FEMAIL reveals the royals that can speak other languages

Princess Anne impressed crowds in Aachen earlier this week when she opened the CHIO Equestrian Festival with a short speech in German.

The Princess Royal, 72,  has travelled to Germany more than 50 times and has also visited every continent, so perhaps it’s no surprise that she’s brushed up on her language skills along the way, but what about the rest of the royal family?

Travelling the globe for engagements and overseas tours means they have the opportunity to be exposed to a huge wealth of languages, and it always goes down well when the royals can speak in the native tongue of the country they’re visiting. 

In 2017, the Princess of Wales found herself apologising to the then Chancellor, Angela Merkel, for not speaking German during an official visit with husband William. 

Meanwhile, it’s thought that King Charles, Meghan Markle, Princess Anne and Prince William can speak French, following in the footsteps of the late Queen Elizabeth II who was fluent. 

Here FEMAIL takes a look at the members of the royal family who have learnt to speak additional languages, including Prince William who is rumoured to have taught himself Swahili.

King Charles

The head of state and the late Queen’s eldest child, 74, is known to speak four languages.

In addition to his mother tongue, King Charles speaks Welsh, French and German.

Earlier this year, he impressed with his fluency when he became the first British monarch to address the Bundestag in Berlin, delivering almost the entire speech in German.

He spoke of his honour and hope at renewing a friendship bond between the two countries, while also paying a touching tribute to his late mother.

The remarkable speech was met with nods of approval and several rounds of applause from MPs and other officials alike.

It was the King’s first ever state visit to Germany since the start of his reign, accompanied by his wife Camilla.

Britain’s King Charles addresses the members of the lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, and received laughter and rapturous applause as he spoke in German

His flawless grasp of the German language has left many wondering how many other languages he has up his sleeve.

His knowledge of the Welsh language dates all the way back to his university days in 1969.

And becoming the first heir apparent to earn a university degree, he went on to study at the University of Wales, in Aberystwyth from 1969 to 1970. 

Charles was put through his paces at a rigorous nine-week course on Welsh language history at the age of 21.

He studied under the tutelage of Dr. Tedi Millward, a known Welsh nationalist, who also gave speeches in Welsh at the university.

Queen Camilla

Queen Camilla has delivered various speeches in French on her travels around the world. 

In 2013, when she was then the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla spoke French during a visit to Emmaus Bougival, a charity in Paris.

She hopped on the Eurostar at St Pancras – like many tourists do every day – and travelled over to France.  

It was her first solo engagement overseas and she had brushed off her French for the first time in half a century.

She had never spoke French publicly in this way and admitted that she was ‘dreading’ it, asking the crowd to excuse her ‘rather rusty French’.

As a teenager, she spent half a year studying French and French Literature at the Institut Britannique in Paris in the 1960s.

Queen Camilla studied French and French Literature in Paris when she was a teenager in the sixties and brushed up on her skills when she visited the EMMAUS Centre in Bougival, Paris in 2013 

Camilla also spoke the language when she visited a school in Canada and addressed pupils in both French and English during the visit.

She dropped in on a French literature class where the children were reading a novel called ‘une drole de ministre.’

When one of the children said that they were enjoying the lesson and said they spoke French, Camilla replied ‘tres bien.’ 

Prince William 

The Prince of Wales, 41, once left a Tanzanian man ‘gobsmacked’ when he spoke to him confidently in Swahili. 

In 2019, he was meeting 20 recipients of Princess Diana’s Legacy awards for tea at Kensington Palace in when he shocked Erick Venant, 25, from Tanzania, by speaking to him in Swahili.

Tessy Ojo, Chief executive of the Diana Award charity, suggested the royal had left the boy ‘gobsmacked’ by striking up conversation in Swahili, saying the moment was ‘truly special.’

She told People magazine: ‘One of the young people is from Tanzania, and he started talking to him in Swahili…It wasn’t just one sentence. This was not something he had just read out of a book.’

The Prince of Wales is rumoured to have taught himself Swahili while at university, but is not thought to be completely fluent. 

Prince William shocked Erick Venant, 25, from Tanzania, by speaking with him in Swahili at the Kensington Palace event in 2019 

He also showed off his language skills a year prior, when he met met with Tanzanian President John Magufuli in Tanzania.

Alongside Swahili, it has been rumoured that he can speak French, Welsh and Gaelic.

William once also spoke Spanish in a Q&A on their official Instagram, when a fan asked if he could speak the language. 

They asked ‘Puedes hablar Español?’ which in English means, ‘You can speak Spanish?’

The Prince then answered ‘Si un poquito’, which translates to, ‘Yes a little’.

William spent his gap year in Chile on the Raleigh International scheme building houses and helping communities, so it is thought he may have improved his speaking skills there. 

The Prince has also confidently given speeches in French before and is thought to be able to speak and understand the language fairly well. 

Kate, Princess of Wales

While Kate, 41, can’t speak any other languages apart from English fluently. She spent some time in Florence in her younger days.

The Princess of Wales was in the Italian city for three months during her gap year,  studying art after she finished sixth form.

She graduated St Andrews University with a 2.1 in Art History and it’s where she met her husband, Prince William. 

Kate admits that she does not remember any Italian from her time spent in Florence. 

While Kate admits she can’t speak any languages well, she 

While attending a memorial service in remembrance of the victims of the helicopter crash which claimed Leicester City football chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, she spoke to an Italian woman.

In a video posted on Instagram at the time, she said: ‘How shall we say, ciao?’, and the crowd cheered.

