Perfidious Albion.

“Perfidious Albion” is a long‑standing French political epithet for Britain (“Albion” being a poetic name for Great Britain), used especially in periods of Anglo‑French rivalry to accuse Britain of bad faith in diplomacy. Napoleon is often associated with the phrase because it fits the rhetoric of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, when France and Britain were repeatedly at war and Napoleon denounced British policy as duplicitous—particularly around shifting coalitions, maritime blockade, and Britain’s financing of continental enemies. However, the expression predates Napoleon and circulated broadly in French discourse; attributing it to a specific moment or utterance by Napoleon is difficult without a traceable primary source.

The phrase compresses a geopolitical judgment into two words: Britain is portrayed as inherently treacherous (“perfidious”) while “Albion” lends an archaic, almost mythic weight, implying a national character rather than a single policy dispute. In Napoleonic-era usage, it functions as propaganda and moral framing—casting Britain not merely as an opponent but as an untrustworthy power whose treaties and alliances are tactical rather than principled. The insult also reflects the era’s struggle over legitimacy: Napoleon’s France sought to depict Britain as the cynical manipulator of European coalitions and commerce, thereby justifying French countermeasures and rallying domestic and allied opinion.