Colin Firth has won universal praise and now a Golden Globe for his role as King George VI in The King’s Speech. Interestingly, the awards ceremony took place exactly 88 years after the prince, then Duke of York, became engaged to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923. On 16 January 1923 The Times published the announcement from the palace:
‘It is with the greatest pleasure that The King and Queen announce the betrothal of Their beloved son, the Duke of York, to the Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.’
The paper did not mention that the prince had spent some time trying to persuade Lady Elizabeth to become his wife, and she finally relented on his third proposal. The leader writer went on to comment on the apparent difference in social status between the betrothed couple, ‘Love, which laughs at locksmiths, can sometimes smile at the difference in rank which separates Royalty from the rest of the people of the State’. The Duke of York was praised for his good works and ‘the modest grace and unaffected friendliness of his bearing’. Readers were assured that Lady Elizabeth was ‘high spirited, clever and accomplished as well as beautiful, and for some time past has been made welcome in Royal circles.’
With four sons, George V had confided in his wife Queen Mary that he rather dreaded the idea of daughters-in-law, but he became terribly fond of Bertie’s wife. Queen Mary noted in her diary ‘We are delighted and he looks beaming.’
In a peculiar way, she could have been commenting on the reaction to the success of the movie.
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