The King's Speech Society and Class Quotes

Even though Lionel and Bertie call each other by their first names, Elizabeth isn't comfortable with Lionel's wife Myrtle calling her "Liz." She insists on the formal greetings that are appropriate for her as the queen. She's not a snob, since she hired Logue in the first place, but she believes in some level of formality.

Myrtle has no trouble calling the Queen of England "Ma'am." And she's also totally comfortable with the queen calling her Mrs. Logue. After all, she's still in shock that the queen is in her home to begin with.

Archbishop Cosmo Lang is appalled when he hears that Bertie has gone off on his own to find a speech therapist. He thinks of himself as the king's advisor, and this type of decision is something he thinks he should decide for the king.

Despite Cosmo Lang's protests, Bertie wants Lionel to be seated in the King's Box during his coronation ceremony. This just goes to show how much Logue has broken down the class barrier between himself and Bertie.

Cosmo Lang can't stand the idea of a commoner being seated with the King's family. England is a country built on thousands of years of upper and lower classes, and Bertie is single handedly sweeping these differences away by inviting Logue as a friend.

Logue insists that his preparations for the king are just as important as the archbishop's. Calling the king "Bertie" in front of Cosmo Lang is also unbelievable. It's one thing if Logue does this in private; it's something entirely different when he does it in front of other upper class folks.

Bertie insists that the archbishop listen to Logue's demands because there's nothing more important in Bertie's life than speaking well. He doesn't care what class lines he has to step across. He needs Logue's help more than he needs Lang's approval.

When Logue sits in St. Edward's Chair, Bertie finally snaps. He's willing to let certain class differences go, but to let a commoner like Logue sit on the chair that's reserved for monarchs of England is just too much for him.

Logue is clear about what he thinks of England's division between royalty and commoners. To put it simply, he doesn't think highly of it. But he's trying to get Bertie's goat here because he knows that Bertie will never improve his speech until he realizes that it's not his royal birth that entitles him to speak. It's the fact that he's a human being.

Logue wants Bertie to realize that he doesn't need to be afraid of his royal responsibilities anymore. He also needs to accept that he's a human being talking to other human beings, and this realization is the first step toward him making true long-term improvements.