Shortly after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex got married, there were videos on social media of Meghan interacting with people. Some wondered if Meghan had suddenly taken up a British accent now that she was a duchess. It became a thing, and a larger conversation about accents, and fake personas and whether people can help it when they’ve been living in another country for any length of time. To my ears, it sounded more like Meghan was trying to adopt a posh American accent, like she sounds more like Katherine Hepburn than the Queen.
Well, anyway, Meghan speaks on camera at length in Queen of the World, the multi-episode documentary which has access to all members of the royal family (except Kate, who was on maternity leave during filming) as they go about doing various activities. Meghan is on camera as she examines her wedding gown and veil post-wedding, as all of it is going on exhibit. Some people are suggesting that she’s got a British accent here as well.
Here’s the first episode, like the entire first episode. Around the 8:30-mark, you get to see Meghan interacting with Commonwealth representatives and such, and she clearly still has her American accent. Around the 10:30-mark, Meghan talks about her veil and wedding gown and… again, I’m not hearing anything but her soft California accent?
You know what I think it is? I’ll give people some minor credit: I think she does venture into a vaguely British-sounding accent *sometimes*… but I mainly think that she just has that actress-y habit of enunciating clearly and at times over-enunciating. That’s not the same as a British accent, but it’s probably more about Meghan being A) an actress and B) concerned that her natural California accent sounds slightly gauche to posh British ears, so she tries to just speak clearly and enunciate every word.
'She's losing her American accent!' Meghan fans are left baffled at the duchess's 'softer voice' in the Queen of the World documentary – with one comparing it to Madonna's distinctive lilt https://t.co/882v20gDsg
— Daily Mail Femail (@Femail) September 26, 2018
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
So I think we are going to hear her lose more of her American accent as the years go by, and as we have discussed here before, that’s pretty normal.
but I don’t think its happened yet. I think she is taking great care to speak clearly, and it comes across as trying to be “posh.”
Or just putting on her professional voice. We all have one or should.
One of my favorite parts of being in my office was when one of the women I adored still worked here. She had to deal with a lot of awful clients on the phone – she was the ‘go-to’ for escalations. I could always tell when someone was being especially awful to her on the phone because her voice got louder … but nicer and nicer sounding. She really took to the kill them with kindness mantra, and it was always so hilarious once I’d realized that the higher/louder and sweeter her voice got the more annoyed she was. She’d get off the phone and you’d just hear a huge sigh after.
My professional phone voice (luckily I’m not dealing with customer calls anymore) was definitely different than my normal voice. More confident, warmer, much more obviously enunciating everything. I live in a community with a good deal of Acadian French (I have a good chunk of that heritage on my moms side, but we don’t speak French) and after I’ve spent a lot of time with people who are speaking Frenglish I definitely catch myself saying things slightly differently.
Yep, we used to call this our “company’s coming over” accent, when my mom did it, straightened her posture, wore her nicest dress, etc. We all do it, sound more animated, etc.
Meghan sounds fine, I prefer her accent to the “transatlantic” American boarding school accent that sounds so affected. If you’re not certain what it sounds like, listen to Maude Lebowski in “The Big Lebowski” or the Cate Blanchett character in “Blue Jasmine”. BTW, her sister’s accent in that movie sounds New York, but Sally Hawkins actually is doing the old school San Francisco accent that was the city’s signature until the 1960’s when the rest of the country migrated to live in the Bay Area. It’s a shame Woody Allen is associated with an otherwise great film.
Yep, your community definitely impacts your accent. When I moved to the Northeast in America, I lost a lot of my “Southern-isms,” but when I travel down there for my job, a lot of times I find my old twang cropping back up in my speech. My friends tell me they can hear hints of my Southern roots in the way I say vowels, but it really comes out when I’m around native speakers. It’s natural to emulate the voices of those you’re around often as a way of ingratiating yourself socially, IMO.
Huh. I’ve read so many comments dragging Kate’s “posh” accent as phony and affected, Maybe she just picked it up because she lives with someone with a posh accent.
Kate’s posh accent does sound phony. No one sounds that way any more, not even the Queen (or William, whose accent is much more estuary than Kate’s). It’s like it’s from the 1930s.
