Britannia () is the

national personification A national personification is an anthropomorphic personification of a state or the people(s) it inhabits. It may appear in political cartoons and propaganda. Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestation ...

of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a

trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other mar ...

and shield. An image first used in

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

, the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

, and the Roman province of Britain during the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

. Typically depicted reclining or seated with spear and shield since appearing thus on Roman coins of the 2nd century AD, the classical national allegory was revived in the early modern period. On coins of the pound sterling issued by

Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child o ...

, Britannia appears with her shield bearing the Union Flag. To symbolise the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

's victories, Britannia's spear became the characteristic trident in 1797, and a helmet was added to the coinage in 1825. By the 1st century BC, Britannia replaced

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...

as the prevalent Latin name for the island of

. After the Roman conquest in 43 AD, ''Britannia'' also came to refer to the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

that encompassed the southern two-thirds of the island (see

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

). The remaining third of the island, known to the Romans as

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

, lay north of the River Forth in modern

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. It was intermittently but not permanently occupied by the

Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...

. The name is a Latinisation of the native Brittonic word for Great Britain, ''Pretanī'', which also produced the Greek form ''Prettanike'' or ''Brettaniai''. In the 2nd century, Roman Britannia came to be

personified Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their b ...

as a goddess, armed with a spear and shield and wearing a

Corinthian helmet The Corinthian helmet originated in ancient Greece and took its name from the city-state of Corinth. It was a helmet made of bronze which in its later styles covered the entire head and neck, with slits for the eyes and mouth. A large curved pr ...

. When Roman Britain was divided into four provinces in 197 AD, two were called

Britannia Superior Britannia Superior (Latin for "Upper Britain") was a province of Roman Britain created after the civil war between Septimius Severus and Claudius Albinus. Although Herodian credits Severus with dividing Roman Britain into the Northern territor ...

() in the south and

Britannia Inferior Britannia Inferior (Latin for "Lower Britain") was a new province carved out of Roman Britain probably around AD 197 during the reforms of Septimius Severus although the division may have occurred later, between 211 and 220, under Caracall ...

() to the north. The name ''Britannia'' long survived the

end of Roman rule in Britain The end of Roman rule in Britain was the transition from Roman Britain to post-Roman Britain. Roman rule ended in different parts of Britain at different times, and under different circumstances. In 383, the usurper Magnus Maximus withdrew t ...

in the 5th century and yielded the name for the island in most European and various other languages, including the English Britain and the modern Welsh '' Prydain''. In the 9th century the associated terms ''

Bretwalda ''Bretwalda'' (also ''brytenwalda'' and ''bretenanwealda'', sometimes capitalised) is an Old English word. The first record comes from the late 9th-century ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle''. It is given to some of the rulers of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms from ...

'' and ''Brytenwealda'' were applied to some Anglo-Saxon kings to assert a wider hegemony in Britain and hyperbolic inscriptions on coins and titles in charters often included the equivalent title ''rex Britanniae''. However when England was unified the title used was ''rex Angulsaxonum'' ('king of the Anglo-Saxons'). After centuries of declining use, the Latin form was revived during the English Renaissance as a rhetorical evocation of a British national identity. Especially following the Acts of Union in 1707, which joined the Kingdoms of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

, the personification of the martial Britannia was used as an emblem of British maritime power and unity, most notably in the patriotic song " Rule, Britannia!". A British cultural icon, she was featured on all modern British coinage series until the redesign in 2008, and still appears annually on the gold and silver "

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Grea ...

" bullion coin series. In 2015 a new definitive

£2 coin The United Kingdom, British two pound (£2) coin is a denomination of Coins of the United Kingdom, sterling coinage. Its obverse has featured the profile of Queen Elizabeth II since the coin’s introduction. Three different portraits of the Quee ...

was issued, with a new image of Britannia. She is also depicted in the Brit Awards statuette, the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

's annual music awards.

