Boudica

Boudicca, Boudica, or Boadicea was a Celtic queen who ruled a portion of what would become Great Britain — specifically the Iceni kingdom in what was later Norfolk — in the 1st century AD. Unusually, she inherited essentially half the kingdom when her husband, Prasutagas died. The other half was bequeathed to the Roman Empire, thus effectively making the Iceni have two sovereigns: Boudicca and the Roman Emperor Nero.

When some Romans later raped the Iceni women, Boudicca's response was swift and bloody. She ordered that the agents be, according to Seventh Doctor pretending to be John Smith, "skinned alive and impaled on posts with their intestines...in their mouths." Since Boudicca believed these Romans were following orders from the Roman Governor Paulinus, she set the Iceni on a course of general war against the Roman Empire. Ultimately, her rebellion failed, her kingdom was defeated, and she was forced to kill herself. (NA: Human Nature)

In actuality, two Time Lords posed as Boudicca towards the end of her historical narrative. Shortly after the death of Prasutagas, Fimmilena posing as Boudicca, was badly injured. The Fourth Doctor had Romana pose as Boudicca until Fimmilena had finished healing in the TARDIS. Fimmilena disguised a corpse to make it look like she had died by a poisoned spear. (ST: Good Queen, Bad Queen, I Queen, You Queen)

At some point in her life, Boudicca was pulled out of her own time by Momus who wanted her to help lead Planet 12 of the Ridion Alliance into a new age of enlightenment. The Tenth Doctor convinced him to return her to her rightful place in Earth's history. (WC: The Lonely Computer)

According to the Roman praefectus of Byzantium, Thalius Maximus, Gaius Calaphilus had actually been in battle against "Boudica's wretched Iceni". (PDA: Byzantium!)

Despite the tragic end history books tell of her, she was a heroine of Queen Victoria. (NA: Human Nature)

Name
According to John Smith, her true name was Boudicca, although one of his students thought she was called Boadicea. (NA: Human Nature) The Tenth Doctor was less certain and asked her whether it was Boudica or Boadicea. She was annoyed because neither was correct but when she tried to give him the correct name, Momus interrupted before she could say more than Bo-. (WC: The Lonely Computer)

Behind the scenes

 * Alex Kingston portrayed the title role in the 2003 film (aka Warrior Queen).
 * Claire Davenport played Boudicca in "Pritan", the premiere episode of the BBC series.