May 9th sees the release of “The King’s Speech” on DVD. Now anointed with an Oscar as “Best Film” of 2010, the DVD is expected to a reach a huge audience worldwide. To coincide with the release, Channel 5 will be broadcasting “The King’s Speech: Revealed” – on, I believe, May 3rd – much of which has been filmed at Knebworth House. The screenwriter, David Seidler, also an Oscar winner for the film, visited the House with Mark Logue, the grandson of the speech therapist Lionel Logue, whose friendship with George VI – for the benefit of those who haven’t yet seen it (there can’t be many of you!) – is the film’s subject. They discussed the history and making of the film in our Picture Gallery, which features in the movie as the room in which Queen Mary (Claire Bloom) listens to the climactic speech. The documentary crew also filmed in the Banqueting Hall, which – along with the Armoury Staircase and the Cellar – also features in the film during the Balmoral sequence. We are very proud to be associated with this excellent film, and very pleased by the positive exposure it has given – and will continue to give in DVD collections around the world – to Knebworth House.
Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com