Information about National Symbol: Britannia, Seated

The figure of Britannia is best known as a national personification of the United Kingdom. The name is a Latinisation of the native Brittonic word for the island, Pretanī, which also produced the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally, in the fourth to the first centuries BC, designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Britain. In Modern Welsh the name remains Prydain. After the Roman conquest in 43 AD, Britannia meant Roman Britain, a province covering the island south of Caledonia (roughly Scotland). Britannia is the name given to the female personification of the island, and it is a term still used to refer to the whole island.

When Roman Britain was divided into four provinces in 197 AD, two were called Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. Even then, an allegorical figure of Britannia was already depicted on some provincial Roman coins struck on the island.

A British cultural icon, she has featured on old English coins since 1672, as well as on some colonial coinage. On modern (decimal) coins, she was first featured on the 50 pence denomination from 1969 until the redesign of all circulating coinage in 2008. With a new image, she was also depicted on the definitive £2 coin issued annually from 2015 to the King Charles III change of design in 2023, as well as on the gold and silver "Britannia" bullion coin series.

The figure has traditionally been depicted seated (as on the coins listed below); however, on some coins the figure is standing, for which see separate list.

Britannia on colonial coinage

Ionian Islands / Two Oboli 1819

The figure of Britannia was also displayed on the coinage of British colonies and protectorates, such as this example on a Two Oboli coin (equal to a penny) from the Ionian Islands. The island issued their own coinage, compatible with the small British pre-decimal denominations in its dimensions and composition, from 1819 to 1964.

Britannia on 50p coins

United Kingdom / Fifty Pence 2019 New Pence (NCLT)

The figure of Britannia graced the first coins of the 50 pence denomination of the British decimal Pound Sterling, which was introduced in 1969 - a couple of years before decimalisation, initially to circulate in parallel with the existing pre-decimal coinage.

The coins were later made smaller while retaining the design by Christopher Ironside, but were then replaced by a new design in 2008.

The iconic design is sometimes re-issued by the Royal Mint as Non-Circulating Commemorative (NCLT) coins for collectors, such as the one pictured here.