Agreed. I went to university in London and lived in the UK for years and my voice changed. It was a very important documentary and naturally she was careful. I know Kate’s has been criticized and I don’t know if she’s nervous, which is fine and I would be too, but it is hard listening to Kate. Just as it is when I listen to someone working so hard, but it doesn’t mean I dislike her.
posted in the wrong place. *sigh*
I lived in England for three years in my 20s, and I talked like she does here within a year. And I’m not an actress with an ear for accents. It just happens. No one accused me of putting on a fake accent; they just told me my American one was “softening.”
I basically have none of my Irish accent anymore after living in the states for over 30 years.
yeah, my uncle has lived in the states for 30 years and he doesn’t have nearly as strong of an English accent has used to. It’s definitely Americanized.
I’ve been living abroad for the past ten years but always come back to the States at least once or twice a year and my accent does change while I’m in different places. Since I’m surrounded by different people with different native tongues and different accents, I start to speak a weird English. It happens.
Anyone who lives abroad understands this, but I imagine that those making a big deal over an “accent change” with Meghan are probably not well-traveled.
That being said, I don’t hear much of a change in her voice. But she’s in a professional setting, not yapping to her friends, so of course her tone of voice would fit that.
Meh, I think she still sounds American, but is beginning to pick up British inflection. I tend to do that, too, based on who I spend a lot of time with. My dad came to Canada when he was about nine and promptly dropped his English accent so he could fit in. He sounds pretty Canadian now to most people, but when he’s on the phone with his sister his British accent comes back in a hurray. I think that happens to lots of people – I don’t think she’s trying to sound posh, I think she’s just quick to pick up/mimic the patterns she hears daily (like most of us would).
I only hear an American accent in the couple of minutes I listened to.
She sounds like she did on Suits to me.
Yeah exactly, this is a stretch! She sounds American! And who cares anyway? I have been travelling full time for 3 years for work and my accent is a mess. I am Australian, but sometimes I sound British or American because I’ve had to speak a certain way to be understood in all the countries I’ve lived and after a while it sticks. I also have a really malleable accent. Also, when you drop local colloquialisms and slang your accent often sounds softer. When I go home or am around Aussies my original accent strengthens. I’ve known people whose accent naturally changes in 6 months to a year and I know people who’ve been living in another country for 30-40 years and still have their original accent undented. People are different! It is what it is. No doubt Meghan’s accent will change a bit over time, and who cares?
It’s very common for Americans living over here to speak as Meghan does here. They don’t lose their accents, necessarily, but they articulate more than Americans usually do. I have an American friend who said that she does it in self-defence, as her (English) husband used to say that she mumbled when she spoke.
True dat. A British friend of mine once said that Americans speak like they stuffed their mouths and said this is a sentiment shared by many people in the UK. Maybe Meghan having visited the UK a number of times (pre-Harry) has heart the same comment too so she tries to speak in a different way than she would usually speak. Plus, none of us really knows how Meghan used to speak with her British friends, maybe this is not a first for her? (Shrugs)
Having said that, I still don’t hear any British accent but Im not a very good judge of that since even Kate’s fake accent is lost to my ears so……
Not just the UK, my ex who is French used to say we speak like we have hot potatoes in our mouth haha. I object!
I have a hard time understanding the Queen and Charles when they speak. To me it sounds like they’re mumbling. And their jaws are so stiff. I’m surprised that is also said about Americans.
Americans talk fast, so slowing down your speech will make you enunciate better. I’m often on the phone with people from the deep South, I’m in California, so I find myself speaking slower and in turn they slow down too. I also find myself with an Southern accent by the end of the call. LOL
🙂👍
It’s quite possible that she’s starting to develop a British accent, as that’s mostly what she hears now; nothing fake about it.
yeah, I don’t hear anything but her American accent in that clip. I also think that she probably gets a very very slight British sound to her voice because she’s hearing it all day everyday. It happens.
No.
She sounds like she always did. Poised. If people expected her to have a a really broad accent they obviously have never heard her talk before.
I only hear her American accent, but Infully expect her to lose it over times.
As a Brit I couldn’t hear any British accent – to me she sounded American using that neutral accents that all American actors seem to have, thought there were a few points I could hear the California twang.
