The poem by Heathcote Williams was published in his work Royal Babylon: the Criminal Record of the British Monarchy. Titled God save the Queen: long may she reign as she and her family lubricate Britain’s wars, it goes on to criticise support for the monarchy saying: “The country survives despite its own past not because of it/ And its infantile wish for a benign parent above politics/ Persuades it to ignore unpleasant facts, such as the sovereign’s endorsing/ The very nastiest political act of all, namely killing.”