The King's Speech

Colin Firth plays Albert, Duke of York, who will become King George VI, but getting there apparently took a bit of doing. Geoffrey Rush plays Lionel Logue; Helena Bonham Carter plays Elizabeth, the woman I think of as the Queen Mum; Michael Gambon plays King George V; and Guy Pearce plays the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, later still the Duke of Windsor. Oh, and Robert Portal played Equerry, although I have no clue what or who that was.

It's my understanding that much of the movie is historically correct. I did not know that King George VI stammered. And that's the thrust of the movie. Played out against Hitler and the onset of World War II, the drama of his stammer is more important than one would have expected, and the climax of the movie is King George's first speech as king of the British Empire announcing the state of war between England and Germany. (I hope this is not a spoiler for you.)

The movie revolves around the relationship between Albert, Duke of York and Lionel Logue. There were no transcripts of their training sessions, of course, so what exactly happened seems to me to be based on creative license, although a member of the Logue family served as advisor to the filmmakers and Logue kept diaries and wrote letters. Not much is known of his techniques for working with stammerers, but the movie suggests that Logue worked with his clients as friend and confidante. As Logue works with the future king, we learn that his father (George V) pressured all his sons into becoming more like the father. This pressure and several other problems seem to have lead Albert to stammer.

The movie unfolds with considerable humor and much warmth. The two protagonists spar, as the Duke of York is unaccustomed to familiarity from anyone, much less an Australian commoner, but they find a common ground based on trust. It's almost a boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl plot as the Duke learns Logue is not a doctor and has no credentials. But Logue regains Albert's trust, and the movie builds to the climactic scene where the newly-crowned George VI makes his inaugural speech to his subjects. The moment is beautifully done with great musical accompaniment. Despite the seeming lack of interest and drama, the film is interesting and dramatic. The film is well done and worth seeing, even though it lacks gunfights and narrow escapes from alien thugs.

And now a moment's worth of historical context:

The oldest brother (at the beginning of the movie he's the Prince of Wales) is first in line to succeed his father. The effects of George V's pressures on his older son are more subtle than Albert's. The real Edward was linked romantically to several older women, most (perhaps all) of them married. His last affair was with an American woman named Wallis Simpson, who was divorced from her first husband and married to her second when her affair with Edward began. His family strongly disapproved.

King George V was working with other European leaders to staunch the bloodletting Hitler was causing, mostly by what has been called a policy of appeasement: give Hitler what he wants and hope he stops. Hitler, however, was an immoral sociopath who wanted only one thing: more. Eventually, Stanley Baldwin then Neville Chamberlain failed as Prime Ministers to stop Hitler's aggressions and demands.

We need to keep in mind that during the Great War (now known as World War I), Great Britain lost an entire generation of young men in war -- a loss the English did not wish to repeat. It was very much in the interests of the citizens of the Commonwealth to avoid war at almost all costs. In the film, Logue's sons appear to be of draft age, so the potential loss of his children is quite real. We think today of Churchill as the speaker of Britain's anguish and desires, but the monarch was expected to rally the citizens and be the mainstay of a nation very much against war should war break out.

George V was very much up to the task, making the first radio broadcast by a British monarch and requiring his two sons to do so as well. The Prince of Wales had no stammer, but the Duke of York had a severe problem. His wife, Elizabeth, encouraged him to see doctors, and he was plagued more by them than he was by the stammer, which remained despite all treatment. Eventually Elizabeth was led to Logue, who convinced Albert that he could be cured.

George V died in 1936 at the height of tensions in Europe, which saw Nazi Germany swallowing countries with the consent of other countries and rearming in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. The Prince of Wales became King Edward VIII. However, Edward refused to renounce his affair with Mrs. Simpson and instead announced that he would marry her. The King of England is titular head of the Church of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Prime Minister stated that the marriage was not acceptable; if Edward married Mrs. Simpson (her divorce was in the works), the prime minister would resign and no one would take his place, causing the government to fall. Edward decided he could not give her up, and he chose to abdicate. Edward was named the Duke of Windsor and after his marriage his wife was the Duchess of Windsor.

During this time, Princess Elizabeth (daughter of Albert and Elizabeth) was about 10 years of age. What impressions this made on her I do not know. However, I can't help but think that the current Prince of Wales, Charles, and his marriage to Princess Diana and his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, followed by his marriage to Camilla after the divorce from Diana and her death, has reminded Queen Elizabeth II of the crisis involving her father and his older brother.

King George VI developed lung cancer (an irony you'll appreciate after seeing the movie) and died in 1952 from coronary thrombosis at the age of 56. Elizabeth succeeded him at the age of 26. At 84, she has given no indication of resigning, allowing Charles to ascend to the throne; he is 62. The Queen Mum died at the age of 101; Queen Elizabeth II may have a long rule ahead of her yet.