Some historians and commentators have claimed Queen Mary had a heavy German accent. I can't hear anything of the sort. They were just trying to be tricky. She had a lovely voice.
She actually did have a slight Teutonic/German pronunciation overall. How she speaks in this particular recording is very punctuated and not as easily detectable. I am just more aware because my grandmother is from Germany
She was British. She was born in Kensington and raised in Richmond. She spent time as a young woman in Florence. She identified, if anything, as a Londoner. Its a waste of time trying to define royalty of this period in narrow 'national' terms. European royalty were, in effect, pan national. That didn't stop their enemies or hostile propaganda from attempting to harness particular 'national' groupings to undermine the public standing or royalty. Consider how Marie Antionette was vilified as 'the Austrian woman' or the last Tsarina of Russia as 'the German woman'. Nearer to our own time, Queen Frederika of Greece was also attacked as 'the German'.
What one notices in the aforementioned recording is not so much a German accent, but rather a German ‘gait’ to her English. She pronounces W as V, and V as F, which are German pronunciations of those consonants. It’s just enough to call her out on the matter, and is exceptional for a person born and raised within the United Kingdom.
Very interesting - both the King & Queen sound rather deliberate, annunciating their words with care. This is presumably because they wanted to be clearly understood in, what was for them, a new medium. Later the King adopted a fruitier more intimate tone in his Christmas broadcasts.These were very popular.
Queen Mary sounded more 'regal' than the King!; "Verry, verry cleepped"! I was also surprised by how high the Queen's voice was - I'd anticipated a more resonant timbre.
King George's voice can be heard on many many recordings that were made of him up until his death , chiefly by the Gramophone Company Ltd ( thats " His Master's Voice" to you and me ) most of which are easily obtainable at specialist record fairs for a few pounds per copy. Another bonus is that the records are genearlly in tip top condition as they didnt get a lot of wear from every day usage so to speak.
@kracken63 Actually it's stands for His MASTER'S Voice. It was taken from the title of a painting of the now-famous image of a dog listening to a gramaphone. Supposedly, after his brother's death, the original artist had inherited the dog and several recordings his brother had made. He noticed the dog was interested in the sound of "his master's voice" emanating from the horn and put it to canvas.
This is 1923, 2 years before Victor Recording Company created the Orthophonic Recording System. That means that they had to speak into horns. Right in their faces! Is that what happened? I couldn't imagine the audience being not distracted by it...
Princess May had a German title. Her mother was Princess Mary of Cambridge . Francis of Teck was the penniless son of the Duke Alexander of Wurtemburg (also related to the British royal family by marriage) by a morganatic marriage and had no rights to the Crown of Wurtemburg or income from thence. Pcs May was born and raised in the UK as a British Princess. No mention in any biography of a German accent at any time - "This" as Queen Victoria would have said " is what I call Twaddle!"
My dad and I look just like him and Félipe of Spain, since we descend from Queen Victoria... Thank you, for publishing this! Poor Georges, had to serve during both WWI and II, which I'm sure wasn't easy.
When I first heard this, I thought "Queen Mary doesn't have a German accent" but if you listen to it again - she does. Quite a distinct one actually. Now I know where the "posh" accent comes from - it's diluted for sure, but you can definitely hear it.
Rhys Hoffman What one notices in the aforementioned recording is not so much a German accent, but rather a German ‘gait’ to her English. She pronounces W as V, and V as F, which are German pronunciations of those consonants. It’s just enough to call her out on the matter, and is exceptional for a person born and raised within the United Kingdom.
NOw I'll tell you what is VERY RARE --- you try finding a copy of the cylinder recording made of King Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales ! The only known copy is unintelligible due to degradation and mildew. So find me a GOOD copy of good old KING TEDDY , either the one he made at he Paris Expo of 1900 , or the private recording he allegedly made around 1893 , then we can say VERY RARE !!
