National Anthem

[natalie_1982]

Has it always be "God Save our Gracious Queen"?  Did we sing "God Save Our Gracious King" when we had a king?  If we had a different National Anthem before - what was it?  Who decides what the new one will be?

[5029]

It used to be God Save the King when the queens father was ruling

[FP]

There was a similar question some months back and I tried to search for it.  (Ed - It's definitely time the search facility had something major done to it! - I got everything from Christmas Cards to Mobile Phones but nothing about National Anthem)

Anyway the National Anthem has been around for at least a couple of hundred years, Natalie.

[graemer]

Just don't mention the last verse.

[natalie_1982]

The last verse?  I only know the first few lines!

[londondave]

On official occasions, only the first verse is usually sung, as follows:

God save our gracious Queen!
Long live our noble Queen!
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen.

The second verse is only sung occasionally:

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour,
Long may she reign.
May she defend our laws,
And give us ever cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen.

[jno]

last verse, now sung only on Burns night:

Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the Queen!

[woofgang]

this verse isn't often sung either its the real verse two

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save the Queen.

(cortessy of wikipedia)

[Grunty]

This is the piece that FP meant (if I have made the link work)

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/People_and_Places/Questio n104092.html

[FP]

Thanks Grunty.  The link didn't work but I posted the address in the address bar and that did.  Here it is again, (hopefully)

http://tinyurl.com/e2k22

[spudqueen]

Not only do we sing God Save Our Gracious King when a King is ruler, but it is His Majesty not Her Majesty, so HM Inspector of Taxes (for example) which currently stands for Her Majesty Inspector of Taxes would be HIS Majesty Inspector of Taxes.

[Hippy]

Someone will, no doubt, come up with a much earlier date for part of the tune, but the anthem we have today is largely the work of George Frederick Handel, and was for a time the German anthem, and is a tune still used by some other countries.

I guess it was adopted in Britain during the Georgean period when the present Queen's family took over when they moved in from Germany around 1706.

[jno]

First sung in 1740, says Wikipedia. Americans sing 'My country 'tis of thee Sweet land of liberty Of thee I sing' to the same tune, and Liechtenstein and Norway use it for their anthems too. Somewhat dreary waltz imho.

Wiki also says it's traditional but not official - so you could try writing a new one. Or we could just switch to Bohemian Rhapsody.

[flaming]

The music only used to be played at the end of each last cinema performance at cinemas everywhere,with an accompanying film of a Guards band playing it.  Can you imagine it? The thing was to get out before it started playing, as people stood to attention when the lights came up whilst it played. Decades later I still don't know the words properly. Also at the end of BBCTV, although there isn't an end now that TV is 24 hours. It's still played (I believe) ,music only, on the switch-over of Radio 4 to the World Service at night.

[flaming]

I've just looked at the mini-url. I  think the Americans can sing with feeling because their anthem is about the country itself,  not the person who is President.  I'll bet they wouldn't be so enthusiastic if they were singing about some of their Presidents.

[Octavius]

'God Save The King' was a patriotic song first publicly performed in London in 1745, which came to be referred to as the National Anthem from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The words and tune are anonymous, and may date back to the seventeenth century.

In September 1745 the 'Young Pretender' to the British Throne, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh. In a fit of patriotic fervour after news of Prestonpans had reached London, the leader of the band at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, arranged 'God Save The King' for performance after a play. It was a tremendous success and was repeated nightly thereafter. This practice soon spread to other theatres, and the custom of greeting the Monarch with the song as he or she entered a place of public entertainment was thus established.

There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. Additional verses have been added down the years, but these are rarely used. The words used are those sung in 1745, substituting 'Queen' for 'King' where appropriate. On official occasions, only the first verse is usually sung.

As it is a matter of tradition, it is unlikely that it will get changed.  If it was to change officially, no doiubt it would be an act opf parliament or something.