# "The King's Speech": Hey, they're all dead now! All but the Queen. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kings-speech-hey-theyre-all-dead-now-all-but-the-queen/580153 "2011-04-29T13:35:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kings-speech-hey-theyre-all-dead-now-all-but-the-queen/580153/21 "2011-04-30T19:14:10Z")
It hit me some time during the movie… “Wait, did he say his daughter’s name was Elizabeth? But that would make her… Oh.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kings-speech-hey-theyre-all-dead-now-all-but-the-queen/580153/22 "2011-04-30T19:58:51Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > It was awhile after watching The King’s Speech that I had the head-slapping realization that Helena Bonham Carter was portraying the Queen Mum. I just didn’t connect the dots while watching the film. I remember reading an interview with someone involved in the film (the screenwriter perhaps). They actually sought permission from the Queen Mother to make the film. She said that she didn’t want it made while she was still alive. (I think she died in 2002.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kings-speech-hey-theyre-all-dead-now-all-but-the-queen/580153/23 "2011-04-30T21:44:13Z")
Yogi Berra’s son wrote that he was once watching a Steve McQueen movie when his dad wandered into the room, watched the TV briefly and then said, “Steve McQueen. Huh. He must’ve made that film before he died.” ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kings-speech-hey-theyre-all-dead-now-all-but-the-queen/580153/24 "2011-04-30T23:58:37Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yogi Berra’s son wrote that he was once watching a Steve McQueen movie when his dad wandered into the room, watched the TV briefly and then said, “Steve McQueen. Huh. He must’ve made that film before he died.” Yogi didn’t say half the things he said. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kings-speech-hey-theyre-all-dead-now-all-but-the-queen/580153/25 "2011-05-01T00:23:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I remember reading an interview with someone involved in the film (the screenwriter perhaps). They actually sought permission from the Queen Mother to make the film. She said that she didn’t want it made while she was still alive. (I think she died in 2002.) Correct–The Queen Mother died in February, Princess Margaret died in March of 2002. I don’t know anything about your claim that she didn’t want the movie made while she was alive, but it fits with the person who would turn down the Prince twice for fear of becoming Queen. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kings-speech-hey-theyre-all-dead-now-all-but-the-queen/580153/26 "2011-05-01T00:50:22Z")
> [@Eureka](#): > > Correct–The Queen Mother died in February, Princess Margaret died in March of 2002. > > I don’t know anything about your claim that she didn’t want the movie made while she was alive, but it fits with the person who would turn down the Prince twice for fear of becoming Queen. This came out during an interview on “Fresh Air” on NPR. The guy who wrote the screenplay asked the Queen Mum permission. She said what Dewey Finn said. The writer said that being a proper British subject, he went along with it. He sat on that script for a l-o-n-g time. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kings-speech-hey-theyre-all-dead-now-all-but-the-queen/580153/27 "2011-05-01T01:01:34Z")
Apparently he waited _25 years_ to make the movie. [Here](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/20/60minutes/main20033390.shtml)’s a cite from the CBS News program 60 Minutes: > [@](#): > > Seidler had grown up with the story, but he didn’t want to tell the tale until he had permission from the late king’s widow, known as The Queen Mother. > > Seidler had sent a letter to her. “And finally, an answer came and it said, ‘Dear Mr. Seidler, please, not during my lifetime the memory of these events is still too painful.’ If the Queen Mum says wait to an Englishman, an Englishman waits. But, I didn’t think I’d have to wait that long,” he explained. > > Asked why, Seidler said, “Well, she was a very elderly lady. Twenty five years later, just shy of her 102nd birthday, she finally left this realm.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-kings-speech-hey-theyre-all-dead-now-all-but-the-queen/580153.md?page=1)