'God save the King': New British national anthem explained

Britain's longest serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, died peacefully aged 96 on Thursday, September 8th 2022.

The Queen reigned for 70 years and following her death, King Charles III will take over as the new head of the monarchy.

With this comes a change to the national anthem heard at sporting events when England play, as supporters will revert back to "God save the King".

The first rendition of the new anthem at a major sporting event was heard when England took on South Africa in the final match of their three-Test cricket series.

It will take some time to get used to for supporters across the country, although the only signifcant change would be "God save the King", rather than the Queen.

England cricketer Ollie Pope admitted it would take the players some getting used to, just as it would supporters.

"We had to remind ourselves of what we were actually going to sing.

"There was a few nervy characters walking down the steps."

Despite such a long period of time singing in the name of Queen Elizabeth II, the original song did actually reference the King, going back to 1745 when it was officially adpoted as the country's national anthem under the reign of King George II.

While sporting events on the weekend following the Queen's death were postponed out of respect to Her Majesty, it's widely expected that the new national anthem will be played when they resume.

The English Football League has already announced that fixtures will take place as normal from Tuesday evening, and it's expected that at least some Premier League games will follow suit.

However, a shortage of police in London due to the Queen's funeral on Monday, September 19th means that there is a chance a lot of clubs based in the capital will have further postponements, as is already the case with Arsenal's Europa League tie against PSV Eindhoven.

If so, Chelsea vs Liverpool could be one of the games that gets pushed to a later date.