The King's speech

He wasn't a great military leader and possessed no compelling charisma. He was happiest when out in the country fishing and hunting, able to forget for a brief while that he was forever bound to the role of king and sovereign.


The feature film "The King's speech" revolves around Britain's most unwilling monarch, George VI. Perceived as dour and dull, he was thrust to the position he dreaded most by his brother and predecessor Edward VII's infatuation with an American divorcee. After a few month's reign, Edward chose romance over royal duty, and abdicated in favour of his shy and stammering younger brother.


Tormented by his speech impediment since childhood, the unwilling monarch eventually partially overcame his stuttering. Courtesy of an Australian autodidact and speech therapist, he received the help he badly needed. And so it came to be that this highly public figure at last could deliver the hated public speeches successfully, speeches that would lift and inspire a war-weary population.


Having watched the film, I cannot help but admire the king as well as the speech therapist. George VI faced his personal demon and the heavy load of a troubled childhood, and aided by a will of steel he triumphed in that he rose to became a loved and cherished monarch, despite the bad odds and in spite of his introvert and reticent personality. He bore a burden he never wished to shoulder with grace and determination throughout sixteen long years.


Here's to George, a man who longed to be private, but was birthed into a merciless public role. Here's to a man who conquered not continents, but a massive personal obstacle. A brave man, indeed.