From 'The King's Speech,' the Book
From The King's Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy (also available for Kindle), notes from Lionel Logue's diaries and commentary by his grandson on his relationship with the King.
The first time Lionel met the Duke of York, he wrote that he was "well built, with good shoulders," though he thought his waist line very flabby which meant he wasn't using his diaphragm correctly when he spoke.
Bertie wanted to take Lionel on his trip to Australia, but Lionel declined, saying that self-reliance was part of the cure.
Shortly before the coronation -- and many months after it had been widely reported in the papers that Logue was the King's speech therapist, so it isn't as if they were trying to cover up the fact that the king needed speech therapy -- "A Mr Miller, who claimed to be a reporter on the Daily Telegraph, had sent in an article to the Sunday Express about the King that began: 'A black eyed grey haired man, aged 60, an Australian, is in constant attendance on the King and is his greatest friend. They ring each other up every day, etc. etc.' It was, Logue considered, 'all wrong. Very scurrilous and would do a tremendous amount of harm.' [The Express editor, an acquaintance of Logue's] asked if he had my authority to act. I said of course, that it was a damn shame that such a thing should be written. [The editor] sent for him and said that the article was quite wrong and could cause a lot of harm. He put the fear of hell into Mr Miller and said that if he sent it to anyone, he would never have another article published. Mr Miller left the article with [the editor] and said that it would not happen again."
Lionel on the coronation: "A fanfare of trumpets, and the King's processions was soon advancing, a blaze of gold and crimson...and at the end the man whom I had served for 10 years, with all my heart and soul comes, as he advances slowly toward us, looking rather pale, but every inch a King. My heart creeps up into my throat, as I realise that this man whom I serve, is to be made King of England." Then Lionel cried after the King's speech.
After Bertie's first Christmas broadcast (this is verbatim Lionel's grandson's account based on Lionel's notes and letters): "The King shook his hand, gave what Logue described as 'that lovely schoolboy grin of his', and said, 'Let's go inside.' ... [The Queen] stopped Logue and, putting her hand on his shoulder, said: 'Mr Logue, I do not know that Bertie and myself can ever thank you enough for what you have done for him. Just look at him now. I do not think I have ever known him so light-hearted and happy.' Logue was overcome with emotion, and it was as much as he could do to stop tears trickling down his cheeks."
Myrtle told an Australian newspaper that "'His Majesty frequently comes to our house'" and "'My husband goes to the Palace every night now.'" Lionel saved the article in his scrapbook.
The King's diplomats consulted Lionel, "as a Colonial," about whether the King should bring his Lord Chamberlain and various other people on his trip to Canada or whether that would look too pompous. Lionel basically told them the more pomp, the better.
There is an account of how, just before leaving to go to America to meet the Roosevelts before the war, Elizabeth and Margaret wanted to go swimming one last time in the Palace pool, and the King told Logue to tell them about the time he jumped on the shark. So Lionel told a story about how when he was a boy living in Brighton, Australia, he and his siblings used to jump out of bed first thing in the morning first thing in the morning and run to the jetty, "shedding their pyjamas as they went," and race into the water, and Lionel dove in and almost hit a shark. (The book adds that there was "no question" of Logue being included in the royal party for the same reasons he declined to go with the King to Australia, but Bertie invited Lionel to the Palace less than 24 hours after he got off the ship home.)
The week WWII started, Lionel was called by the King's secretary and told to hold himself in readiness to come to the Palace. Logue "was ready day and night although, as he told [the secretary], much as he wanted to see and speak to the King again, he sincerely hoped that he wouldn't be sent for - since he knew only too well what it would mean." After the speech [the one from the movie, the preparations for which in the film actually happened for a different speech] the Queen said she would need to speak to the women soon and asked Lionel to help her with HER speech.
Logue's grandson's account of the later speech, based on Logue's notes: "The red studio light flashed four times and went dark -- the signal to begin. The King took two steps to the table, and Logue squeezed his arm for luck. The gesture spoke volumes about the closeness of the two men's relationship; no one was meant to touch a king unbidden in that way. [The speech itself is quoted.] There was nothing for Logue to do but just stand and listen, marvelling at the King's voice. When he had spoken his last words, Logue just gripped his hands; both men knew it had been a superb effort. They didn't dare speak immediately, though; at Logue's insistence, they were trying a new way of working under which the red light -- this 'red eye of the little yellow god', as Logue called it -- didn't stay on throughout the broadcast. This had the disadvantage of making it difficult to be absolutely certain that they were actually off the air. The two men continued to look at each other in silence -- 'the King and the commoner and my heart is too full to speak.' The King patted him on the hand."
