"God Save the King" (known as "God Save the Queen" when the monarch is female) is the national anthem of the United Kingdom. and the royal anthem of the Isle of Man, Australia, Canada and some other Commonwealth realms. The author of the song is unknown and it may originate as a plainchant, but an attribution to the composer John Bull has sometimes been made.

Beyond its first verse, which is consistent, "God Save the King" has many historic and extant versions. Since its first publication, different verses have been added and taken away and, even today, different publications include various selections of verses in various orders. In general, only one verse is sung. Sometimes two verses are sung and, on certain occasions, three. The melody is used for the national anthem of Liechtenstein, ""; the royal anthem of Norway, ""; and the American patriotic song "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" (also known as "America"). The melody was also used for the national anthem "" ("Hail to thee in the Victor's Crown") of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1795 until 1918; as the anthem of the German Emperor from 1871 to 1918; as "The Prayer of Russians", the imperial anthem of the Russian Empire, from 1816 to 1833; and as the national anthem of Switzerland, "", from the 1840s until 1961.

History

The text first appeared in England in the late 1590s, with the publication of William Shakespeare's play Richard III. In Act IV, Scene I, Lady Anne says to Queen Elizabeth: "Were red-hot steel to sear me to the brains! Anointed let me be with deadly venom, And die ere men can say 'God save the Queen.

In The Oxford Companion to Music, Percy Scholes points out the similarities to an early plainsong melody, although the rhythm is very distinctly that of a galliard, and he gives examples of several such dance tunes that bear a striking resemblance to "God Save the King". Scholes quotes a keyboard piece by John Bull (1619) which has some similarities to the modern tune, depending on the placing of accidentals which at that time were unwritten in certain cases and left to the discretion of the player (see ). He also points to several pieces by Henry Purcell, one of which includes the opening notes of the modern tune, setting the words "God Save the King". Nineteenth-century scholars and commentators mention the widespread belief that an old Scots carol, "Remember O Thou Man", was the source of the tune.

The first published version that resembles the present song appeared in 1744, with no title but the heading "For two voices", in an anthology originally named but changed after only a few copies had been printed to . When the Jacobite pretender Charles Edward Stuart led the 1745 rising, the song spread among those loyal to King George II. The tune published in The Gentleman's Magazine in 1745 departs from that used today at several points, one as early as the first bar, but is otherwise clearly a strong relative of the contemporary anthem. It was recorded as being sung in London theatres in 1745, with, for example, Thomas Arne writing a setting of the tune for the Drury Lane Theatre.

Scholes' analysis includes mention of "untenable" and "doubtful" claims, as well as "an American misattribution". Some of these are:

  • James Oswald was a possible author of the , so may have played a part in the history of the song, but is not a strong enough candidate to be cited as the composer of the tune.
  • Henry Carey: Scholes refutes this attribution: first on the grounds that Carey himself never made such a claim; second, when the claim was made by Carey's son (in 1795), it was in support of a request for a pension from the British Government; and third, the younger Carey claimed that his father, who died in 1743, had written parts of the song in 1745. It has also been claimed that the work was first publicly performed by Carey during a dinner in 1740 in honour of Admiral Edward Vernon, who had captured the Spanish harbour of Porto Bello (then in the Viceroyalty of New Granada, now in Panama) during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

Scholes recommends the attribution "traditional" or "traditional; earliest known version by John Bull (1562–1628)". The English Hymnal (musical editor Ralph Vaughan Williams) gives no attribution, stating merely "17th or 18th cent."

Use in the United Kingdom

thumb|upright|alt=Poster of blimp above London at nighttime, with the text "It is far better to face the bullets than to be killed at home by a bomb. Join the army at once & help to stop an air raid. God save the King".|The phrase "God Save the King" in use as a rallying cry to the support of the monarch and the UK's forces during the [[First World War]]

thumb|alt=A group of men in World War I uniforms of the Royal Marines and Royal Navy, some of whom are holding metal pails, standing adjacent to a wooden tub inscribed with "God Save the King". A man scoops liquid from the tub (the rum ration) and pours it into the metal pails, as a Petty Officer looks on from a logbook. They are standing belowdecks on a ship with a low ceiling, with pipes and cables snaking overhead.|Royal Marines and [[Naval rating|bluejackets aboard being served their rum rations from a rum tub inscribed with "God save the King" (1916)]]

Like many aspects of British constitutional life, "God Save the King" derives its official status from custom and use, not from royal proclamation or act of Parliament. The variation in the UK of the lyrics to "God Save the King" is the oldest among those currently used, and forms the basis on which all other versions used throughout the Commonwealth are formed; though, again, the words have varied over time.

