Boudica Statue and Cleopatra's Needle, London, London, England

At the end of Westminster Bridge, just across from Big Ben, stands a sculpture of a woman driving a chariot. It’s called Boadicea and Her Daughters. As an American I had never heard of this woman, and was curious. It turns out, she was an early British Queen turned folk hero that all British children learn about in school. Nowadays her name is spelled Boudica (pronounced something like Boo’ di ka), and she is famous for taking on the Roman army in 60 AD. - and almost winning.

The Roman historian, Cassius Dio, described Boudica like this: “In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace…”

But before Boudica went on her rampage, the tall red-headed Queen probably wasn’t so fierce. Her life was pretty good. She was married to Prasutagus, King of the Iceni tribe, and they had two young daughters.

The Iceni were a small British Celtic tribe, from eastern Britain - in and around present-day Norfolk. They were independent and wealthy, and they were a client kingdom of Rome. This meant that they were on good terms with the great Empire and maintained a certain amount of self-rule. It also meant that they received financial support from Rome. Everything was coming up roses for Queen Boudica until 60 AD. That’s when her husband died. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).