The historical film ‘The King’s Speech’ highlights the very private struggle endured by King George the VI of England. In 1934, Prince Albert, Duque of York, (nicknamed by his family Bertie, played by actor Colin Firth) underwent very unorthodox methods to overcome a stammer. After the death of his father King George V in 1936, his brother King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry Wallace Simpson, a twice-divorced woman from Baltimore, forcing Prince Albert reluctantly to accept the throne becoming King George the VI. Although the last words of King George V were: “Bertie has more guts than all his brothers put together,” he was unable to ever compliment directly his son Bertie or show him his love and acceptance.

Prince Albert had struggled since childhood with low self-esteem and could not recall a time when he did not struggle with a strong stammer. Moreover, being the Duque of York his official engagements required often public speaking, which was emotionally draining given his stuttering condition. To help his troubled husband deal with the condition, his wife Elizabeth contacted an Australian speech language therapist Lionel Logue (played by actor Geoffrey Rush). The film brilliantly focuses on the unique relationship between Prince Albert, later on King George the VI, with his speech therapist Lionel Logue. Lionel insisted with his peculiar methods to help the Prince find the psychological roots of his speech impediment to help him regain self-confidence.

During the therapy sessions which methods were so unorthodox that border into hilarious, we learned about the psychological traumas that Prince Albert endured as a child. Like many stammers, he was naturally left-handed but was forced to become right handed. His youngest brother Johnny had died at age 13 from epilepsy, and during his childhood the Prince remembers being raised by nannies that threatened to punish him for no reason. The relationship with both his father and mother was very distant and cold because of royal protocol. His father was authoritarian and screamed at him un-patiently when he struggled with his speech: “Get it out boy”! His older brother David verbally abused him and mocked him when he stammered. After many private speech therapy sessions, in which Lionel insisted to call him Bertie and make him relive his traumatic childhood, the Prince started to face his fears, and learned to breath, and pause to overcome his speech impediment. Overall, Prince Albert learned not only how to improve his speech but most importantly how to let go from the fears that scared him as a child. Lionel’s therapy also helped the Prince accept that he was as deserving and perhaps more capable to become the new King of England than his brother who chose to abdicate the throne.

Interestingly, despite the psychological traumas that Prince Albert endured during his childhood, his relationship with his daughters was remarkably just the opposite of the one he endured as a child with his father and mother. The caring and close relationship with his daughters Princes Elizabeth (now the Queen of England) and his sister Princes Margaret was highlighted when he asked them for their opinion about how well he delivered the speech to declare war against Germany in 1939. Remarkably, Lionel’s speech therapy skills were not gained from a medical degree, but from experience after being exposed to soldiers that returned traumatized from WWI.