I have 5 copies of this speech on record. The British version (pictured in the video above) is very pretty. I see a post that mentions that the American version is on Victor records. The label on that version has just small pictures of the King and Queen. There's also a Canadian version that's somewhat similar to the British. Instead of mostly blue, the Canadian record is mostly pink, and very beautiful also.
@TolsmaLMC Yep. And King George V was also a cousin (not first coursin) of King Manoel II of Portugal... well, most of European monarchs were related somehow in those times, through the marriages of Christian of Denmark, Victoria of UK, or even the sisters and children of Wilhelm II of Germany.
Something is on TH-cam -- but we do not know if it actually is Queen Victoria or one of her ladies in waiting (or daughters) from the 1880's. Queen Victoria was notoriously shy and had a habit of speaking to people through others. But cleaned up experiments of a cylinder do exist if you search for it.
The records are available on eBay from time to time, I've seen the American version sell for as much as $70, with many bidders competing for it. I've also seen times when the bidding started as low as $9.99, and no takers. The American issue is the most common.. The Canadian version seems to be the rarest type; it's absolutely beautiful. Having all 3 versions in excellent condition, I can say that the American record has the best fidelity. It was made acoustically, not electrically.
Yes, and the dog and the grammaphone were atop a closed coffin where the man's dead body reposed. The coffin was deemed macabre ,even a deterrent from sales, so that detail was omitted.
You're an idiot. Queen Mary was born in Kensington Palace to a Austrian/German father and a mother who lived all but the first few years of her life in the UK. She was raised in the UK and didn't have a German accent.
What one notices in the aforementioned recording is not so much a German accent, but rather a German ‘gait’ to her English. She pronounces W as V, and V as F, which are German pronunciations of those consonants. It’s just enough to call her out on the matter, and is exceptional for a person born and raised within the United Kingdom.
@@humphreyblogut672 i sense the godfather of soul has touched a nerve in you sir. it isn't really an accent but there is definite inflections and rhythm to her speech (particularly at the beginning of her part) which sound quite German to me, as a British person with German friends.
I always thought it was cold of George V to deny his first cousin, the Tsar Nicholas, and his family some type of help during the revolution... I can understand the ramifications if George V had given them asylum in GB itself. Still, George V was powerful and could have possibly sent them somewhere... If not Nicholas and Alex, at least the children...
@Anyacat3 thank you for the info. I wonder why, if he is so anti-monarchy, he still wants to exploit their history! I assume you mean Albert who wed Victoria!
How interesting that none of the 18 previous comments were at all concerned with the contents of their majesties' speaches...just the accent with which they were spoken...how superficial you all are...
neat recording. but the very fact that Queen Mary talked about "making a happy home"......yeah right.....every book I have read about her.....very cold personality. fascinating to actually hear the voices though. good job
@@ericplunder2744 No actually it isn't .... There hasn't been a King or Queen of England for some centuries. If you pay attention to history you would probably know this.
if you wanted to be pedantic they are emperor and empress... "of England" is fine, it is true after all, even though it only made up a part of the monarchy. there's plenty of people in the Celtic nations and overseas territories who would be happy being recognised as separate kingdoms.
I personally always assumed she did sound 'English'. It was only after watching Stephen Poliakoff's film, in which she has a clear German accent, that I questioned it. Not sure why he chose to have Miranda Richardson play it like that, when evidence points to the contrary.
Queen Mary was distantly related to her husband George V . Both descended from mad king George III. There was a good deal of mixing with German lines. Dracula, Genghis Khan, duke Wacko of Spoleto, were also claimed as remote ancestors.
I can *sort of* hear the German accent here. I think many are listening for a Merkel-esque accent, but we have to remember, she wasn't German-born, just raised by a German mother and attendants. Many of her contemporaries and those of Queen Victoria's children noted the same sort of accent. There's no doubt her English was perfect, but I imagine there would have been a way that she said certain words that would have given away the "German element" (as Victoria called it). It may not have been a heavy accent, but notable nevertheless.
