For the past ten days, England has been singing a different anthem. The God Save The Queen is replaced by the God Save The King, with the accession to the throne of Charles III, successor of Elizabeth II. This change of national anthem has given rise to reflection in Belgium, where the future accession of Queen Elisabeth will undoubtedly generate the same kind of questioning.
Will the Brabançonne have to be changed? Legally, nothing prevents it. “The official text of the Brabançonne is not enshrined, neither in the constitution nor in the law, which makes its potential modification absolutely possible”confirms Christian Behrendt, professor of public and constitutional law at the University of Liège.
And obviously, changing the lyrics to adapt our anthem to the Queen wouldn’t really make many people tremble. “Why not?”, “Never mind, in the current context, it looks like the Queen, but that doesn’t change much”, “I’m for it, but the song won’t sound good”, “It makes sense, right?”answer us on this subject from many citizens, crossed in the streets of our country.
To change the anthem, however, it will be necessary to ensure that the modification is suitable for the three versions, in the three national languages. We are not there yet, but the question deserved to be asked.
