Philip II

1527-1598. King of the Spaniards (1556-1598) as well as king of the Portuguese (as Philip I, 1580–1598) and king of England and Ireland during his marriage with Mary I of England (1554–1558).

He was the son of the emperor Charles V (1500–1558) and his wife Isabella of Portugal (1503–1539). Philip's influence as co-monarch has not left much impression upon British history and is largely "replaced by images of invincible armadas" (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Although he failed "to suppress the revolt of the Netherlands (1566)" (ibid.) and his Spanish Armada lost against England in 1588, "the Spanish empire attained its greatest power, extent, and influence" (ibid.) during his reign.

The Consort

Philip was first married to his cousin and princess of Portugal Maria (1527-1545), together they had one son, Don Carlos. Maria died shortly after his birth. During this time his father Charles had close links to Mary. Since Mary was the cousin of Charles V and since she intended to re-establish the old religion, he wanted to support her, but because he was too old to marry her, he decided to commit her to his son Philip.

In January 1554 the marriage negotiations were finally finished and ratified by the English parliament. Philip II started his journey to England in July and arrived at the queen's palace on the night of 23 July. The wedding took place at Winchester Cathedral on the morning of 25 July 1554.

As most of the marriages in these times, Mary and Philip also married for dynastic reasons. It can even be called the paradigm for a political action because it was part of the "long struggle against the French" (Oxford Dictionary of British History). It is reported that Mary was treated with respect by her husband. But they were not always of the same opinion, as, for example, with regard to Elizabeth: “Philip was able to save Elizabeth, in the words of Jane Dormer, one of Mary's ladies-in-waiting, from 'extreme punishment'” (ibid.).

Even though Philip learned different languages (Latin, French, Portuguese and Italian), he used to stick to his mother-tongue during conversations. It was hard for the husband to learn his wife's language and Mary only could understand Spanish but not speak it, so that the king spoke in Spanish and Mary replied in French.

While Mary was proud of her young husband from Philip's point of view the marriage "served its purpose by drawing England into the conflict with France" (ibid.). The fact that Mary seemed to be "overjoyed" (ibid.) with her husband who stayed with his wife in England only a while, but could not give him an heir was her personal tragedy and an international mockery at the same time. Philip left his wife alone with her problems to go back to Spain and became the king of Spain only one year after their wedding. After Mary Tudor died Philip "offered himself as a husband to Elizabeth I" (ibid.) but she refused it. He tried to keep up a positive and friendly relationship to Elizabeth. But “[u]nfortunately Spanish intervention in the Netherlands, and the activities of English corsairs in the New World, made an ideological and military struggle with protestant England unavoidable” (ibid.).

In 1559, the year after Mary's death, Philip married Elizabeth of Valois, who was the daughter of Henry II of France and who died in 1568. In 1570 Philip married for the fourth and last time. His wife Anna of Austria died in 1580.

References

"Philip II." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 13 Jan. 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/456081/Philip-II>.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22097?docPos=2

Oxford Dictionary of British History. Ed. John Cannon. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 508-509.

Suerbaum, Ulrich. Das elisabethanische Zeitalter. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1989.