Then add in all the many Scots accents and dialects, Scots Gaelic, Welsh and Welsh-accented English. Hardly anyone speaks RP (received pronunciation, ie posh) any more. Even the royals have toned it down. The late queen was really plummy back in the 50s.
https://youtu.be/Ga-UcoJzsHg
Interesting, her accent has really changed a lot to become more regular sounding. I would guess in the old recording she was actively putting on the ridiculous accent, because the royals are all about projecting a posh image. Like i bet she did a lot of elocution training to purposely teach her how to sound that way
Her whole family and their aristocratic social circle spoke like that, she grew up speaking like that. She’s not putting it on, that’s who she was. The growing pressure for royalty to be less aloof forced a gradual move to more “normal” speech from about the 70s. At the same time, broadcasters were starting to hire people with (gasp) regional accents. Previously anyone aspiring to be a newsreader etc had to speak RP, “the queen’s English”.
Then add in all the many Scots accents and dialects, Scots Gaelic, Welsh and Welsh-accented English. Hardly anyone speaks RP (received pronunciation, ie posh) any more. Even the royals have toned it down. The late queen was really plummy back in the 50s. https://youtu.be/Ga-UcoJzsHg
Interesting, her accent has really changed a lot to become more regular sounding. I would guess in the old recording she was actively putting on the ridiculous accent, because the royals are all about projecting a posh image. Like i bet she did a lot of elocution training to purposely teach her how to sound that way
Her whole family and their aristocratic social circle spoke like that, she grew up speaking like that. She’s not putting it on, that’s who she was. The growing pressure for royalty to be less aloof forced a gradual move to more “normal” speech from about the 70s. At the same time, broadcasters were starting to hire people with (gasp) regional accents. Previously anyone aspiring to be a newsreader etc had to speak RP, “the queen’s English”.