The King and His People was one of a number of films produced for the Ministry of Information – Wendy Webster mentions also The Empire Marches and From the Four Corners – that sought to promote unity and loyalty within a modern British Empire (Webster, 2005, 326). This unity is presented here through the image of the King, who was, in all media, widely adopted as a unifying symbol of the Empire.

The monarchy had traditionally served as a device to unify the colonies and dominions and to incite loyalty. Arthur Balfour, British Prime Minister from 1902-1905, had asserted that ‘The King… is the greatest constitutional bond uniting together in a single Empire communities of free men, separated by half the circumference of the globe’ (Ward, 2004, 14). This rhetoric – defining and positioning the Empire around the image of the King – continued during the War. For example, General Smuts, the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, spoke at the Guildhall in October 1943 and declared that ‘as the city, so stands the Nation, united as never before in loyal devotion round the King and Queen, who in this crisis of fate are not only the centre of national unity, but also noble exemplars of devotion to public duty, exemplars of the spirit of service and sacrifice to the whole nation, the Empire and the Commonwealth’ (The Times, 20 October 1943, 8).

King George’s position as the unifying force within the Empire was forged, in part, by his widespread travel throughout the Empire. He had begun an Empire and Commonwealth tour in 1939 – with trips to Canada and America – when war forced a postponement until 1947. Ashley Jackson suggested that the King ‘had gained a mass of global experience from tours and military service that equipped him well for his role as a war-time monarch’ (Jackson, 2006, 57). Yet, it is important to note the image of the King that was cultivated by the media during the War. Hilary Sapire, writing of the Royal Tour of South Africa in 1947, noted ‘the images associated with the Royal Family – particularly those of domesticity and “ordinariness” of a monarchy that was intimate, informal, at ease with ordinary people which was so conscientiously cultivated by the media in the years after the abdication of Edward VII’ (Sapire, 2008). Rosalind Brunt illustrated how newsreel coverage of the monarchy during the War fostered a familial image of the Monarchy, while Paul Ward highlighted how the Royal Family ‘established itself once more as head of the national family’ during the War (Brunt, 1996; Ward, 2004, 22). Wendy Webster noted how this image was cultivated and extended throughout the Empire through the King’s Christmas radio broadcasts. ‘The idea of the King speaking from his home and of the Royal Family gathered round the hearth at Christmas became an analogy’, wrote Webster, ‘to what the King referred to as “one great family” in 1941, “the family circle” in 1942, and “the family of the British Commonwealth and Empire” in 1943’ (Webster, 2005, 25). This notion of a larger imperial family, headed by the King and Queen, is evident in earlier productions such as the Empire Marketing Board film, One Family (1930).

The King and His People contains footage from existing Movietone newsreels – for example the shots of imperial airmen appear in Their Majesties Meet Empire Airmen from October 1941 – while footage of the Masai tribes donating cattle featured in War Came to Kenya (1941). The film was made exclusively for Britain’s colonies and was not shown in Britain.