National anthem presence of the Monarch in some Commonwealth realms, was first performed in 1619 under the title "God Save the King". It is not officially the national anthem of the UK, though it became such through custom and usage. Spain's national anthem, the "Marcha Real" (The Royal March), written in 1761, was among the first to be adopted as such, in 1770. Denmark adopted the older of its two national anthems, "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast", in 1780; and "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem, was written in 1792 and adopted in 1795. Serbia became the first Eastern European nation
National anthem of South Africa National anthem of South Africa The current national anthem of South Africa was adopted in 1997 and is a hybrid song combining new English lyrics with extracts of the 19th century hymn "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" (, ) and the Afrikaans song "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" (), which was formerly used as the South African national anthem from the late 1930s to the mid-1990s. The South African national anthem is often referred to by its incipit of "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika", however this has never been its official title, which is simply "National anthem of South Africa". The fact that it shifts