He wrote: “One patriot angrily tweeted that he ‘must go back to England’ because ‘I’m not a Scottish citizen’. “Some others were offended by the title of my hymn ‘Who Shall Tear Us Apart?’ implying that this contained some terribly hidden union code designed to mess with Scottish minds. “They seemed unaware that St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans was short for advice on Scottish constitutional rearrangements.” Former composer-conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir James said it was a “huge honour” to write the anthem as a tribute to the late Queen. He wrote the piece a decade ago, but its existence was a secret until the order was published on Sunday night. “I was told that this passage from Romans 8 was important to the Queen as it goes to the heart of her relationship with Jesus,” he said. “Her Christian faith has been an inspiration to millions, perhaps billions, around the world, and her ability to communicate it with devotion and pastoral insight in her Christmas messages and on other occasions has been the focus of her life and example. “Rarely have I thought so deeply about a text, both when I was setting it up and in the years that followed.” Donald Cameron, the Scottish Tory constitution spokesman, said it was a “sad reflection of the SNP’s obsession with independence” that “zealous nationalists” saw almost everything “through the lens of the constitution”. He added: “The fact that a new hymn written for Her Majesty’s funeral has attracted backlash for its supposed pro-union message would be comical if it weren’t so sad. “As one of the country’s most distinguished songwriters, James MacMillan deserves much better than this.” The SNP has been approached for comment.
