In spring 2001 The Crown Princess studied the Swedish Presidency of the EU.

Duchess of Cambridge:
In 2001, The Duchess enrolled at the University of St. Andrews, Fife, from where she graduated in 2005 with a 2:1 in History of Art. Her Royal Highness continued with her interest in sport at University, playing hockey for the University team. The Duchess first met The Duke of Cambridge when studying at the University.

Princess Stephanie:
Princess Stéphanie graduated in Germanic philology from the Catholic University of Louvain with great distinction. As part of her university studies, she is completing her final thesis at the Humboldt Universität in Berlin on the theme of the influence of German Romanticism on Russian Romanticism, such as E.T.A.

Princess Stéphanie trained in art history at the Sotheby's Institute during the Crown Couple's stay in London in 2018 and 2019.

 

[LadyFinn]

Crown princess Victoria had Bachelor of Arts degree in 2009 at Uppsala University, majoring in peace and conflict studies.
Kronprinsessan tar examen vid Uppsala universitet - Sveriges Kungahus
Nobel Prize Summit - NobelPrize.org

In the spring 2013 Victoria studied a course of polar environments at Stockholm University.
Fantarktiskt skolval, Victoria _ Nyheter _ Expressen

 

[Somebody]

I didn't know that Letizia started a PhD study. Is it known why she didn't complete her PhD?

 

[Blog Real]

Danish magazine Billed Bladet spoke to Ulrik Ulriksen to find out why there are differences in the royal duties of Princess Leonor and Prince Christian.
Ulrik Ulriksen says that Princess Leonor has more royal duties because her father Felipe VI is the king and because there are few members of the royal family representing the Royal House.
Meanwhile, in Denmark Prince Christian is second in line and his grandmother is the queen. And the Royal Family has more family members working in the Royal House.

https://www.billedbladet.dk/kongeli...er-leonor-solo-allerede-mens-christian-venter

 

[Mbruno]

Yes, the only one who is currently eligible to start a degree is Elisabeth only...hope we will hear the news soon.

Princess Elisabeth of course is studying (or, as they say in British English, "reading") History and Politics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom,

 

[Blog Real]

Crown Princess Marie-Chantal:
Marie-Chantal began a degree in History of Art at New York University in 1993 but dropped out a year later after Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, proposed to her on a skiing holiday in Gstaad, Switzerland, at Christmas.