"Logue was one of the first to hear of [General Montgomery's victory in Africa]. On the afternoon of 4 November he was at the Palace with the King, going through a speech he was due to give at the State Opening of Parliament, set for the twelfth, when the telephone rang. The King had given orders that he was not to be disturbed unless he was wanted urgently." Logue edited the speech because he thought it sounded too much like Churchill talking.
During the two weeks in the summer when the King was away at Balmoral with his daughters, Lionel (who had two sons in the Army) stayed in London to be an air raid warden, got an ulcer, ended up in the hospital, and the King had his secretary arrange for Lionel to "spend some time by the sea to convalesce."
(A side anecdote that made me smile: during the war, Lionel couldn't get anyone to mow his lawn, since all the young men were away, and he was still recuperating and really couldn't push a mower himself, so he got a sheep to eat the lawn instead.)
The King's secretary told Lionel that he wanted him to help the King with his D-Day speech, meant to be delivered the night the invasion began, but he couldn't tell Lionel exactly when D-Day would be since Eisenhower wasn't telling ANYONE. So Lionel had to be hauled to the palace just three hours beforehand and they did the speech from the air raid shelter, where they had to turn off the clock in the King's bedroom because it was ticking loudly enough to be heard on the air.
Lionel was invited to the V-E day speech and told to bring Myrtle who should wear something festive. When they got there, the King and Queen had just stepped onto the balcony, and the Logues stood with the Royal staff and waved their handkerchiefs and cheered. They got to stay through the party after the speech.
Things get sad after this -- Myrtle had a heart attack and died very shortly after, and both Lionel and Bertie had major health problems. Bertie ultimately died from a blood clot after losing one of his lungs to cancer, and Lionel died a few months later. Elizabeth II had sent him her father's gold snuff box "which always stood on the King's table, and which he was rather fond of, as I am sure you would like a little personal souvenir of someone who was so grateful to you for all you did for him."
The Queen Mother, meanwhile, wrote to Logue, "I think I know perhaps better than anyone just how much you helped the King, not only with his speech, but through that his whole life and outlook on life."
The first time Lionel met the Duke of York, he wrote that he was "well built, with good shoulders," though he thought his waist line very flabby which meant he wasn't using his diaphragm correctly when he spoke.
Bertie wanted to take Lionel on his trip to Australia, but Lionel declined, saying that self-reliance was part of the cure.
Shortly before the coronation -- and many months after it had been widely reported in the papers that Logue was the King's speech therapist, so it isn't as if they were trying to cover up the fact that the king needed speech therapy -- "A Mr Miller, who claimed to be a reporter on the Daily Telegraph, had sent in an article to the Sunday Express about the King that began: 'A black eyed grey haired man, aged 60, an Australian, is in constant attendance on the King and is his greatest friend. They ring each other up every day, etc. etc.' It was, Logue considered, 'all wrong. Very scurrilous and would do a tremendous amount of harm.' [The Express editor, an acquaintance of Logue's] asked if he had my authority to act. I said of course, that it was a damn shame that such a thing should be written. [The editor] sent for him and said that the article was quite wrong and could cause a lot of harm. He put the fear of hell into Mr Miller and said that if he sent it to anyone, he would never have another article published. Mr Miller left the article with [the editor] and said that it would not happen again."
Lionel on the coronation: "A fanfare of trumpets, and the King's processions was soon advancing, a blaze of gold and crimson...and at the end the man whom I had served for 10 years, with all my heart and soul comes, as he advances slowly toward us, looking rather pale, but every inch a King. My heart creeps up into my throat, as I realise that this man whom I serve, is to be made King of England." Then Lionel cried after the King's speech.
After Bertie's first Christmas broadcast (this is verbatim Lionel's grandson's account based on Lionel's notes and letters): "The King shook his hand, gave what Logue described as 'that lovely schoolboy grin of his', and said, 'Let's go inside.' ... [The Queen] stopped Logue and, putting her hand on his shoulder, said: 'Mr Logue, I do not know that Bertie and myself can ever thank you enough for what you have done for him. Just look at him now. I do not think I have ever known him so light-hearted and happy.' Logue was overcome with emotion, and it was as much as he could do to stop tears trickling down his cheeks."
