- [last lines]
- Prince Albert: Your father used to call you his swan. At least I'm told. I think that's a good thing to remember. Think what it means to be a swan. To glide like a dream on the smooth surface of the lake and never go on the shore. On dry land, where ordinary people walk, the swan is awkward. Even ridiculous. When she waddles up the bank, she painfully resembles a different kind of bird, n'est-ce pas?
- Princess Alexandra: A goose.
- Prince Albert: I'm afraid so. So there she must stay. Out on the lake. Silent White. Majestic. Be a bird but never fly. Know one song but never sing it. Until the moment of her death. And so it must be for you, Alexandra. Head high. Cool indifference to the staring crowds along the bank. And the song - Never.
- Princess Alexandra: Take me inside, Albert.
- [Albert takes her hand, and they go inside the palace together]
- Queen Maria Dominika: [to Beatrix, about Napoleon] My dear I have a book. I shall send it to you, it's most comforting. It proves conclusively that Napoleon never existed!
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: I never dared to think that you could give your love to me. But can you blame me now if I want to... if I want to take you and carry you off into the darkness out there? Close your eyes.
- [Alexandra passionately kisses Agi]
- Prince Albert: That's a different matter. That's a completely different matter altogether.
- Princess Beatrix: My dear child, how do you suppose I came to marry your father? You can't think a man just gets an idea into his head and asks a woman to marry him? Of course not! All your father ever cared for was horses. He wouldn't even look at me. So I looked once or twice at the riding master. Your father proposed the very next afternoon - on horseback.
- Princess Alexandra: You should talk to me about the stars.
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: With the greatest of pleasure.
- Prince Albert: I always wish I had an appetite like the Bourbons. You know, Louis XV once ate 10 cutlets at a sitting. Or was it Louis X and 15 cutlets?
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: A fencer is always in danger of revealing his intentions to his adversary - and that he must never do.
- Captain Wunderlich: What was she called?
- Symphorosa: Oh, I can't remember.
- Princess Beatrix: Yes you can dear, "Elaina the Iceburg."
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: You're so sweet and so beautiful...
- Princess Alexandra: Don't come any closer Nicholas... I've never seen a man in love and... he happens to be in love with me.
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: Are you so afraid of me?
- Princess Alexandra: Oh, if I am I want always to be afraid. I want to be so good to you. I want a hundred things. I want to tell you everything that's in my heart... I want to look after you and spoil you and... oh, eat something.
- Father Carl Hyacinth: Your royal highness, you bring honor and glory to the house.
- Queen Maria Dominika: Also my pickled beets.
- Princess Beatrix: [very perturbed about Prince Albert spending much of the day observing mechanized milking machines in the estate's dairy barn] I should think that machine is quite worn out, say nothing of the cows.
- Princess Beatrix: I noticed the roses are already beginning to bloom.
- Head Gardener: They're just at their best, your highness.
- Princess Beatrix: I don't want them at their best until the day after tomorrow. Hold them back.
- Princess Beatrix: [a soccer ball bounces through a window onto the hallway floor] That tutor. He has no control over the boys whatsoever.
- Symphorosa: Nor the ball either.
- [sic]
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: I'm not hungry, Alexandra. I'm thirsty.
- Princess Alexandra: You want some wine?
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: I'm thirsty for your lips, for your eyes, for that moment when we can't even speak.
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: It's easy to be clearheaded in the morning when the sun is shining.
- Princess Alexandra: And not the stars?
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: Not the stars.
- Princess Beatrix: Must you still write with a feather? This is the 20th century.
- Symphorosa: I don't like the 20th century.
- Princess Beatrix: [to Dr. Nicholas Agi] You're here to give the boys an education, not to fill their heads with a lot of historical gossip.
- Princess Beatrix: A queen can't afford to be shy. She can never be humiliated. She's above it and beyond it.
- George: Cousin Albert's a crown prince, isn't he? So Alexandra will be a crown Princess. So one day she'll be a queen!
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: [during a fencing lesson] Your highness, this morning we're going to practice the art of making a feint - the sham attack followed by a genuine one in another quarter. The offenser is always in danger of revealing his intentions to his adversary, and that he must never do. His opponent must never know from one moment to the next what he is thinking. Like everything else, it's a question of practice.
- Princess Beatrix: Remember how her poor father used to call her his swan? "My proud, white swan," he used to say, and that's how she is, so dignified, so silent, so regal.
- Princess Alexandra: Poor cousin Albert was resting. After all, the bass viol is really quite strenuous.
- Princess Beatrix: Albert, we're serving a little aperitif now and then supper. I thought you'd prefer it privately, just the family.
- Prince Albert: The family circle. Delightful. Give me circles every time. Triangles are such a bore, eh?
- Prince Albert: And you know nothing at all about music? Then I must congratulate you on your courage.
- Dr. Nicholas Agi: I fail to see why, your royal highness.
- Prince Albert: Do you? I doubt if many a practiced performer would try to take part in a duet, a trio, and a full orchestra all at the same time.
- Queen Maria Dominika: Silence! Boys, behave yourselves. This is not a Republic! Now, come and greet me. I am your sovereign and also your aunt once removed. You should respect them both.
- Father Carl Hyacinth: Albert, you're not just a prince. You're a gentleman.
- Prince Albert: I'm a liar, too. I may also be an idiot.
- Princess Beatrix: Oh my dear child, this is the one thing, the one opportunity that all your life I've been praying for - for you to become a queen.
- Princess Beatrix: It's happened! Just when I'd given up *all* hope.
- Symphorosa: What is it dear? Someone died?
- Princess Beatrix: Its so awkward without a man in the house. A man can help in so many ways.
- Symphorosa: So many ways.
- Princess Beatrix: You must prove to Albert in these four days that you have all the qualities he's looking for in a wife, a wife who'll share his throne one day. You must be gracious and dignified, warm and charming and amusing. Oh, I know he's seen a great deal more of life than you, but you can make that an advantage, too. Let him see how sweet and unspoiled you are, and, darling, you must try your hardest not to be shy. Men don't like it, especially a man like Albert. After all, that's one of the first duties of a queen. She always puts other people at their ease.
- Princess Beatrix: Oh, my dear boy. You look splendidly well, and what a change from the little Albert I remember.
- Captain Wunderlich: Captain Wunderlich, your highness. His royal highness sends word he will be down in a few moments.
- Prince Albert: Cousin Alexandra was, uh, well, uh, she was something of an icicle, and I was, um, what was I?
- Father Carl Hyacinth: A fish.
- Queen Maria Dominika: Fish?
- Prince Albert: Yes, I suppose I was.
- Father Carl Hyacinth: Mind you, one that we're all devoted to.
- Prince Albert: An icicle and a fish. Not much chance of warmth there.
- Queen Maria Dominika: My dear, I have a book. I shall send it to you. It's most comforting. It proves conclusively that Napoleon never existed.