Queen Elizabeth II, who died Thursday after a historic reign as monarch of the United Kingdom, was a steadfast ally of the United States, notably breaking tradition by singing the U.S. national anthem just days after 9/11.
The queen joined a crowd of thousands in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” during a memorial service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London for the victims on Sept. 14, 2001. Richard Kay, a columnist for the Daily Mail, wrote at the time about how unusual this was for a monarch, saying, “The Queen does not ‘sing’ national anthems. Her mouth never opens when they are played. It was the ultimate sign of unity, friendship, and support for America.” It is believed to be the first time a British monarch sang the anthem in public.
The British newspaper featured the queen on its front cover that day, pictured at the cathedral, and another photo on the inside showed her wiping a tear from her eye.
During the packed memorial service just days after 9/11, with thousands of mourners gathered inside and outside the historic British cathedral, the queen also reportedly led the crowd when it sang the American Civil War-era song the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which was also sung during the 1965 funeral there for Sir Winston Churchill, which the queen had also attended as a young monarch. That song ended the September 2001 service.
The day before, in another break with tradition, the queen had also ordered the Coldstream Guards band outside Buckingham Palace to play the U.S. national anthem in solidarity with America as a crowd of more than 3,000 people, many of them American tourists stranded in England following the attacks, sang and wept outside, bursting into applause and cheers at the end of the song. According to a biography of Prince William, the band also played “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” another popular Civil War song.
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Prince Andrew, one of the queen’s sons, was in attendance, and the queen traveled from Balmoral Castle in Scotland to London that day, where she met with William Farish, the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.
R.I.P. to Queen Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom’s longest serving monarch and a steadfast friend of America.
I’ll never forget one of the best renditions of the National Anthem of all time — outside Buckingham Palace right after 9/11. A powerful gesture.pic.twitter.com/8zVIqcCmZv
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) September 8, 2022
Nineteen al Qaeda terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center buildings, the side of the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing 2,977 people, on Sept. 11, 2001. More than 2,600 Americans were among those killed, with victims from more than 90 countries. There were 67 British citizens killed in the attacks.
The queen died at age 96 at Balmoral after 70 years on the throne. Since her coronation in 1953, Elizabeth had celebrated silver, golden, diamond, and platinum jubilees and became the first monarch to do so. She met 13 of the 14 American presidents who overlapped with her reign, beginning with Harry Truman and ending with Joe Biden. The only U.S. president she did not meet was Lyndon Johnson.
Last year, for the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Elizabeth issued a message to Biden.
“As we mark the 20th anniversary of the terrible attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, my thoughts and prayers, and those of my family and the entire nation, remain with the victims, survivors and families affected, as well as the first responders and rescue workers called to duty,” the queen said. “My visit to the site of the World Trade Center in 2010 is held fast in my memory. It reminds me that as we honor those from many nations, faiths and backgrounds who lost their lives, we also pay tribute to the resilience and determination of the communities who joined together to rebuild.”
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The U.S. national anthem was again played last year during a changing of the guard ceremony by the Band of the Welsh Guards, this time at Windsor Castle, followed by a minute of silence.
“We’re incredibly grateful to Her Majesty the Queen for the playing of our national anthem,” Philip Reeker, then the acting ambassador of the U.S. to the United Kingdom, said at the time. “It represents the friendship and solidarity between our two countries, the United States and the United Kingdom, and united is the key word. … Speaking for the United States, we have no closer ally and no closer friend in good times and in bad times, and we are very much reminded of that today.”
