"God save the Queen"
“God save the Queen” perhaps needs no introduction, being the national anthem in England. Today they sing it to honor Queen Elizabeth but of course in the 1800s, they were honoring Queen Victorian who reigned from 1837 to 1901. “God save the Queen” was learned by all schoolchildren of the century. I think many must have enjoyed it: I have found it written into a schoolboy’s personal songbook and into the cover of a school songbook. Our kids learned it quickly, already knowing the tune to “My country ‘tis of thee” which early Americans co-opted from their British counterparts for their own national anthem.