“God Save the Queen” (or “God Save the King,” depending on the gender of the ruling monarch) was first publicly performed in London in 1745 to support King George II after he was defeated in a battle in the Jacobean uprising that started that year. The song was used to boost morale and the forces loyal to George II would go on to defeat the Jacobites the following year. The song 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. There are various claimants to authorship of both the words and the tune. The words can be found as early as 1545, when the watchword at night was “God save the King,” the reply was “Long to reign over us.” The authorship of the melody has been claimed by many, including John Bull, Henry Carey, Henry Purcell, and Joseph Haydn.

    There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. The anthem has also never been officially declared as the national anthem of the country. The royal anthem is used as the national anthem as a matter of tradition. The words used are those sung in 1745, substituting ‘Queen’ for ‘King’ (and female pronouns for male ones) where appropriate. On official occasions, the first verse only is sung; on a small number of occasions, the third verse is heard as well. The second verse is very rarely heard due to its militaristic nature. There exist many other verses, some dating as far back as the first three verses, but the first three are what can best be taken as the “standard” British national anthem.

    The British tune has since become one of the world’s most recognizable anthems, and has been used in other countries including Germany, Russia, Switzerland, the United States, and even today by Liechtenstein and as the royal anthem of Norway. The song also was an influence on early anthems used in the Kingdom of Hawaii. Some 140 composers, including Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms, have used the tune in their compositions.