Greek and Roman periods

The first writer to use a form of the name was the Greek explorer and geographer Pytheas in the 4th century BC. Pytheas referred to ''Prettanike'' or ''Brettaniai'', a group of islands off the coast of North-Western Europe. In the 1st century BC,

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...

referred to ''Pretannia'', Snyder, p. 12. a rendering of the indigenous name for the '' Pretani'' people whom the Greeks believed to inhabit the

. Following the Greek usage, the Romans referred to the ''Insulae Britannicae'' in the plural, consisting of ''

'' (Great Britain), '' Hibernia'' (Ireland), '' Thule'' (possibly

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

or Orkney) and many smaller islands. Over time, Albion specifically came to be known as ''Britannia'', and the name for the group was subsequently dropped. Although the creation and unification of the province of Britannia is commonly attributed to the emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...

in 43 AD,

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

had already established Roman authority over the Southern and Eastern Britain dynasties during his two expeditions to the island in 55 and 54 BC. Just as Caesar himself had been an ''obside'', hostage, in Bithynia as a youth, he also had taken the King's sons back to Rome as ''obsides'' and to be educated. The Roman conquest of the island began in AD 43, leading to the establishment of the

known in Latin as ''

''. The Romans never successfully conquered the whole island, building

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

as a boundary with ''

'', which covered roughly the territory of modern

, although the whole of the boundary marked by Hadrian's Wall lies within modern-day

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angles, Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Scandinavian York, K ...

. A southern part of what is now Scotland was occupied by the Romans for about 20 years in the mid-2nd century AD, keeping in place the

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...

to the north of the

Antonine Wall The Antonine Wall, known to the Romans as ''Vallum Antonini'', was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some ...

. People living in the Roman province of Britannia were called ''Britanni'', or Britons. Ireland, inhabited by the Scoti, was never invaded and was called Hibernia. Thule, an island "six days' sail north of Britain, and ..near the frozen sea", possibly

, was also never invaded by the Romans. Claudius paid a visit while Britain was being conquered and was honoured with the

agnomen An ''agnomen'' (; plural: ''agnomina''), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the '' cognomen'' was initially. However, the ''cognomina'' eventually became family names, so ''agnomina'' were needed to distinguish between sim ...

''Britannicus'' as if he were the conqueror; a frieze discovered at

Aphrodisias Aphrodisias (; grc, Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small ancient Greek Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about east/inland from t ...

in 1980 shows a bare breasted and helmeted female warrior labelled BRITANNIA, writhing in agony under the heel of the emperor. She appeared on coins issued under

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...

, as a more regal-looking female figure. Britannia was soon

as a goddess, looking fairly similar to the goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of v ...

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the R ...

- both are seated and replete with helmet, spear (trident) and shield. Early portraits of the goddess depict Britannia as a beautiful young woman, wearing a

, and wrapped in a white garment with her right breast exposed. She is usually shown seated on a rock, holding a trident, and with a spiked shield propped beside her. Sometimes she holds a standard and leans on the shield. On another range of coinage, she is seated on a globe above waves: Britain at the edge of the (known) world. Similar coin types were also issued under Antoninus Pius.

British revival

Medieval use

After the Roman withdrawal, the term "Britannia" remained in use in Britain and abroad. Latin was ubiquitous amongst native

Brythonic Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to: *Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain *Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic *Britons (Celtic people) The Br ...

writers and the term continued in the Welsh tradition that developed from it. Writing with variations on the term ''Britannia'' (or ''

Prydein Prydain (, ; Middle Welsh: ''Prydein'') is the modern Welsh name for Great Britain. Medieval ''Prydain'' is the medieval Welsh term for the island of Britain (the name Albion was not used by the Welsh). More specifically, Prydain may refer ...

'' in the native language) appeared in many Welsh works such as the '' Historia Britonum'', ''

Armes Prydein ''Armes Prydein'' (, ''The Prophecy of Britain'') is an early 10th-century Welsh prophetic poem from the ''Book of Taliesin''. In a rousing style characteristic of Welsh heroic poetry, it describes a future where all of Brythonic peoples are all ...

