Do you know the (surprising) origin of these expressions of British royalty?

With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away at the age of 96, a page in the history of British royalty is turned.

you to come back to the expressions that marked the English monarchy.

To discover

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God save the Queen

Did you know?

This anthem (

) that we hear at every official ceremony or military parade in the United Kingdom would come from... France.

It dates back to 1686 when Lully, superintendent of music at the court, composed the canticle "Great God save the king", following the healing of Louis XIV from an anal fistula.

Singing, which has become a must at Versailles, is on everyone's lips.

This is how the official composer of the British crown, Handel, discovered it during his stay in Versailles in 1714. Seduced by this music, he appropriated it and had the text adapted into English by a pastor, Henry Carey. , before submitting it to King George I, as Stéphane Bern recounts in

(Albin Michel).

La Reyne wants it

In French in the text, please.

The expression is used within the legal framework of the English Parliament.

Indeed, before being adopted, English bills must obtain royal assent.

Then, they can be announced by the “Clerck of the Parliament” in these terms: “La Reyne le veult” (in old French in the text).

The French origin of this expression dates back to the year 1066, at the time of the Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror.

Institutional texts are now written in Old Norman French from this time until the reign of Henry IV in 1399, the first sovereign to speak English three centuries after the conquest.

It was not until 1483 that the House of Lords adopted English as an official language.

However, some formulas survived and became traditional,

God and my right

As surprising as it may seem, the motto of the British monarchy is in... French.

"God and my right" is the phrase that can be read on the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, which is often found on the pediment of old London buildings or on the passport of the British.

They go back (also) to the time of William the Conqueror.

The Anglo-Saxon elite disappears in favor of a Norman-speaking aristocracy.

Upon accession to the throne of Henry IV, the latter, although English-speaking, expressed the desire to keep Norman as the language at court.

He chose the motto "God and my right" as the motto for the Kingdom of England, which over time became the motto of the British monarchy.

Shame on anyone who thinks wrong

This phrase, in Old French, is the motto of Britain's oldest and most important order of chivalry, the Order of the Garter.

It dates from the 14th century.

Created by the English king Edward III, it was born following a "small" incident during a ball scene, as told by Georges Plannelles in the

.

The latter was dancing with his mistress, the Countess of Salisbury, when she accidentally dropped her garter (

), provoking jokes and mockery among the courtiers.

The king stooped down to pick it up and clasping it at his leg, he cried: "Gentlemen, shame on who thinks ill of it!"

He promised his favorite to make this blue ribbon such a prestigious and desired badge that the proudest or most ambitious courtiers would be more than happy to wear it.

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"Honi soi qui mal y pense" is spelled with a single "n" on the Order's symbolic emblem.

The word "honni" is the adjective of the old verb "honnir" which is the act of

, according to the Treasury of the French language.

Today, therefore, we would say: “Shame on him who sees harm in it”.

The expression is used nowadays in an ironic way in order to prevent criticism from those who suspect the honesty of statements made or acts performed.

Annus Horribilis

Contrary to what one might think, this Latin expression does not come from Roman antiquity at all but... from the mouth of the Queen of England.

An explicit reference to a famous English poem, the Annus Mirabilis, the year of miracles, written by John Dryden in 1667. In 1992, while celebrating her 40th year of reign, Elizabeth II faced a terrible fire in Windsor Castle, the divorces of three of his children and a succession of controversies and scandals.

Today, this expression has become a paraphrase often repeated in the newspapers to describe as "dark" a year marked by cataclysms.