I have just sat and watched the King´s Speech, with its 12 Oscar nominations, all may I say well deserved; it had me enthralled from start to finish. The more I watched it, the more I saw the courage of this man, who just by choices made by others was placed upon our throne.
His story of self doubt and lowered self esteem however is no different to you or me. Life teaches us things along the way and all the money and affluence cannot change that. It is what we retain from those experiences that make us who we are.
No baby is born with any phobias, they are not racist, sexist, homophobic, nor are they born with a stutter, these are all taught by others and accepted by the individual.. Stutters, and twitches are all related to brain function that is why they can be provoked by trauma at any age. These are not to be confused with medical conditions such as cleft palate. Most physical conditions that impede speech are visible from birth.
If like me, you have no memory of George VI as a monarch and his wife Elizabeth was always an old lady, so learning about them as young people was quite an eye opener and helped me understand why the Queen Mother was such a loved person with older generations.
Cruelty, bullying and over powering people can easily bruise and have long term effects on the minds of children. In King George the VI´s case it was a Nanny, every time he was presented to his parents she pinched him to make him cry, so he was handed straight back to her and his parents displeasure was felt, he accumulated the rejections and the preferences for his brother. This Nanny did not leave it there, she then punished him for his bad behaviour by not feeding him. This went on for three years before his parents realized, a huge amount of damage was done in that time.
His father was a stern man who found his son’s speech difficulties tiresome, which only caused the young man more fears and increased the stammer. The reality is that speaking in public is a tremendous gamble every time, to be faced with your worst nightmare along with all the world listening to you must have taken incredible strength and determination.
Rejection is one of the biggest fears of humans, it is physically painful. Plus it stays in our memories as well, so we reinforce the fear every time we think about it. Speaking to one person and getting rejected is like being stabbed, so Public Speaking is like putting yourself up there to be stabbed many times over (and it does happen), so why do people do that unless of course you are a King, Politician, World leader etc….. Because good communication is essential to life, we all do it all day, every day some better than others.
This man who had to change his public name from Albert to King George, because it was seen as more patriotic, stood before a Nation, Commonwealth and the World to motivate people into winning a World War against bullying and dictatorship, by conquering all his own demons and using the tool that had caused him so much pain and anguish…..his voice.
Imagine your worst fear and then having the world watch whilst you faced it…..that will give you just an inkling what this man went through…..or there again you can watch the film and thanks to modern technology you can actually hear the King´s Speech in his own words on You Tube, or from the BBC Pathe Archives.
There are many motivators and influencers in the world, many great names but none more worthy than our own amazing monarch King George VI
