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Can you think in history of national leaders (usually monarchs from other empires) who didn't speak the same language as their subjects?
Cleopatra comes close.
But she spoke several languages (Greek was her first) and likely spoke the local dialect, too.
Do colonies count?
The Belgians certainly did not speak any of Congo's languages - at least not at first.
The Mongolians forbade the speaking of the Mongolian language by anyone who was not Mongolian. It was an easy way to keep conquered people in the dark. But that doesn't really fit your requirement, either.
Warren G Harding was said to never be on the same page as everyone else. Carter, too. But that's a little different.
It's a tough one. Even Klingons spoke perfect English. Seemed a little lopsided, always, because even Spock didn't speak word one of Kling. But then he didn't rule, either.
Can you think in history of national leaders (usually monarchs from other empires) who didn't speak the same language as their subjects?
King John was the first King of England (1199-1216) fluent in English (what we now call Middle English) after the Norman invasion (1066). So monarchs William the Conqueror, William II, Henry I, Stephen, Matilda (who was never crowned but was effectively the ruler for a time during the Anarchy), Henry II, and Richard the Lionheart all ruled England but did not speak English. More recently, it is often claimed that George I - who reigned in the 18th century - did not speak English, but this is incorrect.
Of course, virtually no rulers speak the language of every last one of their constituents, and there are many countries that span numerous language communities. India comes to mind as a prime example.
How about Swiss leaders? Do they all speak German and French and Italian?
Stalin never lost his Georgian accent. And of course, the Soviet Union (like Imperial as well as modern Russian) has tens of millions of linguistic minorities speaking many languages, many of whom do not speak Russian.
President Martin Van Buren's native language was Dutch, and he did not learn English until he went off to school - he is the only U.S. President who was a non-native speaker of English.
If you are speaking of emperors, the answer would probably be all of them. No ruler could have spoken all the languages of lands under the control of Britain or other great empires. In the case of individual countries, George I of the UK comes to mind. From what I have read he never learned English.
Does Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's husband) who was German, count?
His English was probably a good bit better than her German. In their letters she used English when discussing any serious subject because, as she stated, her German was not up to it. Contrary to popular belief English was her mother tongue and the only one she was genuinely fluent in.
William of Orange (William III) was Dutch and grew up speaking Dutch and French. When he was invited to take the throne of England during the Glorious Revolution, he only then started to try and learn English. He mastered enough to just barely being able to communicate in that language and make some utterances in public when needed, but largely spoke in French when in private.
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