Perhaps you're hearing what you want to hear. I've listened to this very carefully and can't really detect a "German accent". Admittedly, the pronunciation of recorded British public figures in the 1920's sounds antiquated to our modern ears. Keep in mind that although Mary came from German stock (her father was a Wurtemburg Prince and her mother a great grand-daughter of George III) she was born in Kensington Palace in London and lived all her life in the U.K. Her mother was Princess Mary Adelaide, a daughter of the Duke of Cambridge. The revival of that title with Prince William is a gratifying modern link to the present Queen's beloved grandmother.
Again, I'm not hearing something akin to someone who was born and raised in Germany, but learned to speak English really well. I'm just saying with some of the words she says and the cadence of how she speaks sounds a little "continental" (that is to say: German). I've heard other recordings of other high-born Brits who would have been her contemporaries and she sounds a bit different to them. In the end, I think everyone hears what the "want" to hear to one extent or another. *shrugs* Either I've been listening to too many Brits or not enough Germans. hahaha
If you listen to her say “what” and “always”, it is very much tinted with German, her attack on the word “what“ in particular, comes from more sharply from above, compared to English
Queen Mary sounds quite English here. She was German, and brought up in the UK - but has anyone seen The Lost Prince? She still has a marked German accent in Miranda Richardson's portrayal of Mary in World War I.
PLEASE ! PLEASE !! PLEEEEASE !!! Why do you assume this record to be Very Rare ?? !! Probably because you haven't seen another copy !! Its actually not rare at all, it turns up all the time at specialist record collectors' fairs at around £5 a copy. Bear in mind , it was the first commercial issue of recordings of British Monarchy , indeed interesting as the only occasion on which Queen Mary permitted her voice to be recorded, thousands were made and sold !! Its not rare.
@fdhlytr67510 well then Indians have the older version of the upper class British accent PS: don't bother replying! I am not going to give a shit anyways =P
Amazing quality. It's nice to hear what George V actually sounded like.
It is, and same for his wife. I'm so happy that I know their voices. Even happier that they're giving advice to children.
To bad not many children now-a-days really pay any attention to this.
+britainluver431 yeah... I think I'm one of the few who do XD
Me too.
+britainluver431 :D
I think England really needs to hear this again, especially these last few days.
Some historians and commentators have claimed Queen Mary had a heavy German accent. I can't hear anything of the sort. They were just trying to be tricky. She had a lovely voice.
r wells I can hear a slight accent.
She actually did have a slight Teutonic/German pronunciation overall. How she speaks in this particular recording is very punctuated and not as easily detectable. I am just more aware because my grandmother is from Germany
She was British. She was born in Kensington and raised in Richmond. She spent time as a young woman in Florence. She identified, if anything, as a Londoner. Its a waste of time trying to define royalty of this period in narrow 'national' terms. European royalty were, in effect, pan national. That didn't stop their enemies or hostile propaganda from attempting to harness particular 'national' groupings to undermine the public standing or royalty. Consider how Marie Antionette was vilified as 'the Austrian woman' or the last Tsarina of Russia as 'the German woman'. Nearer to our own time, Queen Frederika of Greece was also attacked as 'the German'.
@zipZIP "The Brrritesh Commonvelth" - definately an accent there for sure.
What one notices in the aforementioned recording is not so much a German accent, but rather a German ‘gait’ to her English. She pronounces W as V, and V as F, which are German pronunciations of those consonants. It’s just enough to call her out on the matter, and is exceptional for a person born and raised within the United Kingdom.
Aah! Now I know their voices!
Amazing! What a cool thing to hear. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for this. Emperor and Empress of India ❤️
Rishabh Deb Emperor and Empress of India.
The B side of this record is George V's cover version of 'Ooh Stick You'.
Very interesting - both the King & Queen sound rather deliberate, annunciating their words with care. This is presumably because they wanted to be clearly understood in, what was for them, a new medium. Later the King adopted a fruitier more intimate tone in his Christmas broadcasts.These were very popular.
