An historical drama

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2011)

The story opens with England's King George V concerned that none of his three sons- David, Albert or John, might develop into genuine kingly material worthy to succeed him. John is already out of the picture, having prematurely died at age thirteen without ever making a single public appearance. David, the Prince of Wales, enjoys all the necessary physical appearance and surface manners to make him at least visually and aurally suitable for Royal public diplomatic life as the future King, yet seems in many ways unworthy of the throne. His mother, Queen Mary, agrees with the King on this point, as do the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Prime Minister. Albert, the Prince of York, enjoys at least the appropriate moral fortitude and sense of honor and duty to nation and church, and also as leads an upstanding Royal life as his claim to the throne. Albert,nevertheless, stammers in public and is considered by his wife, Duchess Elizabeth, to be an introverted stammerer unprepared to live a public life in a fishbowl. By the time David has ascended the throne as King Edward VIII, Duchess Elzabeth has already sought an unorthodox route toward socializing Albert by taking him in secret to an unlicensed speech therapist in Harley Street who might or might not be able to make him more at ease during radio speeches and public appearances. The mew monarch's clash with the Prime Minister because of his affair with a courtesan closely associated with the Nazis, as well as his clash with the Archbiship of Canterbury because he wishes to take as his Queen an American divorcée with two living husbands, raises the possibility that Albert might soon ascend the throne as King George VI. Can his wife and therapist mutually guide Albert to become more at home during public appearances?