At one time this powerful king controlled more than half western
Europe, America south of Río Grande, the Philippine
Islands, and other territories in Asia. At the age of 16 he
began to govern Spain in the absence of his father, Carlos
V, in 1543; in 1554, he became the formal governor of half
Italy, and by marriage, of England. Finally, in 1556 he inherited
all the possessions of Carlos V after his death.
During his reign, until his death in 1598, Felipe II had to
face many political problems that remained unsolved. Given
the size of his empire, it is not surprising that he had to
cope with many rebellions in his states. Spain was not easy
to control, either. The division of the Peninsula into autonomies
with its own laws and institutions caused him more than one
headache. It limited his power.
He had four wives: the Princess María of Portugal,
who died young; María Tudor, Queen of England; Isabel
de Valois; and finally his niece, Ana de Austria, twenty
years his junior, with whom he is believed to have been
very happy.
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