More importantly for the fervently Catholic Philip, he believed that it was his duty to lead Protestant England back to the Catholic faith - by force if necessary. Therefore Elizabeth was born out of proper wedlock, and thus had no right to the throne. Under Catholic principles, Elizabeth's father Henry VIII had no right to divorce his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, to marry Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn. Spain also believed, or at least found it useful to believe, that Elizabeth was illegitimate.
In the 1560s Elizabeth also earned Spanish wrath by supporting Protestants in the Netherlands in their revolt against Spanish occupation. Drake was dubbed by the Spanish "the Master Thief of the Unknown World". She kept communication open with Philip, and protested her friendship, all the while encouraging English pirates like Hawkins and Drake to seize Spanish ships and goods in the West Indies.
Philip was unwilling to let his precarious grasp on England slip away completely he proposed marriage to Elizabeth.Įlizabeth was a master at procrastination, and playing the game of politics. When Mary died in 1558 her very Protestant sister Elizabeth came to the throne.
Mary, by now a middle-aged spinster, certainly did care for her new husband, and even managed to convince herself that she was pregnant at one point, but it was not to be. He was fueled by a religious desire to father a Catholic heir who would keep England within the Roman Catholic sphere. Philip never cared for Mary, indeed, he said while on his way to his marriage, "I am going to a crusade, not to a marriage feast". He was, rather, Mary's consort, a duty he fulfilled with underwhelming enthusiasm. He was not king, indeed the only way the English Parliament would countenance the marriage was if Philip was expressly forbidden from ruling. In his youth, Philip was married to his fellow Catholic, Mary, Queen of England. Why then would Philip spend the money to assemble the largest - and most expensive - naval force ever seen against his island foe? England, by comparison, was a relatively small nation, and not a particularly powerful or wealthy one.
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