Queen Elizabeth began learning Hungarian in 1863 against the will of her husband and her mother-in-law. She and her companion, Ida, soon began using the Hungarian language to communicate secrets among themselves. Ida had to be present when Elizabeth’s hair was being brushed or washed so that Elizabeth did not waste time. However, their discussions in Hungarian were not understood by the hairdressers and the maids - wrote the historian Brigitte Hamann.