Queen of languages
QUESTION Did any of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s nine children speak fluent German? FOR generations, British royalty were required to find spouses who were both royal and Protestant, and so they had little choice but to marry German princes and princesses.
Queen Victoria was the daughter of George III’s fourth son, Edward, Duke of Kent. The duke and the king both died in 1820, and Victoria, often very lonely, was brought up by her mother, Victoria of SaxeCoburg, a German princess still trying to adjust to life in Britain.
At her mother’s instigation, Victoria learned some Western European languages and became fluent in French, German and Italian. Consequently, it’s believed Victoria and her German consort, Prince Albert, routinely spoke German at home.
Victoria and Albert’s first-born, the Princess Royal, Victoria (1840-1901), was a sickly child and her father’s favourite, and Albert undertook her early education himself, ensuring she was fluent in English, French and German. Subsequently, her education was taken up by various governesses. She married German Emperor Frederick III and was the mother of Kaiser Wilhelm.
Before Edward VII ( 1841- 1910) relinquished the title, he was Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as well as Duke of Saxony. Fluent in German and French, ‘Bertie’ took annual holidays in Biarritz and Marienbad. It’s often said he spoke with a slight German accent which became more pronounced when he was angry.
Princess Alice (1843-1878) married Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, and took over running her principality’s military hospitals during the Austrian-Prussian War.
Following the death of Edward (Prince Albert’s brother), Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, his nephew Prince Alfred became Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, moving to Germany to perform his royal duties. Scholarly Princess Helena (18461923) married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. She translated Prince Albert’s letters written in German into English for his biography.
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850-1942), was educated by private tutors before entering the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich at the age of 16. He married Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia.
Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (18531884), married Princess Helene Friederike, daughter of the reigning Prince of Waldeck Pymont. Princess Beatrice (1857-1944) married Prince Henry of Battenberg; after World War I, the family changed its name to Mountbatten.
Princess Louise (1848-1939) was the only child of Queen Victoria who didn’t marry a European prince or princess. She married John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne and Duke of Argyll, who later became Governor General of Canada. Canada’s Lake Louise is named after Princess Louise. She almost certainly knew some German but might not have been as fluent as her siblings.
Eric Lowes, Maidenhead, Berks.
QUESTION How are images transmitted back from Pluto to Earth? How long do they take to travel the distance? THE recent photographs taken of Pluto use similar digital photographic techniques to those used in digital cameras and mobile phones. The different intensity of light reflected from the planet, or dwarf planet as it is officially designated, on a scale from pure white to pure black (the absence of light) is converted into a digital code. This digital code is then used to ‘modulate’ a radio signal.
In simple terms, the digital code is used to make minute variations to the frequency of a radio signal in a way that can be decoded when it is received.
In order to speed up the transmission of a complete photograph, the digital code can be broken up and different sections used to modulate several radio signals at the same time.
The decoded signals are then recombined when they are received. In this form, they can be used to create electronic (TV) images or they can be printed onto paper. Radio signals are electromagnetic waves and as such they travel at the speed of light.
So if the distance between Earth and Pluto is known, then it is quite a simple calculation to work out how long it takes using the formula time = distance/speed.
The speed of light in a vacuum (space) is 299,792,458m per second. With the relative positions of the two planets, Pluto is currently about 4.7 billion km from Earth, so it takes the photographs approximately 15,678 seconds, or four hours 21 minutes, to reach Earth.
Pluto’s path around the Sun is highly eccentric, taking 248 years to complete its orbit. At its closest Pluto is 4.2 billion km from Earth and its furthest, 7.5 billion km.
Bob Dillon, Edinburgh.
QUESTION Does Channel 5 broadcast its cricket commentary to anyone ‘live’ or do the commentators do a whole game’s worth just for their highlights programme? THE Channel 5 commentary isn’t broadcast live to anyone else. The commentators do a whole game’s-worth for the highlights programme, but don’t generally comment on every ball as they would do if the commentary were being broadcast live. They don’t comment between balls unless there is a significant point to make.
Claire Wigington, Channel 5 London.
QUESTION Has anyone been accidentally left ashore during a cruise stop-off? FuRTHER to the earlier answers, a few years ago, we were on the Saga Ruby waiting to depart from Alesund in Norway. The departure time had passed and repeated announcements asked for a certain passenger to come forward.
A large crowd gathered on the upper decks hoping to see him rush up the gangway at the last moment. The ship waited as long as possible, a least half an hour, but reluctantly had no choice but to depart without him.
We’d not gone far when the horrified passenger rushed on to the quay — only to see us sailing away.
But that was not the end of the story. After a discussion with the shore authorities, the captain announced that the Norwegian pilot boat would helpfully bring the tardy passenger out to the moving ship.
We watched as the elderly man, secure in a life jacket, was brought up close, before having to ‘leap’ onto the moving ship and be hauled in by the waiting crew.
As he did so there was much clapping and cheering from the onlookers, and the captain announced that he hoped we’d enjoyed the afternoon’s ‘entertainment’. The man looked shaken and embarrassed, but it must have taken a lot of courage to make that jump.
Mrs C. Palmer, Somerton, Somerset.