Britannia

Britannia is the national personification of the United Kingdom.

She is usually depicted as a young woman with brown hair. She wears a Corinthian helmet and white robes. During the Victorian period she began to be depicted holding Poseidon's three-pronged trident and often stood in the ocean; this represented British naval power. Beside her is a Greek shield which sports the Union Flag, and at her feet a British Lion. Today she may also be holding, in one out stretched arm, an olive branch, as on the British fifty pence piece. Older images of her depict a sword.

She inspired the popular patriotic British song, "Rule, Britannia!", from the poem of the same name by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740.

Her American counterpart is Lady Liberty.

See also[edit]

• John Bull, a personification of England or less commonly of the United Kingdom