Languages spoken by the Royals

[kinan]

Do young royals from non-reigning monarchies speak their country's language?
I know that many of them were born and raised outside their native countries because their ancestors were exiled.

For example, does Prince Pavlos of Greece speak Greek language?
Nicolas of Romania?
Leka of Albania?
Peter of Serbia?
Pedro and Carlo of Bourbon Two Sicilies?
Emanuel Filiberto and Aimone of Savoy?
George of Russia?

[Princess MS]

Do young royals from non-reigning monarchies speak their country's language?
I know that many of them were born and raised outside their native countries because their ancestors were exiled.

For example, does Prince Pavlos of Greece speak Greek language?
Nicolas of Romania?
Leka of Albania?
Peter of Serbia?
Pedro and Carlo of Bourbon Two Sicilies?
Emanuel Filiberto and Aimone of Savoy?
George of Russia?

Hmm fluent in a language including reading and writing and speech is a bit different to being on holiday and able to communicate   

So the Greeks .... maybe to some extent but brought up in English speaking countries and I’d be surprised if very proficient

George... id think his Russian is credible in spoken terms but reading and writing possible not so much .... born in Spain apparently and probably educated there as a child .... and then in Europe but not Russia....

Nicolas of Romania ?? His father was British and I think he probably was educated there .... he jumped on the bandwagon of “old exiles going back home” and after meeting lots of lovely ladies there married one .... good luck to that family.... all of them

As for Leka .... his mother was Australian and he is another pretender to a long defunct “crown” from a long time before he was born in somewhere other than Albania

So I’d put them in the same space.... they would be happy to raise a glass of something with Carl Christian of Austria as they remember the glory days they were never part of 😆

[Princess MS]

Oh and Carl Christian is Belgian by birth .... probably made him acceptable to his MIL
And his mother is from a Belgian Princely family.... so another example of “close family and friends”

[kinan]

Do young royals from non-reigning monarchies speak their country's language?
I know that many of them were born and raised outside their native countries because their ancestors were exiled.

For example, does Prince Pavlos of Greece speak Greek language?
Nicolas of Romania?
Leka of Albania?
Peter of Serbia?
Pedro and Carlo of Bourbon Two Sicilies?
Emanuel Filiberto and Aimone of Savoy?
George of Russia?

Hmm fluent in a language including reading and writing and speech is a bit different to being on holiday and able to communicate   

So the Greeks .... maybe to some extent but brought up in English speaking countries and I’d be surprised if very proficient

George... id think his Russian is credible in spoken terms but reading and writing possible not so much .... born in Spain apparently and probably educated there as a child .... and then in Europe but not Russia....

Nicolas of Romania ?? His father was British and I think he probably was educated there .... he jumped on the bandwagon of “old exiles going back home” and after meeting lots of lovely ladies there married one .... good luck to that family.... all of them

As for Leka .... his mother was Australian and he is another pretender to a long defunct “crown” from a long time before he was born in somewhere other than Albania

So I’d put them in the same space.... they would be happy to raise a glass of something with Carl Christian of Austria as they remember the glory days they were never part of 😆

I found this video https://youtu.be/6Ov5gliVzb4 . I don't understand Serbian language, but from the translated comments, it is implied that Philip of Serbia speaks very poor Serbian.
He was born in the US, raised in the UK and Spain. But now he is married to Serbian woman and lives there.

[bumbershoot]

Presumably the young European royals who are presently shipped off to school in the UK are competent in English and should come home with a lot better English skills. The Norskies all speak very good English and presumably are competent in the other Norse-based languages, although Icelandic might be difficult.

The Middle Eastern folks are all likewise competent in English and maybe French?

Presumably Aiko of Japan is pretty good in English, given both her mother's and her father's English language skills. I have the impression that European languages are taught in Japan in preference to Chinese or Korean. One Japanese friend of mine studied Korean and received a fair amount of abuse from family and friends for ``wasting her time'' on Korean.

[CyrilSebastian]

Napoleon I of France spoke and read Corsican and Italian. He spoke French with a Corsican accent.

