Britons will never be slaves! Britannia and liberty as a construct of British national identity in James Thomson and Thomas Arne’s song Rule Britannia and Thomas Rowlandson’s engraving, The Contrast, 1792, British Liberty, French Liberty, Which is best?

In comparing and contrasting the song, Rule Britannia and the political print, The Contrast, 1792, British Liberty. French Liberty, Which is Best? this paper will evidence how the concept of liberty was a key construct of British national identity in the eighteenth century. Linking the two pieces is Britain’s national icon, Britannia, the feminine personification of the nation whose image still resonates today. Notions of British national identity that were developed in the eighteenth century, will continue to reverberate in the twenty-first, as Britain attempts to re-identify itself in the nation’s new, post-Brexit, world.