Source A Painting of Philip II of Spain
When Elizabeth I inherited the throne on her sister Mary’s death in 1558, the Anglo- Spanish alliance which had been sealed by Mary’s marriage to the king of Spain, Philip II, was effectively over. The steady decline in relations between England and Spain after 1558 makes it tempting to see a certain inevitability in the hostilities that eventually broke out in 1585 and dominated the last years of Philip’s and Elizabeth’s lives. Yet it was not a conflict that either of them sought and war was never formally declared.
Several factors at the start of Elizabeth’s reign seemed likely to affect England’s relationship with Spain.
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