Songfacts®:

• "Zadok the Priest" is a British anthem composed by George Frideric Handel for the coronation of King George II. Commissioned merely weeks before the grand coronation of King George II on October 11, 1727, Handel faced an adrenaline-fueled challenge. With unwavering determination, the composer set to work at lightning speed, defying the ticking clock.
  
  Out of this high-stakes pressure cooker emerged a magnum opus like no other - a true masterpiece. Handel's iconic creation has stood the test of time, solidifying its place as one of the most renowned coronation anthems ever conceived.
• The words of "Zadok The Priest" are a distillation of the biblical account (1 Kings 1:34-45) of the anointing of Solomon by the priest Zadok. They have been used at every English and British coronation since King Edgar's in 973 at Bath Abbey.
• During the coronation ceremony, a choir traditionally sings "Zadok The Priest" prior to the anointing of the sovereign. However, at the coronation of King George II, the Westminster Abbey chorale made a series of blunders. They sang "Zadok The Priest" in the wrong part of the service, forgot to sing one anthem entirely, and another anthem ended in confusion.
• English composer Tony Britten based the UEFA Champions League Anthem on "Zadok The Priest." Written in 1992, it has lyrics in UEFA's three official languages - English, French, and German – and the chorus comprises the exclamations "Die Meister! Die Besten! Les grandes équipes! The champions!" The anthem is played inside the stadium before the start of each UEFA Champions League match, and also at the beginning and end of television broadcasts of the games.
• "Zadok The Priest" plays at the beginning of the 2023 movie Saltburn. The director, Emerald Fennell, told The Face she wanted to start of the film with the coronation anthem "because it feels like the absolute apex of Brexit Britain."
  
  She said: "Tea and scones, Oxford, Brideshead Revisited Britain. It's got the thing that we export – the jingoistic stuff. So that was always the opening for my film, the idea of: here we are, good old England!"