Britain: God Save the King (Part 2)

**Dominic Sandbrook** (0:01)
This episode is brought to you by Lloyds Business and Commercial Banking.

**Tom Holland** (0:05)
One of the great things about finance is that it may result in you having to pay tax. And this was a constant grumble in Anglo-Saxon England, which was the most heavily taxed country in the whole of Christendom. And just when the Anglo-Saxons thought it couldn't get any worse, they got conquered by King Canute, and Canute imposed a tax rate that was effectively 100 percent.

**Dominic Sandbrook** (0:33)
Yeah, well, that was one very big change, Tom, but another tax change is upon us. And this is the advent of making tax digital for income tax.
And if you're at all concerned about it, this is where Lloyds come in, because they are here to help make that change much simpler for you with a useful HMRC recognized accounting tool that will help you stay in line with all the making tax digital requirements.

**Tom Holland** (0:59)
And the brilliant thing about this is that it is free for Lloyds business account customers. So when it is time to digitize your income tax, you can bank on Lloyds. Search Lloyds business accounts to find out more.

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**SPEAKER_4** (2:16)
So you're saying with Hilton Honors, I can use points for a free night's stay anywhere?

**Helen Castor** (2:21)
Anywhere.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:22)
What about fancy places like the Canopy in Paris? Yeah, Hilton Honors, baby. Or relaxing sanctuaries like the Conrad and Tulum?

**Helen Castor** (2:30)
Hilton Honors, baby.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:32)
What about the five-star Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives? Are you going to do this for all 9,000 properties?

**SPEAKER_6** (2:39)
When you want points that can take you anywhere, anytime, it matters where you stay. Hilton for the stay.

**Dominic Sandbrook** (3:29)
So that is the stirring song that England's finest will be belting out next week when we meet Croatia for the first match in our ultimately victorious 2026 World Cup campaign. So the campaign that will go down in history, seeing Thomas Tuchel rewarded with a knighthood, Harry Kane, Hattrick in the final, all very exciting.
So hello, everybody. Welcome to the second in our World Cup themed series about the history behind the national anthems of the most interesting contenders. I was about to say the top contenders, but I don't think South Africa are top contender, but they're the most interesting. Now, obviously, Tom, we were always going to do God Save the King because we are, of course, a patriotic podcast, but also because this is a brilliant example of how a very familiar anthem can open up this window into a very interesting area of history. Specifically, in this case, a period of history we haven't done as much of on this show as we should have done, which is the 18th century.
We'll be talking a lot about the politics of the 18th century, but before then, just on the anthem itself, I think very unfairly people often diss this anthem, and they say it's a bit, I think because it's often played badly by the way. They say it's a dirge.

**Tom Holland** (4:46)
A dirge. I think it's a legal requirement to say that it is a dirge.

**Dominic Sandbrook** (4:51)
I don't think it is a dirge, but there you go.

**Tom Holland** (4:53)
Well, I'm quite fond of it as well, I have to say. But I would, I mean, maybe you would disagree. I don't think it has the kind of operatic power.

**Dominic Sandbrook** (5:03)
Strutting, bombastic.

**Tom Holland** (5:05)
So we've done two national anthems before this. One was the previous one, the Star-Spangled Banner.

**Dominic Sandbrook** (5:11)
Yeah.

**Tom Holland** (5:12)
Burning the White House, attacking Baltimore, all of that. But before that, as part of our French Revolution series, we did the Marseillaise episode 507 for people who haven't heard it. Now, I know that you disagree on this. I think it is a thrilling national anthem. I'm a little bit envious of it. And just to remind people, the background of the Marseillaise, written in 1792 as the infant French Republic was seriously facing the prospect of being strangled in its cradle by the invading armies of Austria and Prussia. And this invasion was the opening shot in a war that Britain was going to enter very soon afterwards, following the execution of Louis XVI.