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Is England’s future Queen Kate following in the footsteps of Queen Elizabeth I ?

Kate Middleton delights the crowds and is applauded for Welsh lessons

24 February 2011 - Kate Middleton's singing of the Welsh national anthem on her first official visit with Prince William has been praised. Prince William's fiancée smiled as she sang Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau at the launch of a new RNLI lifeboat in Anglesey, North Wales.

Meirion Prys Jones, chief executive of the Welsh Language Board, said: "I welcome the fact that the media is reporting that Kate Middleton seems to have had some Welsh lessons in the run-up to her wedding. I hope these lessons have given her a taste of the language and that she will continue with them.”

Perhaps Kate will follow in the footsteps of some of Britain’s monarchs who were gifted linguists, notably the multilingual Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) who had a phenomenal ability to grasp and retain exotic languages.

By the age of 11, Elizabeth was able to speak six languages fluently. When ambassadors and statesmen called upon the royal family, Elizabeth brilliantly addressed them in their native tongues. Elizabeth I was fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, German and Greek, and was conversant in Welsh and Portuguese.