56 pages • 1 hour read
Mark Logue , Peter ConradiThe King's Speech
Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
King George VI/the Duke of York/Bertie
King George VI, the Duke of York, or Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor is a character with many names. He is the King who features in the title of the book, whose speech impediment poses a threat to his ability to rule Great Britain and the British Empire. Bertie, as he is known to his wife and his close friends, is a reluctant and unexpected King, thrust into the role by the abdication of his older brother. Even though he is King during one of the most difficult periods in British history, he is nearly defined by his stammer and his attempts to overcome this issue.
The King’s stammer is his defining trait. His reluctance and inability to speak in public lead to him becoming a shy, serious, and retiring young man. Reports of his difficulties in delivering speeches are found in newspapers and books; even before he has entered the public sphere as an adult, his speech impediment precedes him. Thus, his stammer comes to define him. Bertie is known as the stammering royal, who finds talking and public speaking so difficult. His stammer is written about in Time magazine and he is added to the “roll call of prominent names” (18) throughout history who have suffered from such an affliction. Even on the morning of the King’s coronation—quite literally his crowning achievement—he is plagued by worry about the speeches he will have to give. Everything about his character stems from the speech difficulty.
Despite this problem, however, the King is shown to be a fundamentally good person. He is described as “deeply religious” (17), and in Logue’s diaries, he is rarely described in anything less than glowing terms. The King is steadily able to overcome his stammer through sheer will and determination. While meeting Logue for the first time, the King is told that he can be cured. However, this will only be possible if he applies himself. This is exactly what he does. He adheres to the practices and techniques laid out by Logue with the kind of fundamentalist belief that might only be achieved by the deeply religious. He takes on Logue’s teachings as his very own bible, living an almost monastic existence wherein he is dedicated to overcoming his own affliction. The audience gives the King their sympathies when witnessing the extreme hard work he applies to bettering himself. Though King George VI is defined by his stammer, the book shows how hard work, determination, and a strong friendship can help him overcome this problem.
Lionel Logue
As one of the world’s first and foremost speech therapists, Lionel Logue is a complicated character. He is both behest to traditional institutions and keen to challenge them; he is occasionally arrogant and fiercely modest. He helps King George to overcome the stammer that has defined his life, and in doing so, becomes close friends with a monarch who sits at the head of one of history’s largest empires.
Logue’s character can be hard to determine. He is undoubtedly confident in his own abilities, so much so that he declares the King’s condition to be curable after just one short meeting. The King would be his biggest ever client and would legitimize the entire profession of speech therapy should Logue be successful. To make false claims or to set expectations unreasonably high would provide Logue with an insurmountable hurdle. Nevertheless, he assures the King that he will be cured. However, Logue includes in this a proviso, demanding the King work hard. This reminds the audience that Logue is a man with his own ambitions and demands; he is not entirely subservient. While Logue may be confident (bordering on arrogant), he demands the same of those around him. He projects his self-assurance onto the King, and Logue’s coaching makes as much of a difference as the techniques he employs.
This coaching becomes the foundation for an unlikely friendship. The lifelong correspondence between King George and Logue belies a relationship that spans continents and class divides. Logue is a self-described “common colonial” (19), while King George becomes the ruler of hundreds of millions of people. This is a friendship between royalty and a subject, but one that is built on mutual respect. In his diary entries, Logue rarely has anything less than extreme praise for the King. Not only does he respect Bertie as a man, but he respects the hard work he puts into his treatment. Likewise, the King respects Logue as an expert and a good man, so much so that Logue’s opinion is sought on matters not concerning the King’s speeches. The unlikely friendship is made possible by the equal amounts of respect; Logue may be a “common colonial” (19) but his ability to cure speech impediments makes him a respectable and sympathetic character. Thus, he endears himself to both the King and the audience.
Despite this, Logue does remain a colonial subject throughout the book. It is difficult to divorce Logue from his Australian roots, and—even after decades spent living in London—he retains an “otherness” that distinguishes him from most of the native population. Logue happily leans into this identity; he describes himself as a “common colonial” (19) so has internalized this otherness. Perhaps this is the reason for his reverence for the institutions of monarchy and the British aristocracy. He is never critical of the institutions that surround and, in many ways, exclude him. He remains staunchly middle class, though finds himself in a situation where he is surrounded by the aristocracy. Rather than challenge the institutional nature of this class structure, he seems to take great enjoyment from being present. He is reluctant to broadcast the fact that he has helped the King, as he fears to do so might be considered gauche or disloyal. Still, everyone is aware of what he has done and his wife, Myrtle, is not so hesitant. When she returns to Australia, she gives newspaper interviews discussing her husband’s work. Back in colonial Australia, Logue’s identity remains intact, far removed from the class boundaries that exist in Britain.
King Edward VIII
If King George VI and Lionel Logue are the central protagonists in the book, King Edward VIII could reasonably be considered the antagonist. He exists chiefly in opposition to his brother: he possesses a taste for married women and the party lifestyle, delivering renowned public speeches as the heir to the throne; meanwhile, his brother Bertie is quiet and resolute, married to a woman he would never dream of leaving, and can barely string together a few sentences when speaking in front of people. Though they are from the same stock, the differences between the brothers are stark.
These differences become manifest as the brothers grow older. At first, they are firm friends and very alike. Growing up together, they are subjected to the same cold and distant style of parenting, before growing up and attending the same schools where they are bullied for their royal heritage. After leaving school, their paths begin to diverge. One incident is given as an incitement for Edward’s more hedonistic lifestyle, in which he visits a prostitute in France. While very little context or detail is given, the implication is clear: Edward indulged himself whereas Bertie would not dream of doing so. From this point on, they gradually become more different from one another. David spends time in America and partying in London, while Bertie grows closer to his previously distant father. One brother extricates himself from the family while the other draws himself closer. While the truth may be more complicated, there is a clear effort to position the brothers as diametrically opposed, forming a loose antagonist/protagonist dynamic.
This paradigm is especially felt when it comes time for King Edward to abdicate. His personal life has become the dominant factor of his existence and the scandal surrounding his desire to marry a twice-divorced American woman has the potential to bring down the institution of the monarchy. Given that the monarchy is presented in the text as a positive, to bring it down would be considered a malicious act. Bertie, meanwhile, is aware of the importance of the office. He seeks to preserve the monarchy and is incredibly aware of its stylings, importance, and traditions. He seeks to maintain all of this. Again, the brothers seem to exist in opposition to one another.
This foil of the good and bad brother is overly simplistic. There is a tragic element to Edward’s life that is only hinted at in the novel. While he does threaten to damage the royal family with his philandering, Edward abdicates for a noble reason. He has fallen in love with Wallis Simpson and he actively chooses to abandon one of the most powerful positions in the world in order to be with her. He makes a huge sacrifice, throwing away the position he had been trained and prepared his entire life to hold. Rather than the good versus the bad brother, it might be better to view them through a different lens. Bertie is the stoic, reliable King, who will work hard for his people. Edward is the romantic and he makes a huge sacrifice for his family, choosing to leave the country and enter a form of self-imposed exile because he knows that he is not right for the throne. Edward is able to recognize the importance of his love and is willing to make the sacrifice, whereas Bertie is able to recognize the importance of the office and is willing to work as hard as possible to overcome the personal flaws that might limit his ability to hold the throne. Both are respectable in their own right, though the book is actively invested in promoting one King over the other.