California twang? Like,OMG, totally! 😁😁
Oh, please. I’d tell those people to go watch a couple of her old Suits interviews. She sounds the same as always.
If you are talented or in particular have a musical ear, you do pick up accents quickly as you go without really meaning to. I haven’t seen Suits but I assume she is a decent actress.
I play guitar and violin. I’m always embarrassed at how quickly my accent changes.
this happens to me as well, I’m also a musician (guitar, mandolin and fiddle) so feel your pain!
No, she doesn’t sound British. People are ridiculous, and so pathetically eager to criticise her.
I’ve lived in the UK for 10 years and while I don’t have a British accent, I have changed some of my vocabulary and speech patterns because it’s ridiculous to hold on to a way of speaking that will just confuse the people you actually need to speak to. It’s the same as moving to a country with a different language and refusing to learn that language. I imagine that eventually Meghan will do the same as I did or maybe sound more British as some other expats do, but there’s nothing at all wrong with that. People need to ease the F up on her.
And god knows plenty of British people use American idioms and speech patterns from consuming so much American media. Accents, vocabulary and speech patterns change all the time, especially when you move to another country and are constantly surrounded by people who don’t sound like you.
Listen to her say, “orchid” and, “tour’…not a trace of a British accent.
No she doesn’t. She sounds the same like she always has.
No, and if she ever fakes one, it could never be worse than Madonnas fake accent
Hahaha! That’s exacty what I was thinking
I have the same thought!
Anyway I do think she will have a quasi English accent 10 years down.
To my ear it sounded as though she had a cold, her voice was a bit raspy here and there and she looked a bit pale. So my vote is no, she’s not affecting a British accent she just had a cold.
That’s what I thought too. She has the remnants of a cold or allergies and her voice is more hoarse than usual. But there’s no obvious British accent there.
lol that’s her natural skin colour. She over bronzes a lot.
It’s the Daily Mail using the FOX News tactic of reporting on other people’s supposed claims, rather than making the claims themselves, thus proviiding themselves cover and deniability (Some people are saying Rod Rosenstein is a lizard person, not us, some people.). The Daily Mail isn’t saying that she’s adopted a British accent, it’s merely pointing out that “Meghan fans” are “baffled” by her accent. They’re not implying that she’s affected and putting on airs, it’s her fans! They’re baffled! But she’s not exhibiting a hint of any accent other than her own? Hey it’s not us, it’s her fans!
You have offered no proof that Rob Rosenstein is NOT a lizard person, therefore, Fox must be correct, he is a lizard person. /s/
I don’t hear a British accent at all. She may develop one with time naturally, but it’s not there yet.
She sounds exactly the same as she always has. I’d expect her accent to change a bit the longer she stays here – she’s surrounded by Brits, and posh Brits at that, and seems very empathetic.
And as we know, Kate’s accent and speaking voice has changed enormously from her original, so I’d be surprised if Meghan’s isn’t at least a little different in 5-10 years time.
Nope, she still sounds American here. Tempest in a teapot. It’s true she’ll probably start to sound more British as the years go on, but that will take quite a long time.
I don’t understand how a full blown adult who has had the same accent all her life adopt an accent at this stage in their life. Unless ofcourse it’s done intentionally.
Mine has. And it’s not intentional, I’m a bit embarrassed by it. If your accent has stayed the same, well good for you, but moving abroad definitely changed my accent
My dad was a diplomat and we lived in many different countries and I get being influenced a little bit by other accents when you are around it…but I don’t believe that an adult can really adopt a new accent over a certain age.
Living in different countries for a brief period of time as a child is very different from permanently making your home in another country as an adult. I agree with veroS, I’ve known adults whose accents have unintentionally changed when they lived in different countries.
@Loopy
Yes it can–I am in Michigan, my sister lives in Tennessee, but is not native to it. She has very southern inflections to her voice, even though she only moved there during her adult life. For the first 25 years of her life, she had a “flat” accent. Now she is a lot more twangy.
Your accent isn’t hardcoded into your DNA – it is a result of those around you. Accents absolutely can and DO change over time.