Queen Mary sounded more 'regal' than the King!; "Verry, verry cleepped"! I was also surprised by how high the Queen's voice was - I'd anticipated a more resonant timbre.
woooooow sooooo coooool thanx for putting this on : )
Queen Mary did not have a German accent at all as she was born and raised in England. She did spend two years in Italy as a teenager.
King George's voice can be heard on many many recordings that were made of him up until his death , chiefly by the Gramophone Company Ltd ( thats " His Master's Voice" to you and me ) most of which are easily obtainable at specialist record fairs for a few pounds per copy. Another bonus is that the records are genearlly in tip top condition as they didnt get a lot of wear from every day usage so to speak.
@kracken63 Actually it's stands for His MASTER'S Voice. It was taken from the title of a painting of the now-famous image of a dog listening to a gramaphone. Supposedly, after his brother's death, the original artist had inherited the dog and several recordings his brother had made. He noticed the dog was interested in the sound of "his master's voice" emanating from the horn and put it to canvas.
His voice was higher than I thought it was
I have a copy too. God bless the Empire
It would be well for today's generation to take to heart the message of these two very dedicated and self-sacrificing people.
Imperialist murderers
Those children they spoke to followed their word and helped win World War II. Incredible.
This is 1923, 2 years before Victor Recording Company created the Orthophonic Recording System. That means that they had to speak into horns. Right in their faces! Is that what happened? I couldn't imagine the audience being not distracted by it...
There was no audience. It was simply their majesties speaking in a sound conditioned room in Buckingham palace and then it was played back via radio
I have a victrola record of the 1903 speech to the boys and girls of the British empire...
George V was monarch of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India, not just England*
Princess May had a German title. Her mother was Princess Mary of Cambridge . Francis of Teck was the penniless son of the Duke Alexander of Wurtemburg (also related to the British royal family by marriage) by a morganatic marriage and had no rights to the Crown of Wurtemburg or income from thence. Pcs May was born and raised in the UK as a British Princess. No mention in any biography of a German accent at any time - "This" as Queen Victoria would have said " is what I call Twaddle!"
Recorded on March 28, 1923.
can i say that the film's actor made a good impression now? Loved btw...
My dad and I look just like him and Félipe of Spain, since we descend from Queen Victoria... Thank you, for publishing this! Poor Georges, had to serve during both WWI and II, which I'm sure wasn't easy.
Monsieur P. Oh cool do you still have a courtesy title?
How?
When I first heard this, I thought "Queen Mary doesn't have a German accent" but if you listen to it again - she does. Quite a distinct one actually. Now I know where the "posh" accent comes from - it's diluted for sure, but you can definitely hear it.
Rhys Hoffman What one notices in the aforementioned recording is not so much a German accent, but rather a German ‘gait’ to her English. She pronounces W as V, and V as F, which are German pronunciations of those consonants. It’s just enough to call her out on the matter, and is exceptional for a person born and raised within the United Kingdom.
This was also released in the United States on Victor. This HMV pressing
not only has a nicer label, but to my ears slightly smoother surface.
Its not the only recording of queen mary
NOw I'll tell you what is VERY RARE --- you try finding a copy of the cylinder recording made of King Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales ! The only known copy is unintelligible due to degradation and mildew. So find me a GOOD copy of good old KING TEDDY , either the one he made at he Paris Expo of 1900 , or the private recording he allegedly made around 1893 , then we can say VERY RARE !!
I have 5 copies of this speech on record. The British version (pictured in the video above) is very pretty.
I see a post that mentions that the American version is on Victor records. The label on that version has just small pictures of the King and Queen.
There's also a Canadian version that's somewhat similar to the British. Instead of mostly blue, the Canadian record is mostly pink, and very beautiful also.
ok
@TolsmaLMC Yep. And King George V was also a cousin (not first coursin) of King Manoel II of Portugal... well, most of European monarchs were related somehow in those times, through the marriages of Christian of Denmark, Victoria of UK, or even the sisters and children of Wilhelm II of Germany.
