The King's Speech took many of the major gongs at the Oscars, but now a memorable scene has been edited to cut out swearing, making the film more accessible to American audiences.

The film, about King George VI working with an unconventional Australian speech therapist to overcome a stammer, was given an R rating in the US, largely because of a swearing scene.

The scene shows the royal, played by Colin Firth, at first reluctantly saying "bloody bugger to you, you beastly bastard", before letting fly with a string of obscenities in an exercise to relax his speech.

Colin Firth ... the Oscar winner has spoken out against the dumbing down of The King's Speech in the US to attract a younger audience.  Colin Firth ... the Oscar winner has spoken out against the dumbing down of The King's Speech in the US to attract a younger audience. Photo: Reuters

Producers of the film wanted to open it up to family audiences and have now muted parts of the scene to attract a PG-13 rating in the US, The Guardian reported.

After winning the Oscar for best actor for the role, Firth spoke out against the edit.
"I don't take this stuff lightly, but in the context of this film, it could not be more edifying, more appropriate," he told The Hollywood Reporter.