Just wondering

On occassions like Four Nations, England have variously used Land of Hope and Glory, Jeruselem and I vow to thee my country. But you have a point. Its like whenever England need an anthem separate to that of the United Kingdom, someone does a frantic rummage through their record collections.

What is Scotland's? - Flower of Scotland I assume.

Yes Flower of Scotland. Hate that song though, would much prefer a more modern upbeat one.

I think Natioanl Anthems are supposed to be a bit old and durgey, sorry I mean traditional. Unoffically I think Scotland may have adopted 5000 miles.

True - Wales have Hen Wlad fy Nhadau and Scotland also have theirs. God Save the Queen is the British National Anthem. It's strange and a shame England don't have their own - they tend to use God Save the Queen in rugby matches etc which - annoyingly - blurs the line between England and Britain in the eyes of the rest of the world.

I agree with Billy Connelly .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9nnnM-__JQ

It's probably going to be seen as controversial but I believe that the other UK countries have their own anthems because at one point or another they wished to separate themselves from the UK and each of those countries will always have a certain amount of the population that would favour a separation. To have their own anthems means all can sing it heartily - nationalist or not. England, obviously, has never tried to separate from itself and sees the British national anthem as the main one and also as a cohesive anthem. To have a separate one could seem divisive.

We also don`t have our own BBC TV Channel or Radio channel Scotland, Ireland & Wales do, we don`t have our own government either.

I always thought God Save the Queen was the anthem? was it not?

Apparently it's the British one. I just thought it was English up until now!

I always figured that the 'rest of the world' didn't really know much of a difference (between England and Britain), in an average Joe from another country kind of way

Jerusalem is often used as our "unofficial" national anthem. It's used during sporting events. I didn't think Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland's are exactly 'official' either.

I don't think it matters that much there are more important things we should be worrying about than whether we have an official song.

None of the UK nations, or the UK itself, have a national anthem. The songs that are often used as such are used either by tradition or because they have some other official status.

For example, God Save the Queen is actually the monarch's personal honors music but has come to be accepted unofficially as the national anthem due to its association with state occasions. The same is also true of Land of Hope and Glory, Flower of Scotland etc, which have become accepted as national anthems within specific areas simply through their usage in that area.

That's right. Scotland doesn't have an official national anthem, although that awful dirge Flower of Scotland is often played at sporting events etc. Scotland the Brave has also been used, probably more often in the past than currently. There has been some discussion about what the Scottish national anthem should be. The songs suggested were Flower of Scotland, Scotland the Brave, Caledonia, and one other that I can't remember. My choice would be Caledonia, not only because it is a really good, moving song but because it's about loving your country and missing it when you are away, rather than about crushing other nations.

There you go the full national anthem, it dates from the early 1700s.

The full version of the National Anthem is:
1. 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!

2. O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!

3. 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! 4. Not in this land alone,
But be God's mercies known,
From shore to shore!
Lord make the nations see,
That men should brothers be,
And form one family,
The wide world over.

5. From every latent foe,
From the assassins blow,
God save the Queen!
O'er her thine arm extend,
For Britain's sake defend,
Our mother, prince, and friend,
God save the Queen!

6. Lord grant that Marshal Wade
May by thy mighty aid
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the Queen!

Perhaps the first issue for the English parliament - or whatever English-votes-for-English-laws arrangement they end up cobbling together - should be to adopt an English anthem commensurate with Flower Of Scotland or Land Of My Fathers.

Did England not adopt Jerusalem? I quite like that actually. They should play it at sporting events instead of GSTQ, which is bloody awful.
Not a fan of Flower of Scotland. They had an online vote for the Scottish National Anthem and they still chose FOS. I'd have preferred Caledonia or Scots Wha Hae. Last one is quite hard to sing ( not that I can sing anyway)
Was the only thing I agreed with Winston about. England should have their own National Anthem.

I know it just goes on and on and on....totally out of date.

Thank god we do not have to sing that all the way through...

Land of soap and wa-ter,
Scotland's having a bath,
England's looking through the key-hole,
Trying no-o-t to laugh.

There you go, your welcome.

I'd vote for Land of hope & Glory, brings a lump to my throat.

They use Jerusalem during the Commonwealth games. Although I prefer Land of Hope and Glory.

As far as i understand it everybodys official national anthem in the UK is god save the queen. Yet every country is entitled to choose any anthem they want played at sporting events and the like. If english football felt like it they could play chas and dave as their anthem before every match, yet the official anthem would still be god save the queen. I may be wrong.

It does include the words ""May he sedition hush, And like a torrent rush the rebellious Scots to crush" though which makes it more English centric from the word go....

That's why Scots don't generally like it, as a National Anthem, even though that verse is never sung.