Wow that was amazing to hear, thanks for posting! Does anyone know where to hear the recording of Queen Victorias voice? I'd love to hear that one :)
Something is on TH-cam -- but we do not know if it actually is Queen Victoria or one of her ladies in waiting (or daughters) from the 1880's. Queen Victoria was notoriously shy and had a habit of speaking to people through others. But cleaned up experiments of a cylinder do exist if you search for it.
The records are available on eBay from time to time, I've seen the American version sell for as much as $70, with many bidders competing for it. I've also seen times when the bidding started as low as $9.99, and no takers.
The American issue is the most common.. The Canadian version seems to be the rarest type; it's absolutely beautiful.
Having all 3 versions in excellent condition, I can say that the American record has the best fidelity. It was made acoustically, not electrically.
how amazing!
He Sounds Just Like Kaiser Wilhelm in 1914 Giving The War speech
just a question to throw out there, I have this record,the 78 with the similar logo to the one above, in its original sleeve, are there rare?
I’m pretty sure she was raised in England, her mother was Princess Mary Adelaide Duchess of Teck
Yes, and the dog and the grammaphone were atop a closed coffin where the man's dead body reposed. The coffin was deemed macabre ,even a deterrent from sales, so that detail was omitted.
Wow really???
They don't sound anything like Tom Hollander and Miranda Richardson though!
@dan4lau I have made the digital transfer of this recording. Would post it some time later.
Recording made on Empire Day, 24th May 1923
hurray, world history class all over again
Queen Mary definitely did have a German accent, it’s so clipped
You're an idiot. Queen Mary was born in Kensington Palace to a Austrian/German father and a mother who lived all but the first few years of her life in the UK. She was raised in the UK and didn't have a German accent.
It sounds like a snobbish English accent to my ears.
What one notices in the aforementioned recording is not so much a German accent, but rather a German ‘gait’ to her English. She pronounces W as V, and V as F, which are German pronunciations of those consonants. It’s just enough to call her out on the matter, and is exceptional for a person born and raised within the United Kingdom.
@@humphreyblogut672 i sense the godfather of soul has touched a nerve in you sir. it isn't really an accent but there is definite inflections and rhythm to her speech (particularly at the beginning of her part) which sound quite German to me, as a British person with German friends.
I always thought it was cold of George V to deny his first cousin, the Tsar Nicholas, and his family some type of help during the revolution... I can understand the ramifications if George V had given them asylum in GB itself. Still, George V was powerful and could have possibly sent them somewhere... If not Nicholas and Alex, at least the children...
Does anyone know how much a copy of this record is worth.???
@Anyacat3 thank you for the info. I wonder why, if he is so anti-monarchy, he still wants to exploit their history! I assume you mean Albert who wed Victoria!
How come the video opens with Star Wars ?
EmmetEarwax aThe empire making a strike back ?
Bring it back
How interesting that none of the 18 previous comments were at all concerned with the contents of their majesties' speaches...just the accent with which they were spoken...how superficial you all are...
U can all so bye his recordings on I tunes
Her Royal & Imperial Majesty Queen Mary doesnt even have a German accent. Strange.
neat recording. but the very fact that Queen Mary talked about "making a happy home"......yeah right.....every book I have read about her.....very cold personality.
fascinating to actually hear the voices though. good job
It's Great Britain .. not England
lol
Well it is still correct to say King and Queen of England.
@@ericplunder2744 No actually it isn't .... There hasn't been a King or Queen of England for some centuries. If you pay attention to history you would probably know this.
if you wanted to be pedantic they are emperor and empress... "of England" is fine, it is true after all, even though it only made up a part of the monarchy. there's plenty of people in the Celtic nations and overseas territories who would be happy being recognised as separate kingdoms.
How rare is this recording on record??
Is it valuable??
any record this old is rather valuable...
No, it doesn't. It stands for His Master's Voice. Haven't you ever seen the trademark logo on a Victor or RCA-Victor record?
