This afternoon Alice (described on the invitation as my consort) & I went to St. Mary’s, Hadleigh for a service of celebration to mark the Queen’s accession to the throne some sixty years ago.
And very nice it was. The ushers weren’t sure whether we qualified for the second row from the front but in the end decided that we were. (The lady with the list not being “on seat” at the required time ”.
It was a well thought out service with something to appeal to everyone. Traditionalists got an articulation of the Privy Council’s accession declaration and the modernists got “You are My Sunshine” by a group of schoolchildren. We sang two verses of the National Anthem. Usually we only sing the first verse. The thought occurred to me that even with two verses Her Maj was being short changed and that we were being prevented from wishing a dissing on the Scots and other foreigners whose knavish tricks required confounding. But only two verses are shown on the web site http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Symbols/NationalAnthem.aspx
Further research (http://ingeb.org/songs/godsaveo.htm) shows that there were six verses and two of the more interesting and sadly now ignored ones are as follows:
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!
Lord grant that Marshal Wade*
May by thy mighty aid Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the King!
*Wade was involved in the suppression of the Jacobite Risings of 1715 and 1745.