I've often wondered about the issue of language, when it came to foreign royal marriages. Until World War I, the norm was to marry *equally*, meaning one's own kind: even if the spouse was a blood relation, the said person was typically a foreigner who came from a country speaking another language. Princesses, in particular, have typically been the ones to uproot themselves -- leaving their native countries to marry foreign royals and settle in their husbands' lands.

Were the children of Queen Victoria taught the German language, along with their native English, when growing up? I ask this because six of them married German royals, some of whom settle in the UK. I also wonder about communication involving the Danish and Russian born daughters-in-law, who married her eldest sons. How long did it take for foreigners to learn English?

Or, viewing the matter from the opposite angle, I wonder how British princesses fared, when marrying to the Dutch or Scandinavian royal families. I'm led to think of Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Wales (who married King Christian VII of Denmark), the Princess Royal (Anne, eldest daughter of King George II), Princess Maud of Wales (youngest daughter of King Edward VII), among others.

There is something to be said of *equal* marriages, when both parties bring the same amount to the table in terms of royal heritage, albeit of different backgrounds. It has been said that Infanta Amalia Filippina of Spain (1834-1905), who in 1856 married Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (youngest son of King Ludwig I), never forgot her Spanish royal roots. Indeed, she remained forever proud of her heritage. In fact, she even taught her children the Spanish language, which all five learned to speak fluently.

Does this mean that the said children grew up speaking one language (German) with one parent (their father), and the other language (Spanish) with their other parent (their mother)? I'm not sure if Prince Adalbert ever learned to speak his wife's native language: it presumably would not have been necessary, since she was the one who settled in his native land, not the other way around. One presumes, however, that she eventually picked up the German language, as a result of residing in Bavaria for nearly 50 years. It must have been a struggle, since the two languages are worlds apart (it's not like a fluent Spanish speaker learning, say, French or Italian).