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Why do people want to keep God Save the Queen as the National Anthem?

I have nothing against the Queen herself as a person as she seems a nice individual, and Prince Philip is alright, but I'm not a fan of the monarchy in general and I don't see any point in still having them being a major factor in the 21st century.

I just find it baffling why out of all the other choices we have for a national anthem, people would rather stick to GSTQ. It is incredibly outdated and incredibly irrelevant. Not everyone likes the monarchy and not everyone agrees that Royal figureheads should be of higher priority than average British citizens. People complain about them. The fact that our money goes towards their state parties and all that when it could be going towards the NHS and foodbanks and I agree to some extent.

GSTQ is horrendous. It's like nails on a chalkboard. And the actual fact is is that hardly anyone shows any passion in it. You look at the England football team and rugby team and the fans. They have no passion when singing it whatsoever. Because England doesn't have it's own anthem, we use the UK anthem instead. What's the point of having it as the UK anthem when no one else uses it? The Scots never use it and the Welsh never use it, so what exactly is the point? The Scots loathe it because it once had a line about crushing them and the Welsh hate it because they feel the Royal Family does not represent them in any way and who can blame either of them?

They both have their own amazing anthems so they don't need to use GSTQ. If England had Jerusalem, it would make a massive difference. Many English have protested and complained and Jerusalem has won the lead in many surveys, along with Land of Hope and Glory. God Save the Queen was not among the popular results. Even Scousers hate GSTQ, considering that Liverpool is in England. They've booed and jeered at it countless times, just like the Scots and the Welsh have.

We really need an anthem that unites the UK. We can all have our own when competing in football but when it comes to other sports and other occassions, we need something that actually says something about the UK and it's citizens. Rule Britannia has been a popular choice, and I love it as a very patriotic song and is a good example of what a national anthem should be like, but it's a bit outdated and wouldn't suit us nowadays. Considering it was written in the 1700s, it's a bit imperialistic. It's a great song about Britain, but we no longer have a strong navy.

My personal favourite is I Vow to Thee My Country. It was Winston Churchill's favourite, Princess Dianne's and even Margaret Thatcher's.
This song just sends chills. It's very patriotic and passionate and has a very subtle tone to it. This is a song that the Scots and the Welsh unionists agree with.

I know everyone has a personal preference, but when you compare ours to the French national anthem, America's national anthem, Italy's and so on, we are put to shame. We were also ranked #1 on the Top Tens website on Worst Anthems of All Time. Personally I'm really embarassed by our current anthem because it's not needed and there's no passion. If there's no passion then it needs to change. This debate has been going on for many years and nothing has happened. I'm just wondering why?

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Reply 1

username1292215

This song should be the national anthem

https://youtu.be/914OHMH5zqE

Reply 2

Obolinda

Volunteer Team

Don't have any strong opinions either way, couldn't care less. But "I Vow To The My Country" is a nice song, haha. First learnt it in orchestra playing it on my violin. From "The Planets"

Reply 3

username4499734

It’s all about money tbh. The Queen and monarchy bring it a lot of money through tourism basically

Reply 4

CTLeafez

I agree ‘I owe to thee my country’ would be a great alternative!

I also agree GSTQ is getting a tad irrelevant to modern day Britain.

Maybe once the Queen dies, and the national anthem has to be altered to God Save The King, that’ll be the opportunity to change it... doubt it ever will be though!

Reply 5

ChaoticButterfly

As far as I am aware no one have ever been given the choice to decide.

Reply 6

LoyaltyAb0veAll

GSTQ and the existence of monarchs have utility.They act as a unification tool.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 7

Retired_Messiah

Give the England football team Jerusalem, give the UK one of the following: I vow to thee my country, Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory.

Liz can get back in her box.

Reply 8

heermeet

guess they wanna save the Queen?

Pistols version

Whilst Rule Britannia and Jerusalem are somewhat more catchy, of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with the current anthem.

Reply 11

AzuraBlue

@ Napp There are loads of problems with the current anthem. Which is why so many people want it abolished. For one, it had a verse about scattering our enemies and crushing the Scots. I know that verse has been banned for many decades, but the only way you can heal the wounds is to replace it with something else. Also you think of all the working class people that contribute so much to the economy and work so hard and earn peanuts. The Royal Family have everything handed to them and are thought to be above the law just because they're royals. For instance, Prince Philip was caught driving over the speed limit and not wearing a seatbelt. Had that been anyone else. they would definitely have been prosecuted.
It also speaks of old generals that took part in the British Empire that stole wealth from other countries. "Lord Thy Marshall Wade"

This anthem definitely needs to go. Many people are sick of it and want something to represent us as a nation. And hopefully a song that does not mention the British Empire, like Jerusalem or I Vow to Thee My Country. I Vow to Thee My Country almost did actually become the national anthem, but for some reason, they decided against it, and we're still stuck with this awful dirge. It's no wonder other countries laugh at us. They all think we're slaves of the monarchy. If you want a song that unites the UK, this one is definitely not it. I don't see why you can't see anything wrong with it.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 12

username4540078

God Save the Queen is such an apt national anthem.

