Question:
Did Queen Victoria have a German accent?
Jean A
2008-05-17 14:31:46 UTC
I thought she was brought up in Germany and had an accent.
Ten answers:
seraph1818
2008-05-17 14:37:35 UTC
(The source cited below has a nice short bio. on Queen Victoria. You will find the quote below in the section on "Appearance". She was born in London, but was a Hanover. BTW, it talks of her selfishness, too.)



"...She had a silvery voice, enunciated excellently, without a trace of the German accent of her eldest son, and had a radiant, though rare, smile..."

Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/queen-victoria
Bryan
2014-05-17 01:16:20 UTC
that is my understanding ,she spoke only German until she had a governess she then learnt English and spoke it with usual aristocratic accent of the day. Believe she still kept her German for very private use with her husband and other relations but NEVER in public once she realised she was to be Queen.
?
2016-05-25 05:08:44 UTC
This is a myth. She spoke German and no doubt her husband spoke English with a German accent (after all he was brought up in Germany) but there is no firm eveidence to suggest that Victoria spoke English with a German accent, There is certainly no comtemporary evidence of this. Contrary to popular myth her only language at home was English. Even her grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany spoke English without an accent and he was the German Emperor.
rann_georgia
2008-05-17 17:03:48 UTC
In the movies, Queen Victoria always has an English accent, rather authoritative. Although, her son, Edward VII is sometimes depicted with somewhat of a slight French accent.



She was born in England and as far as I know, lived in England with her mother until she came to the throne. Her mother was German and her father was German, a younger son of George IIII.
2008-05-17 17:11:33 UTC
At the age of 50, Edward, the Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of George III, married a widow, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Victoria, the couple's only child, was born in Kensington Palace, London on May 24, 1819. At birth she was fifth in line for the British crown, after her grandfather, George III, her father's three older brothers, and her father.



Victoria was christened in the Cupola Room of Kensington Palace on June 24, 1819 by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Charles Manners-Sutton). Her godparents were the Prince Regent, the Emperor Alexander I of Russia (in whose honour she received her first name), Princess Charlotte, Princess Royal and the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Although christened Alexandrina Victoria - and from birth formally styled Her Royal Highness Princess Victoria of Kent - Victoria was called Drina within the family.[2] She was taught German, English, Italian, Greek and French, arithmetic, music and her favourite subject, history.[3] Her teachers were the Reverend George Davys and Baroness Louise Lehzen, her governess.[4] When she learned from Baroness Lehzen that one day she could be queen, Victoria replied, "I will be good."[5]
timo
2008-05-17 14:35:40 UTC
Until the age of three she spoke only German, but she learned to speak English without a trace of an accent.
?
2016-08-01 13:45:31 UTC
Learn German Fast ans Easy!
i_am_jean_s
2008-05-17 15:26:33 UTC
although she spent her early years with German speakers, once she knew she would inherit the throne ,...I am sure she made sure that she spoke English as well as she could.

As there is no reference to her being german, can only presume that she spoke English without a trace of a German accent.
2008-05-17 14:36:21 UTC
Doubt she had an Accent - i don't think Hyundai were around back then!! Boom Boom!!
Janet W
2008-05-17 14:36:16 UTC
timo is exactly right.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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