Your accent is pretty much set by the time you’re 15. Anyone whose accent changes is because they unconsciously change their accent to fit in with those around them. People who basically are afraid to be different and stand out do this. It’s parroting and wanting to fit in.
Is it possible that the British press at large thought Meghan would be dropping her gs and since she doesn’t, she’s trying to adopt a British accent? Meghan’s accent sounds just about right to me. I was born in Jamaica and came to America in my teens. My Jamaican accent is GONE. Non-existent because I spent all my time with people who did not have an accent. It’s not fake when you’re around people who has a certain dialect to adopt it.
Everybody has an accent. What are you on about…
Come on.. She’s baselining an American accent as being no accent. As an immigrant, that’s what we do.
This is getting so annoying.Its like last time with that fake outrage over a supposed British accent she didnt even have.
Anyone that think she has a British accent dont know how a British accent sounds like/how Meghan sounds like.
She sounds just like she did on Suits. All I can hear is an American accent.
I’d never heard her speak before watching this last night, no trace of a British accent at all. My husband and I were both hugely impressed by the way she carries herself and how she interacts. She’s doing a super job under enormous pressure. She could talk like Dobby the house elf and I wouldn’t care. I would mute the tv, but I wouldn’t care.
So dumb that people pick up an accent after a short time. It was a joke to all of us ex pats in Europe. I’m fluent in 3 languages and speak with a normal American accent in English. Yet someone would come to study abroad (I lived in Florence, Paris, Copenhagen for 13 years- speak Danish and Italian fluently) and after a few months their English was afflicted —LOL.
You’re comment comes across as a bit rude. It happens to me and I can’t really help it and it’s a bit embarrassing. I don’t really pick up a new accent, but my accent does change and gets softer. Mine starts changing in less than a month.
Granted, English is my second language, but I moved to America quite young and have an American accent when I speak English. I go abroad and it gets less pronounced very quickly. Some people do just really change accents. And speaking multiple languages has nothing to do with your accent changing. I also speak three languages.
Wow, you’re so cultured (eye roll).
My husband is from Ireland and sounds almost entirely American after having lived in the states. So you imagine he’s pretending to speak with an American accent? On purpose? B, please.
well my husband is danish and we have lots of friends that never lost their accents from all over Europe- it’s just my experience and I’m sharing it.
It works both ways. I know Indians that migrate to the US and sound American and I know Indians that have lived here for 50 years and sound Indian.. depends on how much effort you make to assimilate?
My husband is Danish, lived there til he was 29.
Now he has a southern California accent.
You can’t hear the Danish at all.
I can hear it on some words after he talks to his mom in Danish on the phone.
But he’s just faking it right?
B, please
I’ve been living in Ireland for a month now. I was chatting to a gentleman and he asked where I’m from and I made some quip about how he could probably tell from my accent that I’m an American. Apparently not.
It’s happened to me before when I was living abroad in Europe before and would speak English to only British/Irish people and non native speakers. I’m not sure why, though if I get drunk apparently my accent goes very American and a bit country.
I think Meghan has my exact same problem. We’re not really putting on an accent, but our accents get much softer and less noticeable. It can be embarrassing because I worry people think I’m trying to do an accent.
The Osbournes never lost their accent. And they are in America forever. Even Kelly has such a strong british accent still.
Chavs always gon’ be chavs
She’s living in UK so it’s normal that she loses some of her American accent. People are really obsessed with her and her accent LOL
I sponge accents from people all the time. I have to make an effort not to do it, because I’m afraid people will think I’m making fun of them. I have no doubt if I were to move to a different geographic location, I’d be speaking a different accent–not a totally foreign accent, but definitely a heavily altered accent–within a year. If I were Meghan, I probably would have developed it just from being around Harry.
That said, I don’t really hear it from her (yet).
I would not fault her for picking up an accent, since she is surrounded by that accent all day, everyday. My 4 year old pronounces a few words with a British accent b/c of his deep and undying love for Peppa Pig. People pick things up without even realizing.