And to think, 16 years later the nation was plunged back into a horrible global conflict.
I personally always assumed she did sound 'English'. It was only after watching Stephen Poliakoff's film, in which she has a clear German accent, that I questioned it. Not sure why he chose to have Miranda Richardson play it like that, when evidence points to the contrary.
where did u get this recording from
@Dralcoffin They were first cousins :)
Queen Mary was distantly related to her husband George V . Both descended from mad king George III. There was a good deal of mixing with German lines. Dracula, Genghis Khan, duke Wacko of Spoleto, were also claimed as remote ancestors.
@miss42310 Well he was Emperor of India :D
This is not a German accent. It's very hedy posh palace/upper class English.
Is that real? Cool!
I have this recording myself
George V's mother and Nicolas II's mother were sisters
yes both women were the daughters of Danish King Christian IX.
I have 4 of them
God save the King
I can *sort of* hear the German accent here. I think many are listening for a Merkel-esque accent, but we have to remember, she wasn't German-born, just raised by a German mother and attendants. Many of her contemporaries and those of Queen Victoria's children noted the same sort of accent. There's no doubt her English was perfect, but I imagine there would have been a way that she said certain words that would have given away the "German element" (as Victoria called it). It may not have been a heavy accent, but notable nevertheless.
Perhaps you're hearing what you want to hear. I've listened to this very carefully and can't really detect a "German accent". Admittedly, the pronunciation of recorded British public figures in the 1920's sounds antiquated to our modern ears. Keep in mind that although Mary came from German stock (her father was a Wurtemburg Prince and her mother a great grand-daughter of George III) she was born in Kensington Palace in London and lived all her life in the U.K. Her mother was Princess Mary Adelaide, a daughter of the Duke of Cambridge. The revival of that title with Prince William is a gratifying modern link to the present Queen's beloved grandmother.
Again, I'm not hearing something akin to someone who was born and raised in Germany, but learned to speak English really well. I'm just saying with some of the words she says and the cadence of how she speaks sounds a little "continental" (that is to say: German). I've heard other recordings of other high-born Brits who would have been her contemporaries and she sounds a bit different to them. In the end, I think everyone hears what the "want" to hear to one extent or another. *shrugs* Either I've been listening to too many Brits or not enough Germans. hahaha
If you listen to her say “what” and “always”, it is very much tinted with German, her attack on the word “what“ in particular, comes from more sharply from above, compared to English
Me parto
This is running slightly too fast. I've posted a digitally restored copy at th-cam.com/video/1ysQr00MQsA/w-d-xo.html
To Christine Berry: What a very sad and ill-informed comment and a bit bitter-whatever you say!
Reccomended gang
Queen Mary sounds quite English here. She was German, and brought up in the UK - but has anyone seen The Lost Prince? She still has a marked German accent in Miranda Richardson's portrayal of Mary in World War I.
No disrespect to Queen Mary, I find it interesting that some Indian ladies' accent are similar to that of Queen Mary.
This is a racist statement.
PLEASE ! PLEASE !! PLEEEEASE !!! Why do you assume this record to be Very Rare ?? !! Probably because you haven't seen another copy !! Its actually not rare at all, it turns up all the time at specialist record collectors' fairs at around £5 a copy. Bear in mind , it was the first commercial issue of recordings of British Monarchy , indeed interesting as the only occasion on which Queen Mary permitted her voice to be recorded, thousands were made and sold !! Its not rare.
"Very rare" I'm afraid is purposely dishonest, like so much of what's written on the internet. It's just to get us to click.
It's not "very rare" if you were able to find it and put it on TH-cam 🤣
LOL!
The origin of royalty are the basques and our blood brothers the catalans(the trojans aka hebrews of the bible)The truth shall be known.
hahhahaha, thanks for that
@fdhlytr67510 well then Indians have the older version of the upper class British accent
PS: don't bother replying! I am not going to give a shit anyways =P
he sounds like an indian!