Myrtle told an Australian newspaper that "'His Majesty frequently comes to our house'" and "'My husband goes to the Palace every night now.'" Lionel saved the article in his scrapbook.
The King's diplomats consulted Lionel, "as a Colonial," about whether the King should bring his Lord Chamberlain and various other people on his trip to Canada or whether that would look too pompous. Lionel basically told them the more pomp, the better.
There is an account of how, just before leaving to go to America to meet the Roosevelts before the war, Elizabeth and Margaret wanted to go swimming one last time in the Palace pool, and the King told Logue to tell them about the time he jumped on the shark. So Lionel told a story about how when he was a boy living in Brighton, Australia, he and his siblings used to jump out of bed first thing in the morning first thing in the morning and run to the jetty, "shedding their pyjamas as they went," and race into the water, and Lionel dove in and almost hit a shark. (The book adds that there was "no question" of Logue being included in the royal party for the same reasons he declined to go with the King to Australia, but Bertie invited Lionel to the Palace less than 24 hours after he got off the ship home.)
The week WWII started, Lionel was called by the King's secretary and told to hold himself in readiness to come to the Palace. Logue "was ready day and night although, as he told [the secretary], much as he wanted to see and speak to the King again, he sincerely hoped that he wouldn't be sent for - since he knew only too well what it would mean." After the speech [the one from the movie, the preparations for which in the film actually happened for a different speech] the Queen said she would need to speak to the women soon and asked Lionel to help her with HER speech.
Logue's grandson's account of the later speech, based on Logue's notes: "The red studio light flashed four times and went dark -- the signal to begin. The King took two steps to the table, and Logue squeezed his arm for luck. The gesture spoke volumes about the closeness of the two men's relationship; no one was meant to touch a king unbidden in that way. [The speech itself is quoted.] There was nothing for Logue to do but just stand and listen, marvelling at the King's voice. When he had spoken his last words, Logue just gripped his hands; both men knew it had been a superb effort. They didn't dare speak immediately, though; at Logue's insistence, they were trying a new way of working under which the red light -- this 'red eye of the little yellow god', as Logue called it -- didn't stay on throughout the broadcast. This had the disadvantage of making it difficult to be absolutely certain that they were actually off the air. The two men continued to look at each other in silence -- 'the King and the commoner and my heart is too full to speak.' The King patted him on the hand."
"Logue was one of the first to hear of [General Montgomery's victory in Africa]. On the afternoon of 4 November he was at the Palace with the King, going through a speech he was due to give at the State Opening of Parliament, set for the twelfth, when the telephone rang. The King had given orders that he was not to be disturbed unless he was wanted urgently." Logue edited the speech because he thought it sounded too much like Churchill talking.
During the two weeks in the summer when the King was away at Balmoral with his daughters, Lionel (who had two sons in the Army) stayed in London to be an air raid warden, got an ulcer, ended up in the hospital, and the King had his secretary arrange for Lionel to "spend some time by the sea to convalesce."
(A side anecdote that made me smile: during the war, Lionel couldn't get anyone to mow his lawn, since all the young men were away, and he was still recuperating and really couldn't push a mower himself, so he got a sheep to eat the lawn instead.)
The King's secretary told Lionel that he wanted him to help the King with his D-Day speech, meant to be delivered the night the invasion began, but he couldn't tell Lionel exactly when D-Day would be since Eisenhower wasn't telling ANYONE. So Lionel had to be hauled to the palace just three hours beforehand and they did the speech from the air raid shelter, where they had to turn off the clock in the King's bedroom because it was ticking loudly enough to be heard on the air.
Lionel was invited to the V-E day speech and told to bring Myrtle who should wear something festive. When they got there, the King and Queen had just stepped onto the balcony, and the Logues stood with the Royal staff and waved their handkerchiefs and cheered. They got to stay through the party after the speech.
Things get sad after this -- Myrtle had a heart attack and died very shortly after, and both Lionel and Bertie had major health problems. Bertie ultimately died from a blood clot after losing one of his lungs to cancer, and Lionel died a few months later. Elizabeth II had sent him her father's gold snuff box "which always stood on the King's table, and which he was rather fond of, as I am sure you would like a little personal souvenir of someone who was so grateful to you for all you did for him."
The Queen Mother, meanwhile, wrote to Logue, "I think I know perhaps better than anyone just how much you helped the King, not only with his speech, but through that his whole life and outlook on life."