I don’t see anything wrong with it. She still talks like an American either way she is going to pick up on some of the lingo/accent as she is surrounded by it 24/7. Her critics are grasping at straws trying to put her down. I’ve been living here in the UK for four years now and some friends of mind who are not British have said that I sound like I have an English accent but then to some of my British friends and family here, they say I sound American. I have had to change my vocabulary to British as it’s just easy to communicate with others, stuff like lift/elevator, garbage can/bin, trash/rubbish, car park/parking lot and more.
I’ve lived in England for 3 years and nary a trace of an accent. Even my 4 year old child who attends Brisitsh school doesn’t have an accent…
A good friend of ours who is American and has been living in England for 25 years and who is married to an English woman doesn’t have any accent.
Perhaps it’s different for some people than others. I don’t care one way or the other. I’ve just always felt like it’s a choice.
You mean they don’t have a British accent. Everyone has an accent. And yes, some people pick up accents without intending to do so and others don’t. I don’t know why people think it’s the same way for everyone.
Yes Tina! We are all different. There is nothing wrong when someone’s accent changes, some people pick it up quickly, others don’t. It doesn’t make one or the other better.
Yet she lived in Toronto for how long? She never picked up an accent then.
Her job in Toronto required her to sound American.
Also, I feel that the Toronto accent sounds a lot like the neutral movie/TV American accent. We’re such a huge mosaic of languages and people that we don’t sound very distinct (in my opinion anyway).
I think Canadians overestimate their their accent is ‘different’ to American
I don’t think I’ve heard anyone ever sound as annoying as Madonna.
I also think there are as many Americans as British people who do speak clearly. I don’t think that’s a trait unique to British people. Do American’s sound like Hugh Grant? No. But the ones with the generic, flat newscaster accent (which. a fair amount of people have) generally sound clear.
She sounds like my mom, whose lived all over the U.S., lacking a regional accent and always speaks properly and enunciates.
She is fake. Get over it.
Her haters love this. She’s speaking clearly so it’s a ‘fake British accent’. Seriously they can have this if they want, so pathetic.
Seriously Megan haters will take anything even if it’s clearly as Day she doesn’t have British accent to attack her. She sounds exactly as she always does which is American
I have lived in the UK for 6 years as an American. My accent is described as a mid-American, but not even close to British. The hardest are the ‘a’ and the ‘o’ vowels on common words like bath or mask. For any American I’ve met who says bath or mask correctly, they are actively affecting their accent. That doesn’t change.
Again? Are we going to do this every few months? Last week she gave a three minute speech and did voice over for a video and there was nothing said about her accent changing, but now in an old video she’s put on an English one. No, she sounds like an American who’s speaking clearly. That’s it. Enunciation is not specific to English people and if watchers weren’t looking to hear one, they would never mistake this as an English accent.
I don’t think much of her (she gives me the social-climber vibe) BUT, all I have to do is watch UK tv and after a week, I’m speaking in their accent, and picking up the slang/phrases. I can’t shade someone for that when they are living there.
I’m a different person – I didn’t know this username was already in use haha. But she is a social climber. I just don’t find social climbing a negative thing. She definitely put in the work to social climb in Toronto, NYC and here in the UK. She only made friends & socialised with a certain class. She mirrors people effectively and slides into their world quite easily.
I’m Canadian and my husband is British. We’ve lived many years in both countries. Friends and family in both often commented on how we had unique accents that they couldn’t place, like hybrids. I can’t help it. Our kids can turn each on at will and don’t really have an “original” accent. They use whatever is suitable for the occasion. It’s a bit weird in our house!
I just can’t help but cringe a bit at these royal documentaries. The sycophancy and deference is just bizarre. It’s like national broadcasters lose all dignity and objectivity when covering the RF. I like Meghan a lot, but watching people curtsey to her (or any of the other royals) is just uncomfortable.
Yeah I watched a bit of it and switched over after about 5 minutes due to total boredom, complete drivel in this day and age.
On a sidenote, as an Irish person who lives in the British controlled state of N Ireland it amuses me greatly that for so many people around the world the English accent is generally referred to as British. As an NI citizen I have dual nationality and also the right to consider myself British or Irish, but British to me has always only ever meant English! It seems like most people agree with me subconsciously. A person from Scotland will always have a Scottish accent, Wales=Welsh, N Ireland = Irish, England= British or English interchangeably.
