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 But a decision by the public
broadcaster to omit the words from two of the
best known songs in this year's concert from
London's Royal Albert Hall has sparked a bitter
row over censorship and the country's imperial
past.
The BBC said an orchestral-only version of "Rule
Britannia!" and "Land of Hope and Glory" would
be performed to reflect how the Last Night of
the Proms concert would take place on Sept. 12
with no audience and a small orchestra due to
COVID-19.
However, the move follows a media report that
the conductor believed the time had come "to
bring change" to the concert after the global
anti-racism protests spurred by the death of
George Floyd in the United States.
Rule Britannia! includes the line: "Rule,
Britannia! Britannia rules the waves; Britons
never, never, never, shall be slaves."
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday he
had to address the subject.
"I think it's time we stopped our cringing
embarrassment about our history, about our
traditions and about our culture, and we stopped
this general bout of self-recrimination and
wetness," he told broadcasters. "I wanted to get
that off my chest."
Outgoing BBC boss Tony Hall said it would be
very hard to recreate the atmosphere of a
5,000-strong audience, but declined to say
whether the lyrics were dropped because of any
colonial links. He said he suspected the lyrics
would be back next year.
The annual musical jamboree, normally the
conclusion to a summer-long series of concerts,
has attracted criticism in the past for being
jingoistic, while its defenders argue it
represents a joyful outpouring of tradition and
patriotism.
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 In 1990, the designated
conductor was dismissed because he did not want
to play the two anthems while Britain was
engaged in combat in the Gulf.
However, after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the
United States, the concert did not include the
pieces, with organisers saying a more sombre
programme was appropriate.
The BBC's decision to drop the words made the
front pages of Britain's right-leaning
newspapers, with the Daily Mail decrying the
move as "Surrender" and commentators on some
news websites and social media sites saying the
BBC had censored the songs.
The BBC said it very much regretted the
"unjustified personal attacks" on Dalia
Stasevska, the principal guest conductor, and
said this year's concert would mark the
traditions and spirit of the event while
reflecting the need for a smaller choir to
social distance.
A report that Stasevska wanted to modernise the
evening because she was a supporter of Black
Lives Matter was carried in Rupert Murdoch's
Sunday Times and pounced on by critics of the
publicly-funded BBC, including some members of
the government.
Stasevska has not directly commented on the row.
(Reporting by Kate Holton and Michael Holden;
Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Mike Collett-White)
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