God Save Our Gracious Queen : Lyrics
God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.
Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen.
Meter: 664 6664. Lyricist unknown for verses 1 – 2, verse 3 by William E Hickson (1817 – 1877) from hymn “God bless our native land” an American hymn to the same tune. Public Domain.
God Save Our Gracious Queen : Recording
- Tune: God Save The King, composer unknown attributed to Henry Carey (1689 – 1743). Source Thesaurus Musicus (1744). Public Domain.
- Performances ℗ 2018 Richard M S Irwin. Certain rights reserved.
God Save Our Gracious Queen : Download
The music used in this recording belongs in the Public Domain, but the Performance rights ℗ belong to Richard M S Irwin. You may click the Download Button to obtain the MP3 recording for use in Worship (including online services) or for personal use only. For other uses of the recording, please Contact Us.
If you use our free MP3 hymns, please consider a donation to help keep this service free.
Please Right-Click and Save Link if needed
History
The British National Anthem, God Save The King in its current form dates to the eighteenth century, however the words and tune may date back to the seventeenth century. It is thought the tune was originally a dance, the rhythm is very distinctly that of a galliard.
In September 1745 the ‘Young Pretender’ to the British Throne, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, defeated the army of King George II in Scotland at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh.
In a fit of patriotic fervour after news of Prestonpans had reached London, the leader of the band at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, arranged ‘God Save The King’ for performance after a play. It was a tremendous success and was repeated nightly.
This practice soon spread to other theatres and continued well into the 20th century even being played at the end of an evening in cinemas and at other public events such as Balls and Dinners.
There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. As here, additional verses have been added down the years, but these are rarely used.