Editing God Save the King (section)

====Standard version in the United Kingdom====
[[File:God Save the King - Alan Turner.mp3|thumb|"God Save the King" performed with each of its three verses (originally released on a Victor Record phonograph c. 1910)]]

As the reigning monarch is currently [[Charles III]], the male version of the anthem is used.

''' When the current monarch is male '''
{{poemquote|
God save our gracious King!
Long live our noble King!
God save the King!
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the King!

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On him be pleased to pour;
Long may he reign.
May he defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the King!<ref name="royal family" />}}

When the monarch of the time is female, "King" is replaced with "Queen" and all masculine pronouns are replaced with their feminine equivalents.

There is no definitive version of the lyrics. However, the version consisting of the two above verses has the best claim to be regarded as the "standard" British version as referenced on the Royal Family website.<ref name="royal family">{{cite web |url=https://www.royal.uk/national-anthem |title=National Anthem |publisher=The Royal Family |access-date=8 February 2023 |archive-date=24 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424203409/https://www.royal.uk/national-anthem |url-status=live }}</ref>
The song with an additional verse appears not only in the 1745 ''Gentleman's Magazine'', but also in publications such as ''The Book of English Songs: From the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century'' (1851),<ref>{{cite book| last=Mackay| first=Charles| title=The Book of English Songs: From the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century|year= 1851| page=203}}</ref> ''National Hymns: How They Are Written and How They Are Not Written'' (1861),<ref>{{cite book| last=White| first=Richard Grant|title=National Hymns: How They are Written and how They are Not Written| publisher=Rudd & Carleton| year=1861| page=42}}</ref> ''Household Book of Poetry'' (1882),<ref>{{cite book| last=Dana|first=Charles Anderson|title=Household Book of Poetry|year=1882| page=384|url=https://archive.org/details/householdbookpo00danagoog|publisher=Freeport, N.Y., Books for Libraries Press}}</ref> and ''[[Hymns Ancient and Modern]], Revised Version'' (1982).<ref>{{cite book| title=Hymns Ancient and Modern, Revised Version| publisher=SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd|year=1982| page=504|isbn=0-907547-06-0}}</ref>

The same version with appears in publications including ''[[Scouting for Boys]]'' (1908),<ref>{{cite book| last=Baden-Powell|first=Robert|title=Scouting for Boys| year=1908| page=341}}</ref> and on the Royal Family website.<ref name="royal family"/>

According to Alan Michie's ''The Crown and the People'', which was published in 1952, after the death of [[George VI|King George VI]] but before the coronation of [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]], when the first [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly of the United Nations]] was held in London in January 1946 the King, in honour of the occasion, "ordered the belligerent imperious second stanza of 'God Save the King' to be rewritten to bring it more into the spirit of the brotherhood of nations."{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Michie |first=Allan A. |title=The Crown and the People |publisher=Secker & Warburg |year=1952 |location=London |pages=160}}</ref>

In the UK, the first verse is typically sung alone, even on official occasions, although the second verse is sometimes sung in addition on certain occasions such as during the opening ceremonies of the [[2012 Summer Olympics]], [[2012 Summer Paralympics]], and the [[2022 Commonwealth Games]] and usually at the [[Last Night of the Proms]]. The second verse was also sung during the [[Coronation of Charles III and Camilla|coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla]].