The original 1745 version which is still part of the long version includes this:
Lord, grant that Marshal Wade,
May by thy mighty aid,
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
and like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush,
God save the King.
The melody Grand Dieu Sauve Le Roi was probably written by Jean-Baptiste Lully for Louis XIV after he survived surgery, something not so many did in those times, although attributed to George Frideric Handel who used it is a his main theme in the variation piece Sarabande of his Suite No.4 in E minor which was composed sometime before 1720. Musicologists believe it is a plagiarism, but then it also appears to be an older quite common plainsong theme that is similar to compositions by John Bull and Henry Purcell. For all of that, the actual melody was first popular in Scotland in 1744 but was more or less sequestered by England in 1745 when Charles Edward Stuart lead the uprising that penetrated England as far as Swarkestone Bridge in Derbyshire before turning back and leading to the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden in 1746. The anthem was then adopted, imposed on Ireland, Scotland, Wales and all colonies.
The only time I liked it myself was when Jimi Hendrix played his impromptu version at the beginning of his his set at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. It was played with the same sort of distortion and improvisation as he had played the The Star-Spangled Banner at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 as a war protest.
Sheila explains where Ireland stands now below. Scotland is officially still subject to this dirge although Flower o' Scotland tends to be favoured and Scotland the Brave sometimes. In 2004, lawyers to the Scottish Parliament advised that it was within the legal competence of the Scottish Parliament to choose a national anthem for Scotland. That goes against Westminster's objection that it is a matter reserved for the parliament of the UK to decide and legislate. In other words, Scotland now has no de facto national anthem and has to put up with the appalling verse above if some joker decides the long version has to be sung. Wales has Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, Land of My Fathers in English, which has not been established as such by law, although defiantly sung at all gatherings in Wales since the 1870s, usually before a foreshortened version of the UK anthem.
Arguably, God Save the Queen/King is actually only the anthem of England, one of the Northern Ireland's two and used by a few commonwealth countries such as New Zealand although there are popular movements to change and introduce their own.
Whatever, England and Scotland seem to have both dirges that do not lift the spirits and inspire. For many years I have supported a move to Hamish Henderson's Freedom Come-All-Ye or even The Thistle o' Scotland which was written in Gaelic but translated into lowland Scots, thus has the spirit the Welsh have captured with their Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau.
The most stirring and truly patriotic one I know is the Himno Nacional del Peru which is lively, gets everybody going and is inevitably accompanied by an out of tune brass band with a bass drum thumping away with nothing to do with anything.
Somos libres
seámoslo siempre,
seámoslo siempre
y antes niegue sus
luces sus luces,
sus luces el Sol!
Que faltemos al voto
solemneque la patria
al Eterno elevó,
Que faltemos al voto
solemneque la patria
al Eterno elevó.
Que faltemos al voto solemne
que la patria al Eterno elevo.
I don't remember any more of the umpteen verses and choruses, but they get in the the sun, el Sol, which was and to some extent remains the figurehead of pre-Christian Incaic culture and inspires them.
I have been a member of the movement for a Scots anthem for roughly 30 years, have always been fascinated by anthems and can actually sing Deutschland, Deutschland über alles right through but wish the heck they had changed this irritatingly nationalistic text with too many shadows of the past.
Now that was fun....