Royal Languages....

[kbart]

Prince Joachim of Denmark speaks French, English, and German.

A shoutout to Prince Joachim whose English is beautiful. I haven't heard that much of it but his accent is excellent (he speaks British English). Much better than his brother's.

[Principessa]

Charlene was born in Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe) in 1978. She is of German, English and Irish origin. The family relocated to South Africa in 1989, when Charlene was 11 years old. Charlene speaks English and has knowledge of French. But due to her origin I was wondering if she also masters or has knowledge of Afrikaans.

[Principessa]

I've read reports that Mathilde's and Phillippe's Dutch is terrible. I don't know how accurate that is.

A very, very, very late reaction.

They have a relatively strong French accent, but they are still easy to follow in Dutch.

If I understood it correct Paola, the wife of King Albert II, was horrible in Dutch. There were even protests, a la that Paola had to learn Dutch / Flemish.

From an article of 1993 in a Dutch newspaper https://www.trouw.nl/nieu...%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.nl%2F:
Queen Paola has to learn Dutch, according to many Flemish people. It is an open secret that the new Belgian queen, wife of King Albert II, speaks bad Dutch.

[CyrilSebastian]

After her honeymoon with Prince Leopold of Belgium, Princess Astrid of Sweden began studying French and Dutch.

[Principessa]

After her honeymoon with Prince Leopold of Belgium, Princess Astrid of Sweden began studying French and Dutch.

Which was expected, as these are 2 of the 3 official languages in Belgium (French; Dutch and German). But I would have expected she already knew some French, as it was the language franca for a long time amongst European royalty and nobility.

[Kristallinchen]

While English is nowadays the mean foreign language to learn for many people, back in the 19th century it wasn't.

Believe it or not, but for Empress Elisabeth and her sister Duchess Helene it was their secret language, which they spoke together, when they didn't want to be understood as nobody in their immediate circle of servants etc. knew it.

[CyrilSebastian]

Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (King Leopold I of Belgium) learned to speak Russian fluently when he was in service of the Russian military of Tsar Alexander I of Russia.

[CyrilSebastian]

Baron Andrey Korf noted: "His Majesty Tsar Nicholas I spoke to his guests in Russian, in French, in German or English."

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

It may be a bit apocryphal, but I always enjoyed this quotation attributed to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V:  "I speak Latin to God, Italian to Women, French to Men, and German to my Horse."

[anastasia beaverhausen]

It may be a bit apocryphal, but I always enjoyed this quotation attributed to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V:  "I speak Latin to God, Italian to Women, French to Men, and German to my Horse."

That’s a great quote and if you substitute “car” for “horse”, is applicable today.

[Chandrasekhi]

Charlene was born in Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe) in 1978. She is of German, English and Irish origin. The family relocated to South Africa in 1989, when Charlene was 11 years old. Charlene speaks English and has knowledge of French. But due to her origin I was wondering if she also masters or has knowledge of Afrikaans.

Afrikaans was a compulsory second language when Charlene attended school in South Africa. The twins are apparently being taught Afrikaans and isiZulu in addition to French, English etc.  She was also interviewed by Huisgenoot, an Afrikaans publication within the last three years  - I am not certain whether the interview was conducted in Afrikaans but it was published in Afrikaans.

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

Charlene was born in Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe) in 1978. She is of German, English and Irish origin. The family relocated to South Africa in 1989, when Charlene was 11 years old. Charlene speaks English and has knowledge of French. But due to her origin I was wondering if she also masters or has knowledge of Afrikaans.

Afrikaans was a compulsory second language when Charlene attended school in South Africa. The twins are apparently being taught Afrikaans and isiZulu in addition to French, English etc.  She was also interviewed by Huisgenoot, an Afrikaans publication within the last three years  - I am not certain whether the interview was conducted in Afrikaans but it was published in Afrikaans.

Interesting!  Do you know if they are learning Monagesque as well?  I've poked around a bit online and am finding differing information as to how widely spoken it is in Monaco.

[CyrilSebastian]

Books were the greatest treasure of King Henry V of England. He had an extensive library and was literate in English, French, Latin, and Welsh.

[CyrilSebastian]

There are recordings of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany speaking in English. He also spoke French, Russian and Dutch.

[Principessa]

I don't know why, but I wonder if Wilhelm II really spoke Dutch.

I assume that Wilhelm II had a reasonable understanding/feel for Dutch due to his excellent knowledge of German and English. All three languages belong to the same language group (West-Germanic languages) and I have often heard that for non-native Dutch people the language often seems to lie between English and German.

And off course Wilhelm II spent his last years in the Netherlands (even as his staff could have spoken German).