‘God Save the King!’

With the coronation of King Charles III taking place this weekend, journalist Anne-Marie Minhall explains the history behind the national anthem.

We have music-loving Queen Victoria to thank, in part, for the National Anthem we know today. It was Victoria who was the first sovereign to regard it as the ‘National Anthem’ and she enjoyed adding extra verses to celebrate births and marriages within the royal family.

There is mystery behind both the tune and the words which, as a presenter on Classic FM weekday afternoons, I find intriguing. Could it be that this anthem goes all the way back to medieval times, a plainchant, to then one of Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite composers, John Bull. Maybe there were a few cheeky additions in the 17th Century by another English composer, Henry Purcell and then, in the next by the man who brought us ‘Rule, Britannia’, Thomas Arne.