I have always found the history of the British monarchy extremely fascinating. My very first film that I recall seeing about any British Monarch was Lady Jane that coincendentally starred the King’s Speech’s Helena Bonham Carter. While the romance between Lady Jane and Guildford was historically inaccurate, that was what drew me to the film and I got learn about a very young woman who was Queen of England for only nine days.

This continued when I watched Elizabeth and saw Cate Blanchett in her breakthrough role. I watched of course the sequel Elizabeth the Golden Age and The Queen with Helen Mirren and most recently the Young Victoria with Emily Blunt. I learn a lot about British history through these films.

So when I heard about The King’s Speech and that it starred Colin Firth as King George VI, I knew I wanted to see it.

I was very familiar with the story of George VI but didn’t realize how severe his speech stammer was and didn’t know about the relationship the King had with his speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). I however knew about the loving relationship between George VI Queen who we better know as the Queen Mother (Helena Bonham Carter). I saw a Masterpiece Theater production called Bertie and Elizabeth that depicted their romance.

I found this film extremely moving. Firth was wonderful as George VI as he struggles with his stammer and you feel for him as he tries to meet the expectations of his father George V (Michael Gambon). If you know the history of George VI, he wasn’t supposed to be King, it was supposed to be his older brother, Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) who abdicated so he can marry his American divorcee girlfriend Wallis Simpson (Eve Best).

From the film, and I think historically accurate that it was obvious that Bertie, as he was known to family, was more of a king than his brother, David, as he was known to family. But the scene that got me teary eyed is when Bertie has become King after the abdication of his brother, he becomes overwhelmed by the enormity of everything and breaks down in tears and says he is not a king but is comforted by his wife.

And Bonham Carter shines as the Queen Mother. She plays Elizabeth as the epitome of a loving and supportive wife. She is always there to encourage Bertie and gives him all her love and support. Their marriage was one of those epic Royal marriages, one that you hope both parties were faithful to each other and truly it was death to they part.

Rush and Firth had amazing chemistry together as teacher and student. Rush’s Logue was incredibly patient with Bertie and while his methods where unconventional, they sure did work. Rush and Firth seemed to have this easy rapport together.

Some trivia for you, Anthony Andrews who plays British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, played Edward VIII in a TV movie called the Woman he loved opposite Jane Seymour as Wallis Simpson. Also Jennifer Ehle who plays Lionel Logue’s wife, Myrtle played opposite Colin Firth in the definitive version of Pride and Prejudice and they were reunited in one brief scene in the film. Also, there are three actors that are from the Harry Potter franchise: Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew), Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) and Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange).

I love when a movie can both teach you and move you at the same time and The King’s Speech certainly did that.