Britannia and the British Empire what Marianne is to France or perhaps what Columbia is to the United States. Britannia became a very potent and more common figure in times of war, and represented British liberties and democracy. During the 1990s the term "Cool Britannia" (drawn from a humorous version by the Bonzo Dog Band of the song "Rule Britannia", with words by James Thomson [1700–1748], which is often used as an unofficial national anthem), was used to describe the contemporary United Kingdom. The phrase referred to the fashionable scenes of the era, with a new generation of pop groups and
Ruled Britannia who appears to be modeled after Constable Dogberry from "Much Ado About Nothing". The novel won the 2002 Sidewise Award for Alternate History for Long Form, sharing the award with Martin J. Gidron's "The Severed Wing". A short Turtledove story of time travel, "We Haven't Got There Yet" (based on Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead"), also features Shakespeare as the third-person narrator. It was published in 2009 and is freely available to read on Tor's website. Ruled Britannia Ruled Britannia is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove, first published in hardcover by New American Library in 2002.