Why is it "The King's Speech" but "Le Discours d'un Roi"?

In the movie's Wikipedia article, there is a French poster of the movie, which says "Le Discours d'un Roi". This is interesting to me because the French title uses the indefinite article "un" to refer to the king, which in my view makes more sense because he's just a king and from the title alone it's not obvious which king we are talking about.

Is it more appropriate that the English title use the definite article? Is it because the king is British?

Solution 1:

Specifically in Britain, at least, the convention of "The King's something or other", has a very long tradition. Any number of things of all sorts are attributed in this way. For instance, The King's Men, the acting company to which Shakespeare belonged. Other examples, include, The King's Regiment, The King's School, and The King's Breakfast, to name just a few.

Interestingly enough, despite the above, the Film is actually based on a play call A King's Speech, so what the hell do I know.

Solution 2:

It may well be, as you said, because the movie is about the British king.

In English usage (on both sides of the Atlantic), "the Queen" - without further specification - is commonly understood to refer to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the only monarch of an English-speaking country.

So for the timeframe in which the movie is set, "the King" would probably indeed be understood the same way. By contrast, in French "le Roi" would probably require some kind of modifier.

Solution 3:

I think this is partly due to the fact that Le Discours d'un Roi sounds much better than Un Discours du Roi. Also in Great Britain, he is always addressed as The king to emphasize his superiority.