With twelve Academy Award nominations (more than any other film), The King’s Speech is looking like an early favorite for Best Picture this year. If you found this film as moving and inspirational as we did, we have plenty to deepen your understanding and appreciation of this story. First off, you can visit this link to learn more about the historical background to the film and to actually hear the climactic speech from the film. The shop has also just brought in The King’s Speech book, based on Lionel Logue’s recently discovered diaries and records.
We also have a number of great dramas about the George VI’s family. Our Emmy-winning miniseries The Lost Prince tells the haunting story of George VI’s youngest brother, John. Epileptic and learning-disabled, John faded from public view during World War I and ultimately from memory until Stephen Poliakoff penned this unforgettable drama. It also provides a deeper insight into their emotionally distant parents, George V and Queen Mary, as played by Tom Hollander and Miranda Richardson.
Moving into the glamorous post-WWII years is The Queen’s Sister, in which Lucy Cohu (Ballet Shoes, Torchwood: Children of Earth) plays George VI’s troubled daughter (and younger sister of the current monarch), Margaret. Or you could go much further back in history to the peerless miniseries on his grandfather, Edward the King, or to the popular film on the early years of his great-grandmother, The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt (Gideon’s Daughter).


(3)
(4)

