Word.ws English Dictionary

God Save the Queen

God Save the Queen proper noun: the national anthem of the United Kingdom when the current monarch is a female.

Proper noun

God Save the Queen

  1. The national anthem of the United Kingdom when the current monarch is a female.

Interjection

  1. (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK) An expression of one’s patriotism and hope for the long life of the monarch, especially in her presence.
  2. (UK) A formal statement at the end of many proclamations issued by the queen of the UK or in her name.
  3. (UK) A formal declaration following the death of a reigning monarch when the next monarch is female.
    • The King is dead! God save the Queen!

Origin of God Save the Queen

First known to be used during the reign of Queen Mary I during certain royal proclamations, likely popularized after William Shakespeare's Richard III c. 1592–1593 due to quotes containing it with its current patriotic meaning that borrowed from some royal proclamations of Queen Elizabeth I.

Words formed from God Save the Queen

Questions about God Save the Queen

What does God Save the Queen mean?
God Save the Queen means the national anthem of the United Kingdom when the current monarch is a female.
What part of speech is God Save the Queen?
God Save the Queen can be a proper noun or an interjection.

Words near God Save the Queen in the dictionary

  1. God rest their soul
  2. God rest their souls
  3. god roll
  4. God Save the King
  5. God save the mark
  6. God Save the Queen
  7. God Shave the Queen
  8. God slot
  9. God slots
  10. God speed
  11. God speeds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: God Save the Queen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “God Save the Queen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/god_save_the_queen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.