A powerful rendition of God Save The King was sung at the Queen's funeral today - but not many people actually know all of the lyrics. The origins of the UK’s National Anthem are somewhat obscure, because it's been around for nearly 300 years.
The God Save The King was a patriotic song first publicly performed in London in 1745 - and came to be known as the National Anthem at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In September 1745, the 'Young Pretender' to the British Throne, Prince Charles Edward Stuart, defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpans, near Edinburgh.
