There is no official national anthem of Scotland, however a number of songs are used as de facto Scottish anthems, most notably Flower of Scotland and Scotland the Brave. God Save the Queen is the national anthem for the United Kingdom as a whole and is used in Scotland in that context.
In 2004, lawyers for the devolved Scottish Parliament advised that it was within the legal competence of the Scottish Parliament to choose a national anthem for Scotland countering the suggestion that it would be a matter reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This ruling prompted some interest in the idea, and a petition to the Scottish Parliament’s petitions committee supported by the Scottish Green Party was referred without recommendation to the Scottish Executive who chose to take no action, considering the issue not to be a political priority.There have been subsequent attempts to re-open the debate on a national anthem for Scotland.
For most international sporting events Scotland uses “Flower of Scotland” as its national anthem. These events include matches of Scottish national football team and the Scottish rugby union team,The song will also be used to as the victory anthem of Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 replacing Scotland the Brave.
In June 2006 the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted an online poll on their website, asking visitors to choose a favourite to be Scotland’s national anthem. With over 10,000 votes cast, “Flower of Scotland” came first with 41% of the votes, followed by “Scotland the Brave” with 29%.