Last night of the Proms 2011, in bearskin hats and waving flags
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Master of the Queen’s Music, celebrated the Proms by setting the words 'Music, language of the angels. . .the path to a hidden land' to "an oddly touching mixture of sturdy hymn-like song and angular orchestral interjections, the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s brass fortified by the Trumpeters of the Household Division, resplendent in bearskin hats".
And of course, they played Rule, Britannia!
"This was the Charter, the Charter of the Land. . .
"Rule, Britannia! Britannia rule the waves:
Britons never shall be slaves!"
And, Land of Hope and Glory, Mother of the Free
". . .Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained,
Have ruled thee well and long. . ."
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