Far East Cynic

The King’s Speech

The S.O. and I went to see this movie this past weekend. Believe it or not we had a hard time getting two seats together-so crowded was the theater.

We both loved the movie-even if it did take more than a couple of liberties with history. Me, because I like any movie that talks about that time when the world was as its should be- with the British Empire ruling  25% of the world’s population. ( India of course,  being as it should be with the Union Jack flying over Dehli and Gandhi just an annoying fakir). I sometimes wonder if that was the age I was meant to live in. Of course it would have been a dicey thing-in that I would have to be coming of age in 1919 so as to be old enough not to get sucked into World War II downstream. ( Impossible-no matter how many times I think it out, since being in the Royal Navy is always a part of these scenarios-I would have been in the thick of the second conflict. ) And of course, then there’s the need to be rich enough to be of the right class……….

But I digress.

Nonetheless, the movie is good story telling-and very well done. Edward VIII comes out like a real louse and Wallis Simpson gets a thorough going over , being portrayed as a real shrew. Afterwards I went back and researched a bit-it would seem they may have gotten this bit right. I’ve often wondered if later on in life, Edward did not sit out on the veranda in France and wonder what might have been…………….

Sometimes, I think I know how he must have felt.

  1. Skippy,

    I know the few times that I have been in the UK, and most of the historians have agreed that more then likely if Edward the VIII was the king as Hitler came to power. From the books and magazines that I have read. More then likely he would have been the puppet King of England as some of the facists would have come to power following the defeat of Europe. If not that then more then likely the UK would have gone communist, since in the midist of the Great Depression, Edward and Wallis were spending money like a fish drinks water (or you study the Asian female form). With either Edward and the rest of the Windsor household either strung up by thier necks or regents in exile. With the rest of the lords more then likely acting similar to most of the White Russians were in the 1920’s and 30’s, through out the world. Exiles living in the town where they were settling and trying to act like they weren’t out of Tsarist Russia.

  2. Skippy,
    With your luck, if you had been of age at that time, you probably would have been on shore duty with the RN in Singapore, right when Percival turned it over.

  5. If you can find it, “Memories” by Jackie Fisher is worth a read. Utter perfect timing.