“The comedy of The King’s Speech is set in a surreal London at theturn of the 1920s and 1930s and centers on the events of Albert, thestuttering second son of King George V.After his father’s death, the shy and complexed Duke of York was notto ascend the throne of England. In fact, the eldest son was Edward,who did become king but, for love of Wallis Simpson, abdicatednot even a year later. To Bertie, or rather to Albert Frederick ArthurGeorge Windsor, fell the burden of the crown, becoming sovereignunder the name George VI.An atypical man who was a king much loved by the people, boundby true love to his wife: the strong-willed Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, andwho carried with him a burden of childhood constraints and a needfor affection hard to find in the anaffective pair of royal parents. Aninsecurity that expressed itself through a disabling stutter that wasimpossible to manage in the many embarrassing public speeches hewas required to make. In addition, George VI found himself to bethe voice of and for the British people at a difficult time in history, onthe eve of World War II.But what voice could he be or what leadership for the people? Sohe was taken by his wife to visit the Australian speech therapistLionel Logue, of maverick methods, able to probe souls andmedicate them, an actor missed by over-emphasis, taught the Dukeof York how to overcome the nightmare of public speaking. Logueimmediately demanded “thou” from the royal and subjected thefuture king to a treatment that drew on theatrical workshop as muchas psychoanalytic session and enabled him to take the throne
