In wich european country the official language was not spoken by the majority of its population?

[Jacques de Imbelloni]

In the spanish colonies latin was the academic language, and a mandatory subject for anybody with advanced studies.
French and English was only favored by the elites after the second half of the XIX CENTURY.

[Not a Cop]

Official language is more or less the creation of XIX century, which became a thing in XX, before that most areas spoke local dialects.

[Ruggery]

In the spanish colonies latin was the academic language, and a mandatory subject for anybody with advanced studies.
French and English was only favored by the elites after the second half of the XIX CENTURY.

That was centuries ago, Latin stopped being used about 2 centuries ago.

[Jacques de Imbelloni]

bump

[Tongio]

That was centuries ago, Latin stopped being used about 2 centuries ago.

My grandparents learnt latin in school in the 40s/50s, aparently it was the norm in brasilian schools at the time.Doesn't need to make sense here in south america lol.

[Jacques de Imbelloni]

My grandparents learnt latin in school in the 40s/50s, aparently it was the norm in brasilian schools at the time.Doesn't need to make sense here in south america lol.

In catholic law colleges they learn canonical law in latin.

[Tongio]

In catholic law colleges they learn canonical law in latin.

Yes you are right so it kinda makes sense as at the time probably most schools were catholic.Good times, today schools force kids to take 4 shots of coronavac and deconstruct moral values.

[Ouistreham]

Belgium, from 1830 to 1919.

Though Dutch was spoken by at least 55% of the population, French was "more official" than Dutch because of the "census suffrage" system, whereby only (male) citizens above a given level of income were were allowed to vote. Since at that time money was mainly in Wallonia, Brussels and the (French speaking) upper classes of Antwerp and Ghent, most members of the parliament were French speakers, laws were debated in French, many were not even translated in Dutch.

Finland, 1810-1918.

The overwhelming majority of the Finnish nation has always been speaking Finnish, but the social elite was of Swedish origin and spoke accordingly. And since Finland was part of the Russian empire Russian was predominant in State administration and military affairs.
Still in the 40's, the Head of State Pdt Marshal Mannerheim spoke fluently Swedish (mother language) and Russian (he'd been a high ranking military officer), he was very good at German and French, but was barely able to utter a few clumsy sentences in Finnish!