The real “King’s Speech”: George VI addresses Britain at the start of World War II.

Eighty-five years ago today, on September 3, 1939, as a matter of legality and diplomacy, World War II began in Europe. Yes, the shooting started two days earlier when Germany invaded Poland, but Great Britain and France did not declare war on Germany until two days later. On that day—it was a Sunday—King George VI addressed the British people, the Commonwealth and the world. I have embedded here an audio recording of that famous speech. The events of late August and early September 1939 are foremost in my mind right now, as the next deep-dive video I’m working on for my YouTube channel is about the last month of peace before the outbreak of the war.

This speech and the circumstances surrounding it have been fictionalized, most notably the 2010 film The King’s Speech, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture for that year. King George VI, or “Bertie” as he was known to his friends and family, suffered from a terrible stammer for much of his early life. The prospect of being King of England terrified him, but he thought he didn’t have to worry about it. After all, he was the younger son of his father, King George V, who died in January 1936, and Bertie’s older brother David took the throne as King Edward VIII. The problem was that David/Edward was in love with a woman who was divorced, Wallis Simpson. In 1930s British society this was thought scandalous and unacceptable. Given a choice between abdicating the throne and giving up his lover, David/Edward shocked everybody by choosing abdication. On December 11, 1936, Bertie became King.

The film The King’s Speech takes some considerable liberties with history. It is true that Bertie did see speech therapist Lionel Logue (played in the movie by Geoffrey Rush), but he began seeing him in the 1920s, not the 1930s, and his speech impediment was largely gone by 1939. Nevertheless, the basic story of the movie is pretty much accurate: Bertie was reluctant to be king, he was surprised (as was everybody) by David’s abdication, and the speech of September 3, 1939 was a major milestone in his life and in the history of Britain during the war. Despite its inaccuracies, The King’s Speech is still an excellent historical film, though its reputation has dimmed a bit in recent years and it’s one of the more obscure recent Best Picture winners.

But aside from the issues involved with the movie, I thin it’s interesting to hear the actual words of King George VI as they really sounded,. Speeches do matter. What public figures say can affect and even change history. King George VI was arguably as important to the British war effort, spiritually speaking, as Winston Churchill. Today, especially since the ascension of Charles III to the throne in 2022, after literally a lifetime of waiting, there are many citizens of the UK who think the monarchy is pretty silly and archaic. They may be right; a majority of young people in Britain, in particular, are in favor of abolishing the monarchy. But monarchs’ effect on history is pretty undeniable, especially in moments—like Britain’s entry into World War II—when the people do need someone to rally behind.

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