Before Hyde Park

King George VI, surfacing cinematically again after "The King's Speech" in the current movie version "Hyde Park on the Hudson" was titular head of the Church of England from 1936 to 1952 so he was hardly "undercover."

But unlike many monarchs gracing the British throne this king seems to have been more sincerely devout than most. He and his wife apparently fell to their knees to ask for God's help when informed they would have to replace the more dashing Edward VIII in 1936.

But George's timely reading of the poem "The Man at the Gate of the Year" – that being its most famous image – was a supreme and noteworthy example of leading an anxious people to prayer in January 1940 as the horrific storm of war was about to fall on his people. It became "their finest hour." The king's recitation quivered with sincerity and humble petition and exemplified how his wartime addresses would do so much to help his people "stay calm and carry on," that, and refusing to leave London during the Nazi air assaults.