Gilbert and Sullivan the theme from "Iolanthe" of the war between the sexes. The opera is based on Tennyson's poem "The Princess: A Medley". Gilbert had written a blank verse farce based on the same material in 1870, called "The Princess", and he reused a good deal of the dialogue from his earlier play in the libretto of "Princess Ida". "Ida" is the only Gilbert and Sullivan work with dialogue entirely in blank verse and is also the only one of their works in three acts. Lillian Russell had been engaged to create the title role, but Gilbert did not believe that she
Gilbert and Sullivan used to an offending menial." As scholar Andrew Crowther has explained: Things soon degraded, a legal hearing was held, and Sullivan supported Carte by making an affidavit erroneously stating that there were minor legal expenses outstanding from a battle Gilbert had in 1884 with Lillian Russell. On 5 May 1890, Gilbert had written to Sullivan: "The time for putting an end to our collaboration has at last arrived." Gilbert later asked Sullivan to say he had been mistaken in his affidavit, but Sullivan refused. Gilbert felt it was a moral issue, and could not look past it. Sullivan felt that