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. (BFA: The Wrath of the Iceni)

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." (NA: Human Nature)

The Fourth Doctor and his companion Leela encounter Boudicca in 60, during her revolt against the occupying Roman forces in Britannia. In order to prevent Boudicca from severing the Doctor's head, Leela told her that the Doctor was a prophet who foresaw her defeat at the hands of the Romans. The Doctor told her that the forces at the Roman capital Camulodunum were a decoy and Roman governor Suetonius Paulinus stationed an army to the north and intends to attack Boudicca's army while it is ransacking Camulodunum. However, this was not the case. There was no army to the north.

According to established history, after the burning of Camolundunum, which would later become Colchester, Boudicca marched to Londinium and slaughtered almost everyone in the city including the old, the weak and the infirm. She was eventually defeated in a field in the middle of England which no has ever been able to identify. Her army may have numbered up to 80,000 by this time but the Doctor notes that this figure could have been exaggerated by later historians. There were no survivors. Instead of allowing the Romans to execute her, Boudicca killed her daughters before killing herself. The Doctor told Leela that he had no desire to to witness Boudicca's defeat first hand. (BFA: The Wrath of the Iceni)

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.