'' and the 12th-century ''

Historia Regum Britanniae ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. ...

'', which gained unprecedented popularity throughout western Europe during the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

. Following the migration of

Celts, the term ''Britannia'' also came to refer to the Armorican peninsula (at least from the 6th century). The modern English, French, Breton and Gallo names for the area, all derive from a literal use of ''Britannia'' meaning "land of the Britons". The two "Britannias" gave rise to the term ''Grande Bretagne'' (Great Britain) to distinguish the island of Britain from the continental peninsula. Following the

Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain is the process which changed the language and culture of most of what became England from Romano-British to Germanic. The Germanic-speakers in Britain, themselves of diverse origins, eventually develo ...

, the term "Briton" only referred to the native British, Celtic-speaking inhabitants of the province; this remained the case until the modern era. The use of the term as an inhabitant of the island of

or the UK is relatively recent.

Renaissance and British Empire

It was during the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

that "Britannia" again came to be used as a

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...

of Britain. In his 1576 "General and rare memorials pertayning to the Perfect Arte of Navigation", John Dee used a frontispiece figure of Britannia kneeling by the shore beseeching Elizabeth I, to protect her empire by strengthening her navy. With the death of Elizabeth in 1603 came the succession of her Scottish cousin, James VI, King of Scots, to the English throne. He became James I of England, and so brought under his personal rule the Kingdoms of

(and the dominion of Wales),

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and

. On 20 October 1604,

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

proclaimed himself as "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland", a title that continued to be used by many of his successors. When James came to the English throne, some elaborate pageants were staged. One pageant performed on the streets of London in 1605 was described in

Anthony Munday Anthony Munday (or Monday) (1560?10 August 1633) was an English playwright and miscellaneous writer. He was baptized on 13 October 1560 in St Gregory by St Paul's, London, and was the son of Christopher Munday, a stationer, and Jane Munday. He ...

's ''Triumphs of Reunited Britannia'':

On a mount triangular, as the island of Britain itself is described to be, we seat in the supreme place, under the shape of a fair and beautiful nymph, Britannia herself...

Britain's first road atlas was updated in a series of editions titled from the early 18th into the early 19th century using the title ''

Britannia Depicta ''Britannia Depicta'' was an illustrated road atlas for Britain. It was printed in numerous editions over many decades from 1720 into the 19th century and updated with engravings by many artisans who worked from drawings of other artists. It feat ...

''. During the reign of Charles II, Britannia made her first appearance on English coins on a

farthing Farthing or farthings may refer to: Coinage *Farthing (British coin), an old British coin valued one quarter of a penny ** Half farthing (British coin) ** Third farthing (British coin) ** Quarter farthing (British coin) *Farthing (English co ...

of 1672 (see ''Depiction on British coinage and postage stamps'' below). With the constitutional unification of England with Scotland in 1707 and then with Ireland in 1800, Britannia became an increasingly important symbol and a strong rallying point among Britons. British power, which depended on a liberal political system and the supremacy of the

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

, lent these attributes to the image of Britannia. By the time of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, Britannia had been renewed. Still depicted as a young woman with brown or golden hair, she kept her

and her white robes, but now she held Neptune's trident and often sat or stood before the ocean and tall-masted ships representing British naval power. She also usually held or stood beside a Greek

hoplite Hoplites ( ) ( grc, ὁπλίτης : hoplítēs) were citizen-soldiers of Ancient Greek city-states who were primarily armed with spears and shields. Hoplite soldiers used the phalanx formation to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. The ...

shield, which sported the British Union Flag: also at her feet was often the British Lion, an animal found on the arms of England, Scotland and the Prince of Wales. Neptune is shown symbolically passing his trident to Britannia in the 1847 fresco "Neptune Resigning to Britannia the Empire of the Sea" by William Dyce, a painting Victoria commissioned for her Osborne House on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

New Zealanders adopted a similar personification of their country in Zealandia (personification), Zealandia, Britannia's daughter, who appeared on postage stamps at the turn of the 20th century and still features in the New Zealand Coat of Arms. Perhaps the best analogy is that Britannia is to the United Kingdom and the British Empire what Marianne is to France or perhaps what Columbia (name), Columbia is to the United States. Britannia became a very potent and more common figure in times of war, and represented British liberties and democracy.

