The King's Speech

After his brother's abdication thrusts him unexpectedly onto the throne, King George VI enlists unconventional Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue to help him overcome a severe stammer. Their unlikely friendship culminates in the King's crucial 1939 radio address to the nation upon Britain's declaration of war.

King George VI became monarch after the 1936 abdication of Edward VIII and worked for years with speech therapist Lionel Logue; his September 1939 radio broadcast announcing Britain's entry into the war was a pivotal moment of wartime leadership and public reassurance.

Broadly accurate to the real relationship between George VI and Logue, though some details of the King's speech impediment's severity and the timeline of their sessions are dramatized.

Directed by Tom Hooper

Cast: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi

Positioned at 1925–1939 within the Prewar Britain phase of the war, as part of the Prewar diplomacy. This is entry 1 of 150 in the chronological archive.

• King George VI
• Lionel Logue
• declaration of war
• British monarchy

• 

  Atonement

  1935–1940

• 

  The Gathering Storm

  1934–May 1940

• 

  Munich: The Edge of War

  22–30 September 1938

• 

  Darkest Hour

  10 May – 4 June 1940

• 

  Their Finest

  1940–1941

• 

  Hope and Glory

  September 1940 – May 1941