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It was formerly used as a national anthem by most of the Commonwealth Realms, including Australia, Canada, and Jamaica. It has since been replaced by Advance Australia Fair, O Canada, and Jamaica, Land We Love respectively, though it remains those countries' royal anthem. It continues to be recognised as the national anthem of New Zealand, together with God Defend New Zealand. It is also the former national anthem of Ireland, replaced in the 1920s by Amhrán na bhFiann (in English, 'The Soldier's Song').
God Save the Queen was the very first song to be used as a national anthem (although the Netherlands' national anthem ,the Wilhelmus, is actually older), and its tune was either used as or officially adopted as the national anthem for several other countries, including those of Denmark, Germany (unofficial), Russia (until 1833), Sweden and Switzerland.
It is also the melody to the popular United States song My Country, Tis of Thee. The tune is also used as Norway's Royal anthem entitled Kongesangen. The rock band Queen played God Save the Queen at the end of all of their concerts.
The tune is still used as the national anthem of Liechtenstein. This was a source of embarrassment to Winter Olympic officials in 1980 when Hanni Wenzell won this country's first gold medal ever, and they had no record of her country's national anthem. There was also an amusing incident when England met Liechtenstein in a Euro 2004 qualifier, which necessitated the same tune being played twice.
Frequently, when an anthem is needed for one of the component countries of the UK — at an international sporting event, for instance — an alternate song is used:
Traditionally the tune is played at a slow and sombre pace which many consider to be dreary. Occasionally events use a faster and livelier beat to reduce that effect. Comedian Billy Connolly performed a sketch broadcast on TV comparing the UK's slow tune to the lively ones of many other nations and suggested that it should be replaced by the theme tune to The Archers.
At the end of theatre performances the audience was expected to stand to attention while the anthem was played. In cinemas this brought a tendency for audiences to rush out while the credits played at the end of the film to avoid this formality.
The anthem was traditionally played at closedown on BBC One and in some ITV regions. ITV dropped this practice in the late 1980s, but it continued on BBC One until November 1997 and is still done on BBC Radio 4.
The rock band Queen put a version of God Save the Queen on their 1975 album A Night at the Opera. During the Queen's Golden Jubilee pop concert at Buckingham Palace on June 4, 2002, Brian May performed the anthem on electric guitar from the palace roof.
In 1977 during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, a punk rock band called The Sex Pistols released an anarchistic and anti-royalist song with the same title. Attempting to play the song from a boat on the river Thames outside the Palace of Westminster on the Jubilee holiday itself (a day which was billed as a national party), the band was arrested by the British police. See: God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols).
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