In this lesson, I will teach you how to speak like the Queen. We will analyse the Queen’s pronunciation, as observed in her address to the nation (2020).

The queen’s upper-class accent is regarded as old-fashioned. Very few people speak like the queen, which is why you should only learn to speak like her for fun.

Speak Like the Queen by Changing your Pronunciation

The queen has many upper-class pronunciations in her speech. To speak like the queen, you must say the following words as follows:

  • The queen pronounces ‘carrying out’ /æ/ like ‘caring out’ /eə/.
  • She pronounces ‘lost’ /lɒst/ in an old-fashioned Heightened R.P. manner as /lɔːst/.
  • The word ‘resolute’ /ˈre.zə.luːt/ is pronounced by the queen as containing a yod /ˈre.zə.ljuːt/
  • For the queen, the word ‘essential /əˈsen.tʃəl/ is pronounced /ɪ.sen.ʃəl/
  • The word ‘medicines’ is pronounced in the upper-class way as being two syllables: /ˈmed.sɪnz/
  • The standard pronunciation of ‘prayer’ (n) is /preə/. The queen has her own unique pronunciation of this word, which contains an example of vowel smoothing /preɪə/.

The Upper-class Accent

Watch the video below for more examples of upper-class speech.


▶︎ Get a clear and confident accent by joining my Clear Accent course ✔︎

▶︎ Watch my video on upper-class accent examples.

Author

Jade Joddle grows your confidence and skill to shine when speaking English.

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