Stephen Clarke is a journalist and writer specializing in the British royal family.
Scientific curator of the permanent exhibition of the Cultural Center of the Entente Cordiale de Condette, he is the author of the biography
Edward VII, an English king made in France
(Albin Michel), and of
Elizabeth II or sovereign humor
(Albin Michel).
To discover
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LE FIGARO.
- Did Elizabeth II have a particular way of addressing her subjects?
Stephen CLARKE.
-
At the beginning of her reign in particular, when Elizabeth II spoke in public, her accent was very distinctive.
She had a high-society way of speaking.
At a time when social classes were very distinct in Britain, it seemed like she had never met people from any group other than her own.
This has sometimes earned him some teasing.
But over time, the Queen's accent softened.
She confined herself to speaking the English of a well-educated woman.
His Christmas speeches, for example, were still as formal as when he first started out, but his demeanor and expression were very poised.
His language was not excluding,
alienated
as they say in English, as he could have been.
What was the purpose of such a change?
Since the death of Princess Diana, Elizabeth II understood that she had to be much closer to the people.
She began to smile more and to stage herself in humorous videos.
The latest is an interview with Paddington Bear.
Having understood that to survive, the royal family had to attract the good graces of the people, it was a gesture of rapprochement.
With the rise of television and radio already, the Windsors had learned to express themselves in the same way as the rest of the population.
Today, Prince William, for example, talks like any well-educated boy of his age.
It is a pride for the royal family to know the language of their ancestor William the Conqueror
stephen clarke
What is the new monarch's way of expressing himself?
Charles III expresses himself more like his mother than like his sons.
In English sometimes, we do not pronounce the "t", a bit like the Americans.
Princes William and Harry do this, Charles does not.
He measures almost every syllable, and speaks to others as a BBC presenter might in perfect English.
Like Elizabeth II, he is also fluent in French.
He pays great attention to grammar, which he studied from an early age, and it is a source of pride for him and for the rest of the family to know the language of their ancestor William the Conqueror.
For the British people, whose anthem celebrates the crowned head, what will change the passage from
God Save the Queen
to
God save the King
?
It's a very strange change that the UK is about to experience, as almost everyone has experienced the anthem as such.
It is intimately linked to Elizabeth II, to her memory.
To no longer hear it in this version marks the entry into a new era.
An era in which you have to become familiar with the new monarch.
But the same thing happened in 1952: suddenly, after three kings, a queen came to power.
Brits should expect to be claiming
God save the King
for at least two generations now.