Perfidious Albion

"Perfidious Albion" is a pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations diplomacy to refer to acts of diplomatic slights, duplicity, treachery and hence infidelity (with respect to perceived promises made to or alliances formed with other nation states) by monarchs or governments of the United Kingdom (or Great Britain prior to 1801, or England prior to 1707) in their pursuit of self-interest and the expansion of the British Empire.

The coinage of the phrase in its current form, however, is conventionally attributed to Augustin Louis de Ximénès, a French-Spanish playwright who wrote it in a poem entitled "L'Ère des Français", published in 1793: Attaquons dans ses eaux la perfide Albion.

The catch-phrase was further popularized by its use in La Famille Fenouillard  [fr], the first French comic strip, in which one of the characters fulminates against "Perfidious Albion, which burnt Joan of Arc on the rock of Saint Helena".

(This sentence mixes two major incidents in French history that can be related to the UK's perfidy: Joan of Arc, whose execution may have been due to English influence; and Napoleon, who died in exile on Saint Helena.

[5]) In German-speaking areas, the term "das perfide Albion" became increasingly frequent, especially during the rule of the German Empire (1871–1918) against the backdrop of rising British-German tensions.