Modern associations

During the 1990s the term ''Cool Britannia'' (drawn from a humorous version by the Bonzo Dog Band of the song "Rule, Britannia!, Rule Britannia", with words by James Thomson [1700–1748], which is often used as an unofficial national anthem), was used to describe the contemporary United Kingdom. The phrase referred to the fashionable scenes of the era, with a new generation of pop groups and style magazines, successful young fashion designers, and a surge of new restaurants and hotels. Cool Britannia represented late-1990s Britain as a fashionable place to be. Britannia is sometimes used in political cartoons to symbol the United Kingdom's relationship with other countries.

Depiction on British currency and postage stamps

Coinage

Although the archetypical image of Britannia seated with a shield first appeared on Roman bronze coins of the 1st century AD struck under

, Britannia's first appearance on British coinage was on the

in 1672, though earlier pattern versions had appeared in 1665, followed by the Halfpenny (British pre-decimal coin), halfpenny later the same year. The figure of Britannia was said by Samuel Pepys to have been modelled on Frances Teresa Stuart, the future Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, Duchess of Richmond, who was famous at the time for refusing to become the mistress of Charles II, despite the King's strong infatuation with her. Britannia then appeared on the British halfpenny coin throughout the rest of the 17th century and thereafter until 1936. The halfpennies issued during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen Anne have Britannia closely resembling the queen herself. When the Bank of England was granted a charter in 1694, the directors decided within days that the device for their official seal should represent 'Brittannia sitting on looking on a Bank of Mony' (sic). Britannia also appeared on the History of the English penny, penny coin between 1797 and 1967, occasional issues such as the fourpence under William IV between 1836 and 1837, and on the Fifty pence (British coin), 50 pence coin between 1969 and 2008. See "External Links" below for examples of all these coins and others. In the spring of 2008, the Royal Mint unveiled Coins of the pound sterling#2008 redesign, new coin designs "reflecting a more modern twenty-first century Britain" which do not feature the image of Britannia. The government pointed out, however, that earlier-design 50p coins will remain in circulation for the foreseeable future. Also Britannia still appeared on the gold and silver "

" bullion coins issued annually by the Royal Mint. A new definitive £2 coin was issued in 2015, with a new image of Britannia. In late 2015, a limited edition (100000 run) £50 coin was produced, bearing the image of Britannia on one side and Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse. Britannia 2021

In October 2020, The Royal Mint released the 2021 Britannia bullion coin range. The original 1987 coin design by Philip Nathan was enhanced with new security features. The Royal Mint claims this makes the Britannia "the world’s most visually secure bullion coin." The security features include a latent image, micro-text, surface animation and tincture lines. In 2021, the Royal Mint issued a new range of commemorative coins featuring a redesigned Britannia as a woman of colour.

Banknotes

A figure of Britannia appeared on the "white fiver" (a five pound note printed in black and white) from 1855 for more than a century, until 1957. From 1928 "Britannia Series A" ten shilling and one pound notes were printed with a seated Britannia bearing both a spear and an olive branch. The 25 cents fractional paper currency of the Dominion of Canada (1870, 1900 and 1923 respectively) all depict Britannia.

Postage stamps

Britannia also featured on the high value Great Britain definitive postage stamps issued during the reign of George V (known as 'King George V Seahorses, seahorses') and is depicted on the £10 stamp first issued in 1993.

Britannia watermark in paper

The Britannia watermark has been widely used in papermaking, usually showing her seated. An example can be found a
papermoulds.typepad.com

Brit Awards

Britannia is depicted in the Brit Award statuette, the

's annual music awards. The statuette of Britannia is regularly redesigned by some of the best known British designers, stylists and artists, including Vivienne Westwood, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Peter Blake (artist), Sir Peter Blake and the late Zaha Hadid, Dame Zaha Hadid.

