The metamorphic Meggan was born in England to Romanichal allegedly originating from Russia and instinctively grew fur to protect her from a blizzard. Rumors about the "wolf-child" caused her parents to keep Meggan hidden, her only education coming from television. Also, an empath, her body transformed throughout her youth as others' prejudices shaped her. Separated from her family during the reality-altering Jaspers' Warp event, Meggan became trapped as a "fairy werewolf" during residual confusion after the warp when she temporarily forgot she could shape-shift. Meggan eventually encountered the UK's premier superhuman, Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), and shared numerous adventures with him. After remembering she could change form, Meggan felt the confidence to act on her attraction to Captain Britain, and the two began a romance. Though her elfin blonde form was subconsciously to make him more attracted to her, Meggan loved him because he tried to avoid letting his own desires influence her personality. After the couple joined forces with former X-Men Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers (later Rachel Grey) as Excalibur, negative public opinion about her perceived youth caused her to become more naively innocent during Excalibur's early days. A later encounter with a member of a mystical Neuri race showed Meggan her true self on the spirit plane, giving her more confidence and resistance to others' whims. Eventually, Meggan continued her education, learned more control over her powers, which allowed her to manipulate the external world through her empathic/elemental connections to it, and she married Captain Britain, serving as queen while he ruled the extradimensional Otherworld for a time. However, during a transtemporal storm that threatened reality, Meggan entered a breach to seal it from the inside, trapping her between realities and leaving Captain Britain believing her dead.
Eventually lost in Hell, Meggan was tricked by the Lords of the Splinter Realms into letting Hell's opinions shape her. Monstrously deformed, she radiated her anger over this deception, triggering lesser demons to rebel. Eventually the sympathetic Hell-Lord Pluto (Hades) helped her gain total control over her form; no longer victim to others' opinions shaping her, she resumed her favored elfin appearance. After overthrowing several of the Lords, her happy demons dubbed her Gloriana. Having always wanted a superhero name but never having felt worthy, Meggan embraced the title. Meanwhile, in Earth's dimension, Dracula (Vlad Tepes) had begun a vampire invasion of Britain. Doctor Doom (Victor Von Doom), feigning to assist Dracula, helped Gloriana escape Hell and presented her as a gift to Dracula aboard the vampire's flagship, the New Serpent's Crown, as it approached Earth from space. However, Gloriana broadcast emotions associated with rebellion, allowing many in Dracula's unwilling army to desert, moments before Captain Britain breached the vessel. After a joyous but brief reunion, Gloriana and Captain Britain helped Britain's MI13 destroy what was left of Dracula's invasion fleet.
Gloriana enlisted in MI13, the UK's response agency for paranormal activities, and helped Captain Britain establish the Braddock Academy for Britain's young superhumans. She joined him to defend Otherworld alongside the Corps and an X-Force team led by Wolverine (Logan/James Howlett) when the goat-demon Horoam'ce invaded. Attending the first annual intramural competition between the world's super schools at Avengers Academy, titled the Contest of Champions at her suggestion, Gloriana assisted in protecting the planet when the event's launch coincided with the mad Titan Thanos' forces attacking Earth. Later she aided search-and-rescue efforts in Manhattan, which had been devastated during the conflict. She and Captain Britain subsequently attended a party welcoming their old friend Nightcrawler back from the dead. They later joined the Avengers and S.H.I.EL.D. in raiding the country of Bagalia to rescue Academy students from a Masters of Evil army assembled by Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo). Learning MI6 was secretly fielding unregistered British superhumans in breach of MI13's exclusive jurisdiction, Pete Wisdom took Gloriana and Excalibur (Faiza Hussain) to the country Waziristan to catch the perpetrators, where they clashed with another iteration of X-Force that included leader Cable (Nathan Summers) and Gloriana's sister-in-law, Psylocke (Betsy Braddock). There they tracked the technology used to empower MI6's pseudo-mutants. After a brief battle, the three groups joined forces to destroy local Quadee terrorists who had been similarly empowered.
After having a daughter, Margaret ("Maggie"), Captain Britain and Gloriana moved into a rebuilt lighthouse on the site of Excalibur's former base and asked Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde and Rachel Grey to be Maggie's godparents. Shortly before the trio visited, the barely three-month-old Maggie began talking, revealing herself to be a mutant like her mother by demonstrating genius-level intellect, using adult-level vocabulary and scientific prowess within days. Gloriana was initially upset at the prospect of missing the milestones associated with conventional parenthood and felt insecure that Maggie might soon not need her and that her child's advanced intellect would surpass her own. Pryde and Grey consoled Gloriana, and she soon set her fears aside. Parenthood did not prevent Captain Britain and Gloriana from assisting the X-Men in battling the Negative Zone god Scythian Algurus when he attacked Paris, nor from attending the abortive wedding of Pryde to Peter Rasputin (Colossus). Around Christmas time, Gloriana filmed an embarrassed Maggie's first steps.
Later, answering a plea for assistance from the X-Men, Gloriana and other X-Men allies joined them in British Columbia to fight the Horsemen of Salvation serving X-Man (Nate Grey). Deciding interpersonal relations had corrupted the X-Men's mission, X-Man pulled all present into a pocket dimension/reality anomaly containing an ersatz Earth of his creation. With her memories altered, Gloriana became Nightcrawler's co-star in Studio X, a company producing mutant-affirmative television and films. Despite personal attachments being forbidden, they repeatedly became a couple, even seemingly having a child together, Tenia Jean, only to have their memories wiped and reset each time their relationship came to light. Eventually Nightcrawler sacrificed his own freedom to ensure Gloriana could retain her latest memories and escape Studio X to raise Tenia Jean. However, X-Man's deception soon after crumbled and he returned the X-Men and their allies to their native dimension while secretly maintaining the world he created. What became of Tenia Jean and whether Gloriana remembers her remains unrevealed.
Shortly after Krakoa was established as a mutant homeland, Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) provoked a conflict with Otherworld. Morgan Le Fay seized control of Captain Britain when he came to Otherworld's defense, but he passed on his Captain Britain mantle to Betsy before succumbing. Betsy soon freed him but retained the role as he no longer felt himself worthy. While trying to help him come to terms with his trauma, Gloriana also assisted Pete Wisdom and MI13 by spying on the anti-mutant Coven Akkaba.
