Do what to the rebellious Scots?

According to various reports, it either is, or it isn't or it once was and now isn't.

Originally written in 1745, the British landscape was at that time a very different place to the one we see today. Wars, heroes and ongoing conflicts meant sentiments throughout all societies were running high, and without the various luxuries we have today for spreading messages such as TV, Facebook or Twitter, incorporating these into a song which everyone could learn may well have seemed appropriate.

Historical revision

Clearly this is an extremely sensitive subject, but it's by no means the first time some work of art, poetry, music etc which caught the sentiment of the day has fallen out of favour in later years when times changed. Many of Disney's early cartoons are now banned as they are deemed racist. Even Dr Who is not immune. And the BBC is particularly severely affected.

However, the issue with the Scots verse in the National Anthem isn't that it has been taken out, it's that it's being strongly argued it really never existed in the first place, a different matter all together. There's an excellent 5,500 word investigation concluding exactly that, which may well salve some royalist sceptics whilst leaving others saying "well, you would say that, wouldn't you?". It goes into the details of the Jacobite War of 1745, and the history of Marshal Wade, mentioned in the verse.

There is controversy regarding the song even if the verse is proven to have never been present. It its know the song is an English military song, and was sung by the English Army as they were actually fighting the Scots, but now Scotland is part of the UK it's been "forced on them" as the British National Anthem.