Submitted by admin on April 22, 2009 - 23:27
NATIONAL ANTHEM AND NATIONAL HYMN
New Zealand's National Anthem is:
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN
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.
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
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.
Percy Scholes in his exhaustive study God Save the Queen! (1954) says that the anthem is of uncertain origin but was first performed in London in 1745 and that the words and music first appeared in Harmonia Anglicana, 1742, and Gentleman's Magazine, 1745.