ON October 31, 1925, Albert, Duke of York, gave the closing address at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley Stadium. 

It was described as an ordeal for both speaker and listener alike. ‘Bertie’, as he was universally known, suffered from a chronic stammer, one of many conditions developed during a difficult childhood, and as a result he avoided public speaking wherever possible.

The prince and his condition may have been just a footnote in history if it hadn’t been for the abdication of his brother Edward in 1936, which thrust him into the limelight as the next in line to the throne.

Taking the title of George VI to honour his father and restore confidence in the monarchy, the reticent public speaker was now an even more reluctant King. When he died 16 years later the Empire over which he presided had diminished in size considerably and Britain had lost its standing as the world’s most prominent nation.

And yet King George VI remains one of our most popular monarchs, remembered for displaying a common touch with his public and the rallying radio broadcasts he made during the Second World War.

The transformation is explored in The King’s Speech, which was released at cinemas on Friday.

Helena Bonham Carter plays Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother, and Geoffrey Rush is Lionel Logue, the Australian speech therapist who helped her husband manage his condition.

But it’s Colin Firth’s portrayal of the conflicted royal that has been earning awards, rave reviews and has him talked about as a possible Oscar winner.

“The fact that people are talking that way is incredibly gratifying,” says a modest Colin. “This wasn’t a walk in the park by any means, we all worked very hard to get it right, but people don’t owe you gratitude just because you tried very hard. So to see that we cared this much about something and, so far, we are getting a lot of warmth back in return, couldn’t be more gratifying.

“I didn’t know very much about the story beforehand. My parents were children during his reign and I remember my mother talk about Albert’s reluctance to take the throne and about what a crisis that would have been for him personally. 

“There was some expression of admiration for him because of that and I remember her telling me about his stammer and her expressing something about the relationship with his daughter Elizabeth (the Queen), as she understood it, as being a close and loving one and how young she was when she took the throne.

“Those are vestiges of my childhood memory and that’s about it; the rest I knew nothing about at all.”

The story is brought to life by David Seidler, an American scriptwriter whose previous work was the US TV movie Kung Fu Killer.

While that doesn’t immediately make him stand out as an expert recorder of the British monarchy (although he was born in London), as a fellow stammerer, the 73-year-old has always held King George in high regard.

As a child David used to listen to the King’s radio addresses during the war and found them “reassuring”. “If the King could cope with a stammer so could I,” was his reasoning.

“Having David to advise me about the condition was incredibly helpful,” says Colin. “He would say for instance that when it was bad it was all you thought about; you would go to a restaurant and you wouldn’t order the fish if you couldn’t say ‘f’, you’d order the beef even though you wanted the fish. And your life can be like that. It will be dictated by that fear, doesn’t matter what else is at stake in what you have to do that day, it’s can I say it?’ Those things were very helpful to me as an insight into the terror that this man felt when he couldn’t climb out of his silences.

“Did I feel a responsibility towards living members of the family we are telling a story about? Yes, of course, but I felt at least equal responsibility towards the people that do have the issues that I was trying to enact and to do it as honestly as possible. 

“It’s actually the third time I’ve played someone with a stammer and what was interesting to me was that you don’t just pull out your stammer from the drawer from your last performance, it really doesn’t work that way, and that was an education because I thought perhaps I could.”

With a string of hits on television and film under his belt, you wouldn’t have thought appearing before the public would be a fear that Colin shared with King George VI.

But the Hampshire-born star recalls that his last outing on stage, at London’s Donmar Warehouse 11 years ago, didn’t get off to the best of starts.

“I got appalling stage fright on the opening night,” reveals the actor, who turned 50 last September. “We’d only had two weeks’ rehearsal, no proper dress rehearsal, there were no onstage prompters and I had to open with a two-page monologue.

“I locked myself in the toilet with 15 minutes to curtain up. I wasn’t planning to stay there but I just told myself to take a deep breath and think of my first line and I couldn’t.

“Then I thought I needed some air, so I went out of the fire door, which closed behind me. We’re now about five minutes to curtain up, so I had to go around the front, through the audience — the very people I was terrified of — couldn’t remember the pass code to get back in backstage, and had to beg to be let in. 

“Then I was told I had to go straight on stage, and I weirdly remembered the lines and got to the end. 

“With any public speaking I think there is a tension that can be debilitating but, God willing, you can convert it into something functional and the right energy.”

A promise to the Queen Mother

DAVID SEIDLER began working on the film in 1981 after he discovered the existence of Lionel Logue’s diaries. These detailed his years spent treating King George VI and recorded intimate conversations with the man with whom he became firm friends.

The diaries were the property of one of Logue’s sons who insisted that permission to use the sensitive material come from the Royal Family.

To David’s surprise the Queen Mother agreed, with the only proviso that the film would not be made in her lifetime.

The writer kept his promise and in 2005, three years after the death of the Queen Mother aged 101, he picked up his pen again and finished off his script.

Helena Bonham Carter plays the much-loved Queen in the film and admits her respect for her only grew with knowledge.

“I met her once, at the premiere of A Room With a View, when I was very young. I got what most people perceive, this great grace. 

“She always had that cloud of charming vagueness, but underneath it, now having read about her, she had a huge amount of inner strength. Her great friend Cecil Beaton said she was a marshmallow made by a welding machine! 

“She was extraordinary because she was a professional public figure and an expert at it. 

“She married a man who was not born to be king, nor suited to the job, but luckily, I think he drew upon her confidence where he lacked it. 

“It was a true partnership, she was the classic woman behind the man. It’s just a shame it isn’t called The Queen’s Speech!’

The King’s Speech

The film is based on the true story of Queen Elizabeth II’s father and his remarkable friendship with maverick speech therapist Lionel Logue. As the second son of George V, Prince Albert “Bertie” was not expected to ascend to the throne, but when his brother Edward chose to abdicate to marry Wallis Simpson, Bertie was his successor and in 1936 was crowned King George VI. Engaging the services of Lionel Logue helped him find a voice with which to lead the nation.

The King’s Speech received the accolade it deserved when it won five awards at the 13th Moet British Independent Film Awards last month. Colin Firth was named Best Actor for his portrayal of George VI, Helena Bonham Carter collected an award as Best Supporting Actress as Queen Elizabeth, while Geoffrey Rush won Best Supporting Actor as speech therapist Lionel Logue.

The film won five trophies altogether, also scooping Best Film and Best Screenplay.