Namesakes

The name "Britannia", symbolising Britain and British patriotism, has been adopted for a variety of purposes, including: * Britannia silver, a high-grade alloy of silver introduced in Britain in 1697. * Britannia coins, a series of British gold bullion coins issued since 1987, which have nominal values of 100, 50, 25, and 10 Pound sterling, pounds. * HMS Britannia, HMS ''Britannia'', any of eight vessels of the

. * HMY Britannia (Royal Cutter Yacht), HMY ''Britannia'', King George V's famed racing yacht, scuttled in 1936. K1 Britannia, K1 ''Britannia'' is a 1994 replica (refit in 2012). * Britannia Royal Naval College, the Royal Navy's officer training college. * The former Royal Yacht Britannia, Royal Yacht ''Britannia'', the Royal Family's personal yacht, now retired in Leith, Edinburgh Scotland. * RMS Britannia, RMS ''Britannia'', the first steam ocean liner owned by Samuel Cunard in 1840. * SS Britannia (1925), SS ''Britannia'', a 1925 British liner, sunk by the German auxiliary cruiser Thor, German auxiliary cruiser ''Thor'' in 1941 with the loss of 122 crew and 127 passengers.Wrecksite: SS Britannia (+1941)
/ref> * MV Britannia (2015), MV ''Britannia'', the flagship of the P&O Cruises fleet, which came into service in 2015. * Bristol Britannia, Bristol Type 175 Britannia, a 1952 British turbo-prop airliner. * Bristol Type 603, Bristol Type 603S3 Britannia, a 1983 British luxury car. * Pugnaces Britanniae, war dog of Britain. * The patriotic song " Rule, Britannia!", set to music in 1740. * Company names such as Britannia Building Society, Britannia Airways and Britannia Industries. * The ''Britannia'' Class, an alternative name for the BR Standard Class 7 series of steam locomotives produced between 1951 and 1954, the first of the BR "standard" classes. Preserved BR standard class 7 70000 Britannia, Class 7 locomotive No. 70000, built in 1951, was also named ''Britannia''. * The Britannia (former building society), Britannia Building Society traded for over a century before deciding to merge with The Co-operative Bank in 2009 and now trades as ''Britannia''. * Britannia is a community south of the town of Bacup, in Lancashire, UK, and "home" of the Britannia Coconut Dancers. * Britannia Sea Scouts is a sea scouting group connected to Sea Scouts New Zealand located in Evans Bay, in the Wellington zone of New Zealand. Britannia was started in 1927.

References

Notes

* * * * Hewitt, Virginia. "Britannia (fl. 1st–21st cent.)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,'
online edition 2007, accessed 28 Aug 2011
* * M. Dresser (ed.), 'Britannia', Patriotism: the making and unmaking of British national identity, vol. 3 * R. Samuel, National fictions (1989), pp. 26–49 * Britannia depicta: quality, value and security, National Postal Museum (1993) * H. Mattingly, Nerva to Hadrian, reprint (1976), vol. 3 of Coins of the Roman empire in the British Museum * J. M. C. Toynbee, The Hadrianic school: a chapter in the history of Greek art (1974) * M. Henig, 'Britannia', ''Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae'', 3/1 (1983), pp. 167–69 * K. T. Erim, 'A new relief showing Claudius and Britannia from Aphrodisias', Britannia, 13 (1982), pp. 277–81 * H. Peacham, Minerva Britannia, or, A garden of heroical devises (1612) * J. Thomson, Britannia: a poem (1729) * R. Strong, Gloriana, the portraits of Queen Elizabeth I (1987) * H. A. Atherton, Political prints in the age of Hogarth. A study of the ideographic representation of politics (1974)

External links

Britannia on British coins and medals
– Guy de la Bédoyère * {{Authority control Britannia, Fictional British people Roman Britain Roman goddesses Terminology of the British Isles