- Sir Winston Churchill: Pray silence for Her Majesty, the Queen.
- Queen Elizabeth II: My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen. Dear Winston and Lady Churchill. My confidence in Sir Anthony is complete. And I know he will lead the country on to great achievements, but it would be useless to pretend that either he or any of those successors who may one day follow him in office, will ever, for me, be able to hold the place of my first Prime Minister, to whom my husband and I owe so much. And for whose wise guidance, during the early years of my reign, I shall always be so profoundly grateful. I will remember you always for your magnanimity, your courage at all times. And for your unfailing humor. Founded in your unrivaled mastery of the English language. I take comfort from the fact, that in losing my constitutional adviser... I gain a wise counsellor... to whom I shall look for help and support in the days which lie ahead. May there be many of them.
- Queen Elizabeth II: [to Phillip] I have nothing to hide from you. Nothing. Porchey is a friend. And yes, there are those who would have preferred me to marry him. Indeed, marriage with him might have been easier. Might have even worked better than ours. But to everyone's regret and frustration... the only person I have ever loved is you. And can you honestly look me in the eye and say the same? Can you?
- Graham Sutherland: If you're engaged in a fight with something, then it is not with me. It's with your own blindness.
- Sir Winston Churchill: Be careful, Anthony, too much excitement is not good for one so soon after an operation.
- Anthony Eden: Spoken by a man who only two months ago was effectively dead.
- Sir Winston Churchill: Which makes two of us.
- Anthony Eden: I have recovered.
- Sir Winston Churchill: That's not what I hear. I hear you are a shadow of your former self.
- [rising from his chair]
- Sir Winston Churchill: That when you walk, the pills rattle around inside of you!
- Anthony Eden: I have something that you will never see again. A clean bill of health.
- Sir Winston Churchill: Stalin said the same. He died groveling on the floor!
- Sir Winston Churchill: Why are you here?
- Graham Sutherland: I understand you've rejected the painting.
- Sir Winston Churchill: Yes I have.
- Graham Sutherland: On what grounds?
- Sir Winston Churchill: That is not a painting. It's a humiliation.
- [Crosses to the painting and pulls down the cover]
- Sir Winston Churchill: 'How shall I paint him today? Ah, sitting on a chair, producing a stool. A broken, sagging, pitiful creature, squeezing and squeezing!'
- Graham Sutherland: That's not how it's being seen.
- Sir Winston Churchill: That is how it is! And I will not accept it!
- Graham Sutherland: I don't think it's wise to reject it. It was commissioned by the Members of the joint Houses of Parliament as a sign of respect.
- Sir Winston Churchill: Well, they should have commissioned an artist who is respectful! Rather than a Judas wielding his murderous brush! Look at it! It is a betrayal of friendship! And an unpatriotic, treacherous, cowardly assault by the individualistic Left!
- Graham Sutherland: As regards the friendship...
- Sir Winston Churchill: Clearly there is none!
- Graham Sutherland: I accepted this commission because I admired you and I came through the experience admiring you even more.
- Sir Winston Churchill: [Sits on the sofa] You make monsters of everyone you admire?
- Graham Sutherland: It's not vindictive. It's art. It's not personal.
- Sir Winston Churchill: Well, you are a lost soul. A narcissist without direction or certainty.
- Graham Sutherland: Please, sir. Don't overreact. Give it time. I showed those sketches to your wife throughout the process. She remarked on how accurate they were.
- Sir Winston Churchill: That is the whole point.
- [Rises]
- Sir Winston Churchill: It is not a reasonably truthful image of me!
- Graham Sutherland: It is, sir!
- Sir Winston Churchill: It is not! It is cruel!
- Graham Sutherland: Age is cruel!
- [pauses]
- Graham Sutherland: If you see decay, it's because there's decay. If you see frailty, it's because there's frailty. I can't be blamed for what is. And I refuse to hide and disguise what I see. If you're engaged in a fight with something, then it's not with me. It's with your own blindness.
- Sir Winston Churchill: [Sits heavily down on the sofa] I think you should go.
- [Sutherland leaves]
- Porchey: Given this is Aureole's debut, and we want to leave nothing to chance, I've called up three different mares. Very rarely does a forced tryst make a fruitful tryst. If one wants the perfect foal, one needs to be prepared to wait for the perfect pairing.
- Sir Winston Churchill: He's right.
- Clemmie Churchill: What?
- Sir Winston Churchill: I am that man in the painting. Wretched and decaying. I cannot go on.
- Clemmie Churchill: You've said that before.
- Sir Winston Churchill: And this time I mean it, I'm tired.
- Clemmie Churchill: You've had enough?
- Sir Winston Churchill: I have, my love. This time I really have.
- Clemmie Churchill: Good.