George served in the Roman army and lies buried in Israel, yet he makes an ideal patron for England.
It is sometimes said that England’s patron saint, St George, is not very English. Yet Britain in his day was part of the Roman Empire, and George refused to help the Roman Emperor send troops against his own people, meddle with the Church or impose cruel and arbitrary punishments — all key provisions of The Great Charter of 1215. You can’t get more English than that.
The simple melody of the United Kingdom’s national anthem has stirred the souls of some great composers.
‘God Save the King’ was an eighteenth theatre song composed to keep English hearts strong in the face of a Scottish rebellion whipped up by France. Later, it was hailed across oppressed Europe as the anthem of popular liberty, and became one of Ludwig van Beethoven’s favourite tunes.
‘Rule Britannia’ was a discreet way of telling a German prince what was expected of a British King.
The British patriotic song “Rule Britannia” is sadly misunderstood. The short drama ‘Alfred’ from which it comes was not a shrill declaration of British power abroad but a tactful way of telling King George II’s son, a German-speaking Prince, that his job was to defend his people from invasion, and then leave them to enjoy fruits of their own labours.