The King's Speech

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So for this week’s blog assignment I watched The King's Speech.  It is the story of king George VI of Great Britain, while he was only Duke of York, and how he had to overcome a speech impediment to maintain his and the royal family's public appearance.  The film climaxes when he stands to inherit the throne after his brother, Edward VIII, abdicates, and war with Nazi Germany becomes inevitable.  

Winston Churchill and several other British politicians from the time, such as Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax appear in the film as minor characters, although their importance in the film is greatly exaggerated, as is their association with the king and his speaking problem.  They are merely placed in the film for the sake of having them in the film.

Several books, such as "The King's Speech" as well as some film reviews from the films release mention an array of historical inaccuracies that had been concocted to create drama and suspense for the film.  Such as the fact that Winston Churchill never consoled King George before he took the throne, as shown in the movie, or how Lord Halifax and several other high ranking politicians and generals were not present in the same room as king George went he made his speech declaring war on Germany.  Another source claims that the stutter that king George displayed in the film was not as bad in reality, but it was bad enough to effect his public life and the have the "Queen mother" (George VI's wife and Elizabeth II's mother) ask that the film not be made during her lifetime, as it brought up to many bad memories, the film was put off for 2 decades because of that, before being released in 2002.  Another point of exaggeration in the film was that it took years for king George to cure his stammer, just in time for his war speech, when in reality it took less than a year and the stammer was cured years before Britain declared war on Nazi Germany.

 

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=asMynSGBuaQC&oi=fnd&pg=PT3&dq=the+king%27s+speech&ots=UnPWZzhyVD&sig=8qPXLdf8r0W9jfVVqkBAEudoeHQ#v=onepage&q=churchill&f=false

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jan/09/how-historically-accurate-is-the-kings-speech?intcmp=239

 

http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110104/NEWS0107/101040314/1020&nav_category=

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/leicester/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_9377000/9377098.stm

 

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