It doesn’t matter if they are “insult expressions” or “condolence books” – during his Bundestag speech as part of a visit to Germany King Charles III even the most difficult German words perfectly. Since then, many have wondered: why is the monarch so good at German? Your mother who died last year Queen Elizabeth II ended up speaking fluent French, not German.
But Charles’ father spoke for it philip – passed away in 2021 – German at mother tongue level. As Philip came from German-Danish nobility, he had close connections with Germany, which he always tried to keep secret from the public, especially after the war. His four sisters were not allowed to attend Elizabeth’s wedding in 1947, as they had all married members of the German aristocracy. As a boy, Philip even lived in Germany for a short time.
Therefore, Charles still has relatives, mainly cousins, in Germany. At Philip’s request, he also attended Gordonstoun boarding school in Scotland, where his father had also studied. The installation was founded by the German educator Kurt Hahn, who had already realized his idea on Lake Constance. It is unclear whether Charles learned German there, according to the BBC he took his A-levels in French. Currently, German is part of the curriculum there.