KING GEORGE VI King to His Peoples - 3rd September 1939

Extremely limited box set Rigid card box, containing 78 rpm record in goatskin, silk and velvet-lined case with foil-blocked royal crest; 72 page hard-back book; CD and certificate of authenticity. At 6pm on Sunday 3rd September 1939, King George VI, who had reluctantly ascended the British throne in 1936 following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, made a speech to his people both at home and abroad that was broadcast by the BBC and simultaneously recorded at the Abbey Road Studios from the BBC landline for distribution throughout the world by EMI on a commercial gramophone record. In the speech, he describes the coming conflict as one for justice and liberty against the bondage of fear, and calls for all the citizens of Britain and the Commonwealth to stand firm in the dark days ahead. This album is a beautifully packaged reproduction of that historic record in the special luxury packaging as originally made for just two copies of the disc: one to be kept in the Royal Collection and the other in the Archives of EMI.