She then went on to say: ‘I have to practice my languages, they are so bad.’

In 2011, an insider told The Mirror that Kate and William were brushing up on their French before a visit to Quebec.

They said: ‘This is a big occasion and Kate is busy preparing. 

‘There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into getting ready for a tour and Kate doesn’t want to leave anything to chance.

‘She and William already have some knowledge of French but they are keen to brush up as much as possible before they go.’

They added that Kate was studying the places they were visiting and the people and organisations they were due to meet.

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis 

Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five, are reportedly picking up Spanish, thanks to a head start from their nanny.

Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, a Spanish native, started working for the Wales’s in 2014, a year after George was born. 

She graduated from the prestigious Norland College in Bath before working for the family. 

Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Prince George are thought to be learning Spanish from their nanny who is native to Spain

In 2017, Kate told wellwishers during a visit to a farm that George – who was then three years old – could count to ten in Spanish. 

The children attend the prestigious Lambrook school in Bracknell, where French is part of the curriculum and some children have the option to study Greek and even Latin.

But it seems the Princess of Wales has plans to ensure that her children are at least bilingual.

She said to fans that she hoped her children would surpass her current language skill level. 

She said to one Italian woman in 2018: ‘My language is so bad, I have to make sure my children are better than me.’

Meghan Markle

The Duchess of Sussex, 41, can speak two languages other than English and has showcased them on royal visits before.

According to her old CV, she is fluent in Spanish and has some French proficiency. 

When she travelled to Morocco with Prince Harry, they visited a girl’s boarding school and Meghan spoke to the pupils in French – which is widely spoken in the country due to France’s colonial legacy. 

The royals could be heard asking questions such as ‘Qu’est ce que tu veux être quand tu quittes l’école?’ which means ‘What do you want to do when you leave school?’

Meghan Markle showed off her French language skills on a visit to Morocco with Prince Harry in  2019

And ‘Vous voulez aller à l’université?’ which translates to ‘Do you want to go to university?’

But Prince Harry admitted that speaking French was not a strong suit of his, as it was reported at the time he said ‘Bonjour,’ before asking ‘Do you speak English? I don’t speak much French!’ 

She picked up Spanish when she was abroad during her gap year in Madrid in 2002 and also during an internship with the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In 2020, she surprised charity workers in Los Angeles when she and Prince Harry made a visit to help out at Homeboy Industries.

According to Father Greg Boyle, who founded the charity, Meghan shocked those at the centre with her impressive Spanish.

Speaking to Access Hollywood, he said: ‘Her Spanish is quite good! At one point, (when speaking to) one of the girls in the café, who Spanish is the dominate language (for), Meghan just went right into Spanish, which was a revelation to me!

‘Someone came up to me and said, ‘Listen to her, her Spanish is really good!”. So that was something I didn’t know that she knew how to do.’

Princess Anne

The Princess Royal, 72, recently showcased and impressed others with her ability to speak German. 

She had travelled to Aachen for the starting ceremony of the CHIO Equestrian Festival, which she impressively opened in fluent German.

As she took to the field to address the crowds, the Princess Royal began reminiscing about her daughter Zara Tindall’s world championship win at Aachen in 2006.

She said: ‘It really is a pleasure to be back in Aachen this evening.

‘It was of course a more tense situation the last time I was here watching my daughter compete her final showjumping round before becoming world champion.

The Princess Royal, 72, had travelled to Aachen for the starting ceremony of the CHIO Equestrian Festival, which she impressively opened in fluent German

‘This is a lot easier,’ she says, to applause.

The princess goes on to describe the ‘honour’ it is for the UK to be the partner country for the CHIO Equestrian Festival.

‘It is an important opportunity for our countries to demonstrate our shared values,’ she says. 

But as she wrapped up her speech, Princess Anne opted to showcase her German.

She said: ‘With great pleasure I hereby declare open the CHIO Aachen 2023.’

Her nephew, Prince Harry, also spoke a bit of German at the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf last year.

He said in German: ‘Hello Düsseldorf. Meghan and I are very happy to be here today.’ 

It has also been reported that the Princes Royal can speak French, taking after her mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, who could speak the language very well. 

Prince Michael of Kent

Prince Michael, who is the late Queen’s first cousin, has connections to the Russian royal family.

He is linked to Tsar Nicholas II, the former emperor of Russia, who was assassinated by The Bolsheviks, along with his wife Alexandra and their five children in 1918 bringing the Russian monarchy to an end. 

Prince Michael’s English grandfather, King George V was Tsar Nicholas II’s first cousin as their mothers, Alexandra of Denmark and Maria Feodorovna, were sisters.

As he is linked to the Russian royal family, Prince Michael wanted to learn about his heritage so he picked up the language

Alexandra and Maria’s brother was appointed King George I of Greece, which means Prince Michael’s Greek grandfather, Prince Nicholas, was also a first cousin of the Tsar.

He wanted to learn about Russian Imperial history and the language when his grandmother, Princess Nicholas of Greece, (who was born Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna, a member of the Romanov family), interested him in the topic.

Prince Michael, 80, then attended a Russian language course in what is now the Defence School of Languages at Beaconsfield. 

Within the course, he lived in Paris with a White Russian family and he qualified as a Military Interpreter in 1968.  

Amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it was revealed last year that the Prince returned the Order of Friendship that he received from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2009.

He released a statement which said: ‘I can confirm that HRH Prince Michael of Kent is returning his Russian Order of Friendship. There will be no further comment.’