I studied in the UK for 18 months and I “lost” my Californian accent in six months! Whenever I called home my family teased me for sounding so different, but I wasn’t putting it on! Your accent can be fluid and people tend to adopt the same manner of speaking as their peers.
Ok I watched the video–she literally sounds EXACTLY the same. WTF? Much ado about NOTHING.
I think she would only sound truly British/English if she pronounced glass a certain way, which I don’t think she does. If she starts pronouncing glass a certain way, then I’d think she was faking an accent because I think it does take a certain degree of conscious effort to change your accent on a word like that.
Even though we share the same language, there is a difference between British English, Canadian English, and American English. By this, I mean that the 3 cultures have a tendency to focus on different definitions of the same word in common use. I am American. I was walking down the street with a British man when he said the phrase “nice bum”. I started looking around for a derelict and, not seeing one, I glanced at him to follow his line of sight. He was referring to the backside of the woman walking ahead of us. Even the little differences such as flat/apartment, lift/elevator, or boot/trunk would cause me to speak a bit slower to make sure I was selecting the preferred lingo for the people I was around to make sure they understood my meaning and intent. As similar as our cultures may be, there are still differences to navigate.
off topic, but the video starts with “no monarch in history has reigned longer.” are they specifically talking about UK history, because yes, she’s the longest reigning monarch in the UK but she’s not the longest reigning monarch in history. this is a common misconception i hear about her all the time.
also, i don’t hear a british accent.
It’s not fake. It’s just linguistics. You speak like those around you. The same thing happened to me when I went to school in the UK. I came home to the US and my friends were hella annoyed with my “Madonna” accent. It wore off in a couple of months.
I’ve been in the US for 17 years and while I still sound undeniably English, I’m much posher lol. If I spoke with my Norff London accent, I would struggle to be understood. Everyone I live with is American born.
I think she sounds posh American, she’s taken the edges off it to make it easier to listen to.
My four-year-old grandson loves to watch “Topsy and Tim”, and he’s started to speak with a British accent and use British words when he talks, lol. The first time I heard him say “mum takes out the rubbish” I almost died laughing!
Sorry to change the topic of this thread but I’m too offended by this whole ‘queen of the world’ nonsense to care what accent Megan is speaking with.
It’s awfully presumptious and colonialist to call Queen Elizabeth that (because no she is does not hold any real power at home nor abroad) and the entire concept of the ‘commonwealth’ is hugely offensive. (Besides the idea of royalty which is equally outdated and disturbing in a different way)
Most of the original inhabitants of the so-called commonwealth countries suffered a great deal under British rule back in the day , and I can’t understand how the UK would want to keep reminding people of that brutal history. This is even more arrogant than Trumps’s ‘America First’ BS in my opinion, and does the UK no favors.
I don’t like the title either. I can’t believe they thought that was a good idea.
I just watched it and kept wincing at the displays of wealth around Elizabeth. The regular people are the most compelling parts of the documentary and the royals float through in ridiculous displays of wealth and privilege. And there’s also that ridiculous cooing voice over every mundane thing just because there’s a member of the royal family on screen.
Agreed.
It’s so baffling how there’s virtually no serious journalism to be found on the royal family. You have the odd criticisms of individuals within the family, but nothing about the imperialism and inequality they signalize, symbolize etc.
So they get away with these sycophantic documentaries calling themselves Queen of the world (it has all been approved by the palace).
People need to clean their ears. She’s sounds just like she’s been sounding. Meghan has too many video interviews on YouTube for people to be saying this.
She’s not losing her American accent! I’m American and moved to Australia when I was 21, I’ve been here 10 years and still sound very American. It really pisses me off when I go home and people tell me I have a new accent. I know why it happens though, because I enunciate and articulate. By pronouncing my Ts, Ns and Gs people say I’ve acquired an accent because I don’t sound like a backwater hick. Also, no Australian has ever confused me for an Australian-English speaker. The first question I’m normally asked is what state I’m from. Meghan has a refined American accent, but it’s absolutely not British-sounding to me.
All I hear is an America accent.
She will always have her original accent, but of course the more she is around British people she will start blending it a bit but she will never lose her American accent.