The King's Speech- Reflections

It is the third day of the year and I have already seen two movies. Oh and I think I have eaten more raw tomatoes this year than I did the whole of last year. This is a great year.

Okay, so I watched The King’s Speech on the first day of this year. I didn’t expect to like the movie and was sure I would leave before the end. However, I stayed till the end and absolutely loved it.

The movie is based on the true life story of King George VI (Formerly Prince Albert), who had a speech impediment. He stuttered badly and could barely read/say a complete sentence in public and even private conversations. Prince Albert was not meant to be king because he had an elder brother Edward VIII. However, Edward VIII renounced the throne in order to marry an American divorcee Mrs Wallis Simpson. So Prince Albert had to step in and become King.

Even before he became king, he had suffered many embarrassments while trying to deliver public speeches on behalf of the throne. Now he was going to take up a job that would require him to regularly speak to and on behalf of the greatest nation at the time. He felt unqualified and unsuitable to be king due to his speech problems and was overwhelmed by the duties that were required of him. As if that was not enough, the Second World War was looming, and Great Britain and the rest of the world needed a strong and inspiring leader at the time. As the king says in the movie “The nation believes that when I speak, I speak for them. Well, I can’t speak.”

He visited many speech therapists, doctors and quacks, and tried everything to overcome this problem, to no avail. Then his wife meets an unorthodox Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue who becomes friends with the king and helps him slowly but surely overcome his problem.

According to The Telegraph, “This vulnerable and stammering king proved to be exactly the right man at the right time. The stammering that defined him, and the courage with which he tried to beat it... A certain solidarity between monarch and subject emerged, especially when George VI overruled requests from the government that he and his family relocate to the safety of Canada.

The story is very inspiring with many great personal lessons to me. Sometimes, we may required to fill certain roles and perform certain duties that we honestly feel are above and beyond our capacities, training or experiences. We may have one challenge or inadequacy that prevents us from truly living. One thing that makes us feel unworthy. So we do not live, we stand back and sometimes let someone who we feel is more qualified do the job.

King George VI did not quit.

On the surface, it looked as if Edward VIII had more physical abilities to be king and would make a better king. But deep down in his heart, he lacked the qualities to be king. Among other personal and moral failings, he was unwilling and unable to take on the full responsibility being king required. According to The Telegraph, "he was more charismatic, handsome and fluent... but he was more feckless, self-indulgent, politically naive... and mean-spirited. George VI... had fortitude and dignity".

In the movie Lionel, the speech therapist, tells the king “You have such perseverance Bertie, you are the bravest man I know. You will make a bloody good king.”

This makes me believe that having the right heart is the most important thing of all. This also reminds me of a young king David who was anointed king over Israel because he had the right heart towards God. In 1st Samuel 16:7, when Samuel was thinking of anointing David's brother as king due to his physical attributes, "...The Lord said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Thank you for creating in me a clean heart oh God through the cross. Help me to guard my heart (with your Word) with all diligence. In Jesus name, Amen.

Epilogue: The king's story inspired the screen writer of the movie, David Seidler, who also suffered from a significant stammer to believe that if the king could cope with a stammer, so could he.

References: www.kingsspeech.com, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/8223897/The-Kings-Speech-the-real-story.html
Image source: http://www.impawards.com/2010/posters/kings_speech_ver5.jpg