The National Anthem
The UK's national anthem has no official words, was never made law, and once told the 'rebellious Scots' to be crushed. It's anthem by custom alone.
Published
Quick Facts
- Title
- God Save the King
- Status
- National anthem by custom and tradition, not by Act of Parliament
- First known public performance
- Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, September 1745
- Words
- No single official text; the first verse is the one usually sung
- Composer
- Unknown; credited to several people over the years, with none proven
- Wording changes with the monarch
- 'Queen' from 1952 to 2022, back to 'King' from September 2022
- Welsh anthem
- Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, written in Pontypridd in 1856
- Tune used abroad
- Still the melody of Liechtenstein's anthem; once used in Germany and the US
The anthem nobody ever made official
Ask for the law that makes 'God Save the King' the national anthem and you'll be searching a long time. There isn't one. No Act of Parliament or royal decree has ever fixed the tune, the words or the status. It became the anthem simply because people kept singing it, and the habit stuck. Even the words are loose. The version everyone knows is the first verse: 'God save our gracious King, long live our noble King, God save the King!' Other verses exist, and over the centuries they've been added, dropped and rewritten. That's why the anthem is allowed to change quietly with the times, without anyone voting on it.
A song born in a crisis
The first recorded public performance came in September 1745 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, with a musical arrangement by Thomas Arne. The timing matters. The Jacobite rising led by Bonnie Prince Charlie was under way, and his army had just beaten government troops at Prestonpans. London was nervous, and a song calling on God to protect George II hit exactly the right note. Who wrote it is still unknown. Various names have been put forward over the years, but nothing has been proven. It seems to have grown out of loyal songs already in circulation. The verses from that era were sharper than today's. One asked God to help Marshal Wade 'rebellious Scots to crush'. Nobody sings that now.
Why the words keep switching between King and Queen
When a queen reigns, the anthem becomes 'God Save the Queen', and the pronouns change with her. Victoria had it from 1837 to 1901. Elizabeth II had it from 1952 until her death in September 2022, a stretch of seventy years. Charles III's accession flipped it back to 'King', and a generation who had never sung that version had to learn it. For most of them it was the first time in their lives. The pattern is a reminder that the anthem belongs to the monarch rather than to the country in the abstract. Its first line is a prayer for one particular person.
A tune that travelled the world
The melody turned out to be wildly portable. Beethoven wrote variations on it. Haydn, in London in the 1790s, is said to have been so struck by the sight of a nation singing together that he wrote an anthem for Austria. Germany's Kaiser had a version, 'Heil dir im Siegerkranz'. In 1831 Samuel Francis Smith wrote new American words to the same tune, producing 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee', and Liechtenstein's anthem still uses the melody today. In New Zealand, 'God Save the King' is one of two national anthems, alongside 'God Defend New Zealand'. In Australia and Canada it serves as a royal anthem.
Four nations, many anthems
The UK has one anthem for state occasions, but the four nations often reach for their own songs. Wales has 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau' ('Land of My Fathers'), written in January 1856 by Evan James and his son James James in Pontypridd. In 1905 it was sung before Wales played New Zealand at Cardiff Arms Park, widely regarded as the first time a national anthem was sung at a sporting event. Scotland has 'Flower of Scotland', written by Roy Williamson of The Corries in the late 1960s and about the victory at Bannockburn in 1314. It caught on at Murrayfield, and the 1990 rugby match against England helped cement it. England's teams often use 'God Save the King', though 'Jerusalem' has stood in at the Commonwealth Games. Northern Ireland's football team uses 'God Save the King' too, while at the Commonwealth Games its athletes have gone for 'Danny Boy'. The Union Flag has a similar story. It has no Welsh dragon because Wales was already part of the Kingdom of England when the flags were combined.
Notable people
- Thomas Arne
- Henry Carey
- Evan James
- James James
- Roy Williamson
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Joseph Haydn
- Samuel Francis Smith
Keep exploring
National Emblems of the UK
Published
The Union Flag has no Welsh dragon, the royal arms once did, and the shamrock, thistle and rose sit on one stem. The UK's emblems tell a story of unions and omissions.