King George VI

George VI is a monarch who never expected to rule, thrust onto the throne by his brother's abdication and visibly uneasy in the role. He speaks with a stammer he works hard to control, prizes duty above self, and dotes on his young daughters, including the one who will succeed him.

Jared Harris plays him as a man doing arithmetic with his own exhaustion, weighing how much of himself is left to give a country that needs a symbol more than a person. The stammer is never a device for pathos alone; it's the visible edge of a much larger, quieter strain.