Why doesn't England have a National Anthem?

[itwontletmechoose]

It's frustrating to hear them sing the 'God Save the King' British national anthem. Why doesn't England have its own national anthem instead of singing one which covers all of the union (in theory)?

Still sounds wrong to me and when the news says anything about the Queen I invariably think "but she's dead" .........

Or English Country Garden.

It’s a bit dreary. The Sex Pistols version is a bit more rousing.

Then Vindaloo for England.

It's not " the others" who have chosen for England to use the British anthem.... It's the English.

The English one is land of hope and glory

“I just think its sad. We're a Union”

Well that didn’t last long.

I'd vote for Hubert Parry's setting of Jerusalem.

It came out top in a poll by Team England (in relation to the Commonwealth Games).

But the "It doesn't represent me" brigade would miss the point so comprehensively that it will never happen.

I’m sure I read somewhere years ago that even Princess Ann thinks it should be LoH&G. I don’t mind the RF per se but that anthem
makes me cringe.

Here is how Flanders and Swann solved this very problem.

Not in that video, but even funnier is the spoken introduction:
"If we've done anything good, it's another triumph for Great Britain; and if we haven't, it's England loses again. Have you noticed that?"

"We didn't go round saying how marvellous we English were, everybody knew that."

"We don't bother to put our names on our stamps, as there are only two kinds of stamps: English stamps, and foreign stamps."

I've always thought it was land of hope and glory. Of course king Charles is hesd of state so that takes priority.

I'm a firm believer in English votes for English laws,Welsh votes for Welsh laws etc.Having our own parliament would help facilitate this,I don't believe the English should have a voice in Welsh,Scottish and N.Irish issues either vice versa.

As you can guess;I would love for England to have its own national anthem. Wales should be properly represented on the Union flag,st George flag (George and the dragon)doesn't do it justice......

England doesn't have it's own parliament, so an anthem is the least of the issues.
Instead the UK Parliament behaves like an English parliament, inflicting all sorts that isn't fully devolved on other nations of the Union against thier will / best benefit.
Time England had its own Parliament and the Lords was replaced with a council of the Union with equal standing, as a union should be.

You already have it. There aren’t enough Scots or Welsh MPs to prevent the English doing anything.

If the Scots the Welsh and the Northern Irish wish to leave the Union they should go ahead. I doubt the English would be crying too much about it

@Euridicefortuna I'm a firm believer in English votes for English laws

Which non English votes ever dictate English laws??

When it's sung and played properly it's amazing, the best version was played at Charles & Dianas wedding, I think it sounds fab because the second verse is sung.

Pulp's Common People would be great

Go down a treat when the Royals are there:

" You'll never live like common people
Never do whatever common people
Never fail like common people
Never watch your life slide out of view
And dance and drink and screw because there's nothing else to do"

They don't think they're English at all, not one iota. In N.I. they are Northern Irish. They have a firm grip on their Britishness though.

If we could remove the racism from it, I do think Rule Britannia has quite a triumphant sounding tune.

Equally, just removing lyrics we now know are inappropriate doesn’t appreciate the struggles those people faced. So I’m not sure it’s the answer. But I do think the tune sounds victorious

Tuition fee increase for English students wouldn’t have passed without Scottish votes, for one…

@gotmyknickersinatwist In N.I. they are Northern Irish

Actually a minority of people in NI class themselves as Northern Irish.

There is a very understandable historical reason for that - but This isn't the place for that

No thank you.

Let's leave Jerusalem. "And did those feet..?" Well, almost certainly no.

We could sing "There'll always be an England."
Although as Flanders and Swann pointed out, that doesn't say much, because there'll always be an North Pole (if some dangerous fool doesn't melt it)

So they did try and write their own. What about (Edited to say I was watching the football and didn't notice someone had already linked it!)

It would cause so much trouble to pick an English Anthem, but there are so many awesome ballads to consider.
I've always loved Shirley Bassey belting out Diamonds are Forever, or History Repeating Itself. Of course Dame Shirley is Welsh so possibly not very tactful.
I saw Bananrama live a couple of times they had some marvellous songs that the audience all knew the words to. And those attractive gentlemen from Spandau Ballet have some excellent songs for singing along.
I saw the Weather Girls sing Its raining men at the Fridge in Brixton, that went down well with the crowd. Especially the young men.