Gloriana is an opera in three acts by the English composer Benjamin Britten (see Britten, Benjamin). The English libretto (text) was written by William Plomer and based on the book Elizabeth and Essex (1928) by Lytton Strachey. The opera was commissioned to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It received its first performance in her presence at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, on June 8, 1953.