Comments by "Keit Hammleter" (@keithammleter3824) on "Elizabeth Starts Leveraging Her Power | The Crown (Claire Foy, John Lithgow, Matt Smith)" video.

@DCFunBud My mother was English - she was raised in Surrey. I was born and raised in Australia. Presumably due to my mother, I find all British accents of England pleasant to the ear and easy to understand. I don't find American accents pleasant or so easy to understand. Received English is not an invented or artificial accent. It is what arose in certain prestiguous public schools about 100 years ago, and is what naturally resulted from mixing boys of well-to-do parents with university classically educated teachers. Somewhat similar to a university accent I acquired on attending university in Australia (which over the years I have lost) Received English pronunciation was adopted by the BBC as they thought pre-war it was their role to educate and improve the British population, and make their radio stations recognisable from other broadcasters. A somewhat similar view was held by the equivalent ABC in Australia, who broadcast classical music all day that nobody listened to, and taught their presenters to speak a sort of "correct" educated Australian accent. I do agree that Recieved English is a marvelous beautiful accent, and the actress in this video clip speaks it very well. However, in real life the younger Queen spoke a different accent, which comedians made fun of, as did my mother - sometimes saying "Mai husband and eye ....." and "ears" for yes if she thought you were putting on airs.
1