The Real King's Speech Page #3

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"in nervous tension with consequent

episodes of bad speech, depression."

For two and a half months, Bertie

visited Logue nearly every day

and practised intensively.

One day, I got there,

the Duke was coming out,

and I didn't know

that the Duke was being treated.

And I think Logue told me about it.

I probably asked a cheeky

question when I got upstairs.

He would lean across from his chair

and put his hand on my stomach.

He'd say, "Right,

what you've got to do, George,

"is to breathe from your diaphragm."

Hand just above the belly button

and making sure

that you were lifting the hand

the whole time...

..to create an unbroken

column of air up your windpipe

"That's the key to it all,

breathing from your diaphragm,

"so let's practise a few breaths."

So here we would go...

(BREATHES IN AND OUT)

DOORBELL RINGS:

Once the Duke had control

over his breathing,

Logue taught how letters

and sounds are formed.

Pip, pop, pap.

The mechanics of sound,

how you actually make a sound.

Going somewhere.

Going.

# Aaah. # That's easy, cos

there's nothing holding it back.

Mother, naughty,

right up in the nose.

G-G-G... Goodbye.

E... Open your mouth wider

to let the E come out.

You can go, "Huh, huh!"

You can cough.

I hope that hasn't upset

your sound equipment.

Some of Logue's methods

had the whiff of the West End,

rather than Harley Street.

"Let's see how it feels like if you

sing it. Maybe you should stand up,

George. Now, let's try that."

"And...yeah, you've got stuck

on that C, let's do that again."

And it was always not forceful, like

areally good director in a film.

'With the Royal tour

only weeks away,

'Logue prescribed the Duke

an hour of exercises a day.'

Fish, fine, fat, funny.

'A lot of homework to do every day,'

practising.

'The Duchess of York

'was fully involved in

her husband's treatment.'

She helped with the therapies.

She went along

'to the consulting rooms,

'was there

learning how to breathe'

so that when they went away

on their foreign tours,

she could keep the exercises going.

'By the time the Duke and Duchess

set sail in January 1927,

'Bertie had confidence

'in himself and his therapist.'

Everyone else was relaxing on deck.

He was sitting there doing his

gargling, doing his tongue twisters,

practising his

different vowel sounds,

'and writing back, telling Logue

'how well he was doing his homework,

like a child'

trying to please

their teacher. Extraordinary.

'For six months,

the Duke and Duchess

'represented the Crown down under.

The trip was regarded as a success,

'but Logue knew that

it was a problem managed,

'rather than a problem solved.'

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