[joeysteele]

I'd have sang it myself but fail to see why it needed to be even sung at this function anyway.
This was to honour the pilots in the Battle of Britain,not to further glorify an already over privileged person.

I am a Royalist and would hate to be a Republic but for me we have probably the worst so called National anthem anywhere.
It makes no mention of the real people of these Islands and requests more personal glorification and protection for one individual,namely the Monarch.
Who has not the slightest bit of power anyway.

I think its melody is dreary and in fact depressing and the words meaningless for a multi Nation United Kingdom in the 21st century.

Look however, had he sang it, he would have then been hailed a hypocrite for doing so, by not singing it,he still gets a backlash.
He stood in silence respectfully,that for me was fine, had he remained seated and snubbed the whole thing, that would have been a diffferent thing.

For goodness sake, we have loads of great musicians in the UK, surely someone could bring about a National anthem that reflected the peoples of these islands and had some real inspiritional melody and words that brought some oomph to all proceedings.