According to Express, Queen Elizabeth studied French with a tutor during her childhood. The tutor had the young princess “write out endless columns of verbs.” One French language expert said the queen had an “excellent” handle on the language while reading a speech, but wasn’t confident she was as fluent as she could be when it comes to an in-real-life conversation. 

Camille Chevalier-Karfi told Express, “Her reading skills were excellent — both pronunciation and rhythm were very good, but you could feel she was quite tense. I was impressed by the quality of her French (yet, I bet she could read a speech in Chinese if need be…). No stuttering pour la reine.” Cevalier-Karfi also commented on clips she watched of Queen Elizabeth having a casual conversation in French. She said, “She seems to be understanding basic conversation and can read a speech perfectly, but I don’t know how would she manage a whole conversation or watching a movie in French.”

Still, at 95 years old, the queen seems to have done just fine, so far.