The duke of York, nicknamed Bertie, was born as royal 'spare heir', younger brother to the prince of Wales, and thus expected to spend a relatively private life with his Scottish wife Elisabeth Bowes-Lyon and their daughters, in the shadow of their reigning father, George V, and next that of his elder brother who succeeded to the British throne as Edward VIII. However Edward decides to put his love for a divorced American, Wallis Simpson, above dynastic duty, and ends up abdicating the throne, which now falls to Bertie, who reigns as George VI.
James Wilby
as King George VI, aka 'Bertie'
Alan Bates
as King George V
Juliet Aubrey
as Queen Elizabeth
Eileen Atkins
as Queen Mary
Dolly Wells
as Princess Mary
Barbara Leigh-Hunt
as Lady Mabel Airlie
Charles Edwards
as David
Oliver Ford Davies
as Archbishop Lang
Deborah Cornelius
as Thelma Furness
Michael Elwyn
as Lionel Logue
Amber Sealey
as Wallis Simpson
Jeremy Child
as Sir Samuel Hoare