Reply 13

gjd800

Original post by gjd800

Pistols version

Original post by Trotsky's Iceaxe

God Save the Queen is such an apt national anthem.

Yes yes

Reply 14

username1539513

Jerusalem would be better

Reply 15

The RAR

The current anthem is just fine, changing it would be annoying imo

the foggy dew

The only national anthem I go by is the Welsh national anthem. Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i miiiiiiiiii

Reply 18

AzuraBlue

@ The RAR Why do you think it's fine? It even got our own people booing against it. Look up Liverpool fans booing the national anthem. The Scots and the Welsh do exactly the same. Like I said, if you want an anthem that unites the country, this does not do it. You'll find that people in the North of England would much rather sing Jerusalem than God Save the Queen. They can't stand the current national anthem either.
It used to be Scotland and Wales's anthem aswell but they kicked up such a huge fuss that they got theirs changed. English people did the same, but nothing's happened. In fact, the Scots jeered so loudly in the 80s that it got removed instantly. This is when they had Scotland the Brave and then adapted to Flower of Scotland much later on in the late 90s.
I know it's personal preference but seriously, I cannot understand why you and other people think that this anthem is acceptable when it's not. All it's done is divide the UK. If you want us to continue being a laughing stock then go ahead.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 19

L i b

Original post by AzuraBlue

There's very little that everyone likes - as it goes, the monarchy has maintained a pretty consistent very high level of approval in the UK. That some people don't like it isn't really an issue. In any case, just because you might believe in an elected head of state, it doesn't mean you can't show respect to someone who holds that office and their position as representative of the country. If you live in a republic, you may not have voted for the incumbent president, but it's still quite reasonable to have some degree of respect for the position.

The idea that the oldest national anthem in the world is "outdated" I find particularly bizarre. You might as well say anything traditional is outdated.

GSTQ is horrendous. It's like nails on a chalkboard. And the actual fact is is that hardly anyone shows any passion in it. You look at the England football team and rugby team and the fans. They have no passion when singing it whatsoever. Because England doesn't have it's own anthem, we use the UK anthem instead. What's the point of having it as the UK anthem when no one else uses it? The Scots never use it and the Welsh never use it, so what exactly is the point? The Scots loathe it because it once had a line about crushing them and the Welsh hate it because they feel the Royal Family does not represent them in any way and who can blame either of them?

I've always found it strange how so many people in this country associate a national anthem chiefly with sporting events, football especially.

The national anthem is used for far more than that. Speaking as a person from Scotland, I can categorically tell you that the idea that "the Scots don't use it" is utter rubbish. It is used continually at civic and public events the length and breadth of Scotland. I cannot think of any single civic event where you would expect it to be used in England that it is not used in Scotland: Royal visits, citizenship ceremonies, in every established church in the land on Remembrance Sunday, by the Scouts, by the guardsmen outside Holyrood Palace...

I suspect your suggestion that the Welsh are all somehow republicans doesn't stand up to scrutiny either. Of course there are nationalist movements in these places - their objection to GSTQ isn't about its content, it is about the fact of their being a British national anthem at all.

The thing about "crushing" is wrong too. The national anthem didn't ever have a line to that effect. An account exists in a magazine in the 19th century, suggesting that a verse was added on as a music hall act in 1745, during the Jacobite rising. Thousands upon thousands of silly songs have been added to God Save the Queen over the years, and the Jacobites had their own sectarian versions that they sung. However, to raise up a performance in a theatre over two and a half centuries ago to being part of the national anthem is simply incorrect.

My personal favourite is I Vow to Thee My Country. It was Winston Churchill's favourite, Princess Dianne's and even Margaret Thatcher's.
This song just sends chills. It's very patriotic and passionate and has a very subtle tone to it. This is a song that the Scots and the Welsh unionists agree with.

For my part, I have a problem with the sort of nationalism that features in the first verse. "All earthly things above" is a bit too "Deutschland uber alles" for my tastes - any decent person would put a lot of earthly things above their country. Admittedly it's quite pleasant to listen to - hardly the passionate anthem that you seemed to be calling for earlier though.