# God Save The Queen **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 28, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668 "2015-06-28T01:38:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/21 "2015-06-28T15:04:56Z")
Ocassionally she may even [photobomb you with her smile](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02985/Untitled-1_2985528a.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/22 "2015-06-28T15:40:56Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The anthem is about the position of the monarch not the current person holding it. As Philip discovered the night of Nov. 20, 1947. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/23 "2015-06-28T15:49:19Z")
The Queen was once famously asked why she sat without smiling during a very lively church service in South Africa. She said, “I’m afraid that sort of thing is not really to my taste, but I’m sorry that it was so obvious. The trouble is that, unlike my mother, I don’t have a naturally smiley face.” ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/24 "2015-06-28T15:55:53Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Wouldn’t she walk out at the lyric “…and the facist regime?” (There’s no “and”) She might walk out there, or wait until “she ain’t no human being”… ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/25 "2015-06-28T16:19:18Z")
I think she should sing out: “Go-o-od save me-e-e! Long live me-e-e-e, Go-od save me!” ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/26 "2015-06-28T16:44:37Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I think she should sing out: > > “Go-o-od save me-e-e! > Long live me-e-e-e, > Go-od save me!” She does, but with the royal we/us. She can’t be less than god in three persons, after all. God save our gracious Us Long live our noble Us God save the We Send Us victorious Happy and glorious Long to reign over them God save the We I doubt even she knows all six verses of that tripe. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/27 "2015-06-28T17:10:02Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > [She seems to have quite a range of smiles.](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=queen+elizabeth+smiling&rlz=1C5MACD_enGB510GB510&espv=2&biw=1240&bih=652&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=sauPVZq2H-mX7AbcgYPQAg&ved=0CCAQsAQ) I don’t know why we don’t see those photos more often. Perhaps formal state occasions are less likely to raise a chuckle. She reminds me of Doris Roberts when smiling. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/28 "2015-06-29T00:23:43Z")
> [@Recusant](#): > > Does she still have subjects? Didn’t the UK finally introduce citizenship a while ago? There’s still a residual class of “British subjects”, which consists of people who had British subject status for historical reasons, but who do not citizenship in any Commonwealth country. Most of them are Irish citizens. British citizens hold a Commonwealth citizenship, and so are not British subjects. The status is not heritable, so when the current generation of British subjects die, that’s that. On edit: British subject status is not of much value. I don’t think it carries a right of entry into the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/29 "2015-06-29T00:27:07Z")
Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl, but she doesn’t have a lot to say. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/30 "2015-06-29T00:40:40Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Elizabeth was crowned 62 years ago. When Liz the 2 finally snuffs it, I wonder how tough it will be for people to start singing “God save the king”. Who here hasn’t written the wrong year on a check in January? I’m sure someone will get it wrong. The first time someone sings “God save the queen” to King Charles, _that_ will be awkward. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/31 "2015-06-29T01:55:15Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > I doubt even she knows all six verses of that tripe. I’d be willing to bet she knows all the words and can tell you something about each of her predecessors. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/32 "2015-06-29T03:23:38Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I’d be willing to bet she knows all the words and can tell you something about each of her predecessors. If she made a mistake, who would correct her? No peasant is allowed to speak to her unless she speaks to the peasant first. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/33 "2015-06-29T04:29:43Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > If she made a mistake, who would correct her? No peasant is allowed to speak to her unless she speaks to the peasant first. Assuming that rule holds there’s that bunch of people who aren’t peasants. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/34 "2015-06-29T04:51:37Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Assuming that rule holds there’s that bunch of people who aren’t peasants. Yeah. Cousins. All over Europe. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/35 "2015-06-29T09:28:37Z")
She does sit during God Save the Queen, and it’s nothing to do with her age. It’s because the song is about her role as monarch, so it’d be weird for her to join in. It’d be like joining in when your friends sing happy birthday to you. > [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > The Queen was once famously asked why she sat without smiling during a very lively church service in South Africa. She said, “I’m afraid that sort of thing is not really to my taste, but I’m sorry that it was so obvious. The trouble is that, unlike my mother, I don’t have a naturally smiley face.” Is that a real quote? It sounds unusually personal for the Queen. But it’s true that her resting face is slightly grumpy and that’s not her fault; my resting face looks like I want to murder whoever’s looking at me. Plus she has hundred of photos taken of her every time she’s in public. It’d be difficult for even the most smiley of people to keep smiling for every single photo. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/36 "2015-06-29T10:39:54Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > But it’s true that her resting face is slightly grumpy and that’s not her fault; There are plenty of press photos and TV clips showing her smiling and laughing with various people she’s meeting, most recently during last week’s state visit to Germany; but there are plenty of state and public ceremonials where a grin can be misinterpreted because it’s a serious occasion (they don’t happen because she particularly wants them to as a person - they’re all part of doing the job, for her as much as for anyone else involved, for some of whom it’s a much more important event). I’m sure I’ve seen it reported that some of her staff refer to her “Miss Piggy” face for some such occasions. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/37 "2015-06-29T11:53:42Z")
Her job requires her to be somber, but she isn’t above pulling off a [photobomb.](http://www.theage.com.au/commonwealth-games-glasgow-2014/commonwealth-games-news/hockeyroos-in-world-media-spotlight-after-queen-photobomb-20140725-zwntu.html) ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/38 "2015-06-29T16:59:09Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Is that a real quote? It sounds unusually personal for the Queen. The quote is real. It’s cited everywhere, but I can’t find the original article I read by the interviewer, who told the story in detail. It was at a service being conducted in Cape Town by Bishop Tutu. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/39 "2015-06-29T21:57:10Z")
Emperor Tod never seemed to tire of people singing “Tod, Tod, Tod, Tod …”. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668/40 "2015-06-30T00:44:12Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > She does sit during God Save the Queen, and it’s nothing to do with her age. When I said she stood, I was going by YouTube. Here’s the first time, in 1953: And here's the most recent I can find -- 2013: It's true that she doesn't sing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen/723668.md?page=3)