Gloriana is an
opera by
Benjamin Britten, with words by Britten and
William Plomer, one of the musical
celebrations of the
Coronation of
Elizabeth II in 1953.
It tells of Elizabeth I's love of Essex and her division between personal feelings and duty. In the first act there is a duel between Essex and Mountjoy. Essex warns of the threat of the Armada, and is appointed to quell a rebellion in Ireland. In the last act, he rebels against the queen and is sentenced to death.
Gloriana was not successful in its first season, but a 1966 revival brought it within the standard repertoire.
Gloriana is also the
Grand Duchess of the microscopic English-speaking European principality of
Grand Fenwick in the two
Ealing comedies The Mouse that Roared (1959) and
The Mouse on the Moon (1963). She was played by
Peter Sellers in the first and
Margaret Rutherford in the second.