[CyrilSebastian]

King Leopold II of Belgium spoke French, English, German, and Dutch. He was not allowed by his ministers at the time to openly speak Dutch. The considered Dutch to be an inferior language.

[CyrilSebastian]

Did King Carol I of Romania learn to speak Romanian upon his becoming sovereign of the country?

[Celia]

Do young royals from non-reigning monarchies speak their country's language?
I know that many of them were born and raised outside their native countries because their ancestors were exiled.

For example, does Prince Pavlos of Greece speak Greek language?
Nicolas of Romania?
Leka of Albania?
Peter of Serbia?
Pedro and Carlo of Bourbon Two Sicilies?
Emanuel Filiberto and Aimone of Savoy?
George of Russia?

Pavlos and his siblings attended a Greek school his father established in London.  I can't remember if it was a Saturday-only situation or full time during the week.  (There are many Saturday cultural/language schools in the US; I remember my Japanese friends always being unavailable on Saturdays because of the extra schooling.)

I watched a video of Pavlos speaking Greek.  He sounded as if it came easily to him to speak Greek, though of course I don't know what a Greek person would think.

[bumbershoot]

Do we have any idea which royals are the most linguistically adept? Who can speak the most languages fluently? I imagine the folks in the low countries have the most languages that are more or less required, but what about the others?

And, for that matter, how are the various rulers with the minority languages in their respective countries and dominions? Can Felipe speak Basque or Catalan? Can any of the Swedes or the Norwegians manage more than a couple of phrases of any of the Saami languages? How are the Danes with Kalaallisut, which is the spoken language of Greenland?

I know Charles made some real effort with Welsh, and I assume William must have as well. But I assume neither of them has done much with Irish or Scottish Gaelic. The late Queen was competent in French and Philip, of course, had good German-language skills. I can't imagine that the Princess Royal can speak any language but English but perhaps Edward picked up some language skills when he was at university.

It seems as if nearly everyone royal has a least a minimal competence in English. I assume that this must be the language most of them use when they get together, although in a Danish/Swedish, Nowegian gathering, each can use his/her own language and still be understood by others.  What about when the Dutch, Belgians and Luxembourg folks get together. What's their default communication language?

[fairy]

To be fair, I think they speak mostly English.
I met Willem Alex once, he was with fellow dutch people and I was with a german-american group.
Granted the Americans did not speak either german nor dutch and it might have been purely out of courtesy to them, but Willem spoke english only; while in a direct conversation, the other dutchpeople spoke german to their german conversation partner.

[Principessa]

To be fair, I think they speak mostly English.
I met Willem Alex once, he was with fellow dutch people and I was with a german-american group.
Granted the Americans did not speak either german nor dutch and it might have been purely out of courtesy to them, but Willem spoke english only; while in a direct conversation, the other dutchpeople spoke german to their german conversation partner.

Based on his father (and other German relatives, friends, etc.) and the (former) language education at Dutch schools, I had expected that WA would be reasonably fluent in German. But recently I understood from others, especially Germans, that this is a bit disappointing. If I remember correctly, reference was also made to his use of language during the state visit to Germany.

His daughters receive at least Dutch and Spanish through their parents and family. There is video material in which Maxima uses Spanish, English and Dutch towards her daughters.

[kinan]

This is a video about Charles speaking German.
https://youtu.be/DGvsedbsWFA
Was his pronounciation good? He brought notes there so I don't think he is fluent.

[Kristallinchen]

This is a video about Charles speaking German.
https://youtu.be/DGvsedbsWFA
Was his pronounciation good? He brought notes there so I don't think he is fluent.

He has a heavy accent. It looks like he reads the speech rather than speaking it by heart.

He speaks like someone, who learned German at an older age. He knows the grammar and the correct words, but you hear that he's not a native.

[PeDe]

This is a video about Charles speaking German.
https://youtu.be/DGvsedbsWFA
Was his pronounciation good? He brought notes there so I don't think he is fluent.

He has a heavy accent. It looks like he reads the speech rather than speaking it by heart.

He speaks like someone, who learned German at an older age. He knows the grammar and the correct words, but you hear that he's not a native.

Agreed, but his pronunciation is very nice. Especially, on words that others would pronounce literarily.