England has no official national anthem of its own; "God Save the King" is treated as the English national anthem when England is represented at sporting events (though there are some exceptions to this rule, such as cricket where "Jerusalem" is used). There is a movement to establish an English national anthem, with William Blake's and Hubert Parry's "Jerusalem" and Edward Elgar's "Land of Hope and Glory" among the top contenders. Wales has a de facto national anthem, "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" (Land of my Fathers) while Scotland uses unofficial anthems ("Scotland the Brave" was traditionally used until the 1990s; since then, "Flower of Scotland" is more commonly used), these anthems are used formally at state and national ceremonies as well as international sporting events such as football and rugby union matches.

Since 2003, "God Save the King", considered an all-inclusive anthem for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as other countries within the Commonwealth, has been dropped from the Commonwealth Games. Northern Irish athletes receive their gold medals to the tune of the "Londonderry Air", popularly known as "Danny Boy". In 2006, English winners heard Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1", usually known as "Land of Hope and Glory", but after a poll conducted by the Commonwealth Games Council for England prior to the 2010 Games, "Jerusalem" was adopted as England's new Commonwealth Games anthem. In sports in which the UK competes as one nation, most notably as Great Britain at the Olympics, the anthem is used to represent anyone or any team that comes from the United Kingdom.

Lyrics in the UK

thumb|First verse sung at the Royal Exchange in 2022

thumb|[[Stratford-upon-Avon Town Hall (built 1767), bearing the painted slogan, "God Save the King"]]

The phrase "God Save the King" is much older than the song, appearing, for instance, several times in the King James Bible. A text based on the 1st Book of Kings Chapter 1: verses 38–40, "And all the people rejoic'd, and said: God save the King! Long live the King! May the King live for ever, Amen", has been sung and proclaimed at every coronation since that of King Edgar in 973. Scholes says that as early as 1545, "God Save the King" was a watchword of the Royal Navy, with the response being "Long to reign over us". He also notes that the prayer read in churches on anniversaries of the Gunpowder Plot includes words which might have formed part of the basis for the former standard verse "Scatter our enemies...assuage their malice and confound their devices".

In 1745, The Gentleman's Magazine published "God save our lord the king: A new song set for two voices", describing it "As sung at both Playhouses" (the Theatres Royal at Drury Lane and Covent Garden). Traditionally, the first performance was thought to have been in 1745, when it was sung in support of King George II after his defeat at the Battle of Prestonpans by the army of Charles Edward Stuart, son of James Francis Edward Stuart, the Jacobite claimant to the British throne.

It is sometimes claimed that, ironically, the song was originally sung in support of the Jacobite cause: the word "send" in the line "Send him victorious" could imply that the king was absent. However, the Oxford English Dictionary cites examples of "[God] send (a person) safe, victorious, etc." meaning "God grant that he may be safe, etc.". There are also examples of early 18th-century drinking glasses which are inscribed with a version of the words and were apparently intended for drinking the health of King James II and VII.

Scholes acknowledges these possibilities but argues that the same words were probably being used by both Jacobite and Hanoverian supporters and directed at their respective kings.

In 1902, the musician William Hayman Cummings, quoting mid-18th-century correspondence between Charles Burney and Sir Joseph Banks, suggested that the words had been based on a Latin verse composed for King James II at the Chapel Royal.

Standard version in the United Kingdom

thumb|"God Save the King" performed with each of its three verses (originally released on a Victor Record phonograph c. 1910)

As the reigning monarch is currently , the male version of the anthem is used.

When the current monarch is male