UK national anthem undergoes change now Charles is King
After 70 years of singing ‘God save the Queen’, Brits will be faced with a change to their national anthem, prompted by the shock death of Queen Elizabeth II.
With King Charles III to take the throne, the national anthem will change to God Save the King.
Though nearly all of the lyrics will stay the same, there will be some key replacements: ‘queen’ with ‘king’, and ‘she’ and ‘her’ swapped for ‘he’ and ‘him’.
The change will see the anthem return to its original title, as it was first publicly performed in 1745 after Prince Charles Edward Stuart defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpas, according to the royal family’s website.
It became the national anthem at the beginning of the 19th century, with the lyrics changing when a King or Queen takes the throne.
Queen Elizabeth II began her reign in 1952, when she was 25, resulting in the lyrics changing from ‘God save the King’ during her father King George VI’s reign to ‘God save the Queen’.
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