Trigger warning: This article contains non‑graphic references to rape and sexual violence. Some readers may find this distressing.

From Sutton Hoo to Richard the III, archaeology never ceases to amaze with its unexpected noble and regal excavations. Yet there’s one Royal whose resting place many of us would love to hear has been found. 

Does anyone know where Boudica is?

Her strength of character in the face of extreme adversity has cemented our National affection for the Queen of the Iceni tribe, and over the years, she has deservedly become both a feminist icon and a national treasure. 

Indeed, with the rise in literacy and education in the 19th century, her popularity grew enormously and partly morphed in the public imagination with our much-loved Goddess, Britannia. Yet in reality, Boudica was a very real person who waged war against the Romans around 60AD to 61AD. 

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ♥️ Jenny Rae ♥️ (@jrae_allday)

A post shared by ♥️ Jenny Rae ♥️ (@jrae_allday)

Like Britannia, she remains a symbol of female resistance and the struggle for independence. 

Her husband was King Prasutagus, and there’s historical disagreement as to whether he capitulated to the Romans in 43AD or was indeed installed as king by the Romans following an Iceni revolt in 47AD.

In any event, his wife Boudica was named as his successor, and if she survived him, she was to share her kingdom jointly with the Roman Emperor Nero.

Unfortunately, following his death, the Romans were having none of this as it would violate their patriarchal system, and Boudica was publicly flogged for even suggesting it.

Her two daughters were then raped on Roman order by slaves; her nobles were thrown off their lands and enslaved or indeed killed. 

View this post on Instagram A post shared by UK con Julia ~ Book Club y Viajes Literarios (@ukconjulia)

A post shared by UK con Julia ~ Book Club y Viajes Literarios (@ukconjulia)

Britian's tribes rally behind Boudica

Instead of cutting the heart out of the Iceni, the tribe rallied to Boudica’s side.

Soon, the Trinovantes Tribe from Essex joined her, as well as the Catuvellauni Tribe from Hertfordshire, who had once defeated Julius Ceaser in the battle of Stanmore Hill on the outskirts of modern-day Greater London and the London Borough of Harrow in 54 BC. 

Enslaved, thrown off their lands, starved and humiliated, Britain’s tribes had had enough. 

They rose up and marched on the Roman town of Camulodunum, which you’ll know better as........

© Oxford Mail