God Save the Queen is a song , the national anthem of the United Kingdom . The group was then charged with establishing official lyrics for each song ; for `` God Save the Queen '' , the English words were those inherited from the United Kingdom and the French words were taken from those that had been adopted in 1952 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II . When the bill pronouncing `` O Canada '' as the national anthem was put through parliament , the joint committee 's earlier recommendations regarding `` God Save the Queen '' were not included .