This film shows the poignant struggle of Prince Albert, later known as King George VI of England, to overcome a lifelong stutter. In the process, the film compresses years of an unconventional relationship between Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue and the future monarch.
After his disastrous speech at Wembley on Oct. 31, 1925, Prince Albert, second in line to the British throne, began what would become decades of work with Mr. Logue. Their first meetings prepared the prince for a trip to Australia, says grandson Mark Logue. Their progress on controlling the stammer allowed Prince Albert to deliver the 1927 opening speech to the Australian Parliament in Canberra.
Rather than the intense few months depicted in the film, Logue and the prince worked together off and on in the decade leading up to Albert’s 1936 ascension to the throne. After his student became king, Logue was on hand for virtually every public speech the king gave until his death in 1952.
