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This article is on the British patriotic anthem. For the Sex Pistols song, see God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols).God Save the Queen is a patriotic song whose author is unknown. It is traditionally used as the national anthem of the United Kingdom and of England, one of the two national anthems of New Zealand, and the royal anthem of Canada and the other Commonwealth realms, as well as the royal anthem of the British Royal Family. When the British monarch is male it becomes God Save the King, as it was originally sung.
It should be noted that there is no authorised version. Indeed the anthem has never been officially adopted by Royal Proclamation nor Act of Parliament. In general only one, or rarely two, verses are ever sung [1]. There has been some debate about replacing God Save the Queen with Jerusalem, another patriotic song popular in England.
1 History
It's now generally thought that the melody was composed in its present form by Dr. Henry Carey, although many of the musical phrases were present in various earlier melodies, leading to some confusion.
The first public performance of the work is now believed to be when Carey sang it during a dinner in 1740 in honour of Admiral Edward VernonEdward Vernon Old Grog ( 1684 1757) was a English naval officer. In the War of the Spanish Succession he served at the Battle of Malaga in 1704 and at the Battle of Barcelona in 1705. In the War of Jenkin's Ear in 1739 he commanded a fleet that captured t who had captured the SpanishThe Kingdom of Spain is a country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. It inc harbour of Porto Bello (then in ColombiaFor other uses see Columbia. The Republic of Colombia is a country in north-western South America. It is bound by earth, to the north and north west by the Caribbean Sea, to the east by Venezuela and Brazil, to the south by Ecuador and Peru, and to the we, now PanamaPanama ( Spanish: Panam is the southernmost country of Central America. It constitutes the last part of a natural land bridge between the North American and South American continents. History Main article: History of Panama Panama was part of Spain's colo) during the War of Jenkins' EarThe War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Great Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1742. Under the 1729 Treaty of Seville, the British had agreed not to trade with the Spanish colonies. To verify the treaty, the Spanish were permitted to boar.
Traditionally, the first performance was thought to have been in 1745Events May 11 War of Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy At Fontenoy, French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army including the Black Watch June 4 Frederick the Great destroys Austrian army at Hohenfriedberg August 19 Beginning of the '45 Jaco, when it was sung in support of George IIGeorge II (George Augustus) ( 10 November 1683 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. He was the second after the defeat of his army at the Battle of Prestonpans by the Jacobite claimant to the British throne, Bonnie Prince Charlie, whose forces were mostly Scottish. To express this support verse 6 was added, but as its call to crush the rebels now suggests an anti-Scottish sentiment it is rarely (if ever) sung nowadays.
Joseph Haydn was impressed by the use of God Save the King as a national anthem during his visit to London in 1794 and on his return to Austria wrote a national anthem, the God Save Emperor Franz, for the birthday of the Emperor Franz of Austria. The tune was later adopted for the German national anthem " Das Lied der Deutschen", also known as "Deutschland Über Alles".
