Philip II of Spain
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50 free Philip II of Spain trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Philip II of Spain ruled lands on every continent then known to Europeans, and he tried to run them all from his desk. He read the dispatches himself, married four times, and sent the Armada against England. This quiz collects the fun facts behind the stern portraits: the places named after him, the painters he loved and the one he snubbed, the motto he shares with a film hero, and the rebels, corsairs and relatives who made his life difficult. It also covers the big set pieces of the reign, from the great sea battles to the long revolt in the Low Countries. It suits students revising Tudor and Spanish history, pub quiz regulars, and anyone who knows him only as the king behind the Armada. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
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Q 01Which Asian island nation takes its name from Philip II of Spain, honored by an explorer while he was a prince?
The Philippines
The Philippines began as Las Islas Filipinas, a name a Spanish expedition gave to the islands of Leyte and Samar in 1543. It later spread to the whole archipelago.
Q 02Which fictional spy's family motto, the world is not enough, also appeared on a 1583 medal of Philip II of Spain?
James Bond
James Bond is given the Latin phrase Orbis non sufficit in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Philip took it up as Non sufficit orbis after adding Portugal's empire to his own in 1580.
Q 03Philip II of Spain became King of England in 1554 by marrying which Catholic Tudor queen?
Mary I
Mary I wed Philip just two days after first meeting him, and he shared her titles only for as long as the marriage lasted. Her death in 1558 ended his English reign.
Q 04Which vast palace-monastery in the Guadarrama mountains did Philip II of Spain build and later die in?
El Escorial
El Escorial, finished in 1584 after 21 years of work, is often called the largest building of the Renaissance. Philip's bed there was placed so he could follow Mass at the high altar.
Q 05Which Spanish novelist lost the use of his left hand fighting the Ottomans in Philip II of Spain's fleet in 1571?
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes took three wounds aboard the galley Marquesa, decades before he wrote Don Quixote. He stayed proud of the battle all his life and said the left hand was lost for the glory of the right.
Q 06To which queen did Philip II of Spain propose marriage soon after his English wife died in 1558?
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I stalled on her answer until Philip arranged a French match instead. Thirty years later he sent the Armada to overthrow her.
Q 07Which ruler, the father of Philip II of Spain, gave up his crowns in 1556 and retired to a monastery at Yuste?
Charles V
Charles V, crippled by gout, was carried around the monastery in a sedan chair. He lived there among paintings and walls lined with clocks until his death in 1558.
Q 08Which town did Philip II of Spain choose as the permanent seat of his court in 1561, making it the capital?
Madrid
Madrid was a modest Castilian town when Philip installed his court in its old alcázar in June 1561. Apart from a few years under his son, it has been the capital ever since.
Q 09Anna, the fourth and last wife of Philip II of Spain, was already related to him in what way?
His niece
His niece Anna was the daughter of Philip's sister Maria, and the pope at first refused to allow the match. Her youngest son was the only one to outlive Philip and inherit the throne.
Q 10In which sea battle off Greece did a fleet led by Philip II of Spain's half-brother smash the Ottoman navy in 1571?
Lepanto
Lepanto brought together more than 450 warships, the largest naval battle in Western history since antiquity. It was also the last great clash fought almost entirely between oared galleys.
Q 11To which powerful dynasty, rulers of much of central Europe as well as Spain, did Philip II of Spain belong?
Habsburg
The Habsburg family split into two lines when Philip's father divided his realms in the 1550s. Philip headed the Spanish line and his uncle the other, based in Vienna.
Q 12By which nickname is Philip II of Spain, who tried to read every dispatch himself, known in his own country?
The Prudent
The Prudent, or el Prudente, is how Spaniards remember him. His father judged the teenage Philip studious and grave beyond his years and left him governing the Spanish kingdoms at sixteen.
Q 13Which English sea captain's 1587 raid on Cádiz became known as singeing the beard of Philip II of Spain?
Francis Drake
Q 21Which nobleman, who warned Philip II of Spain that he got seasick, was given command of the 1588 Armada anyway?
Duke of Medina Sidonia
The Duke of Medina Sidonia also pleaded that he had no experience of war at sea, but the king insisted. Philip had drafted his orders three days before the previous commander died.
Q 22Which half-brother of Philip II of Spain, born to a German burgher's daughter, commanded the allied fleet in 1571?
Don John of Austria
Don John of Austria was acknowledged by his father only in a codicil to his will. He was 24 when Philip made his appointment as commander-in-chief a condition of joining the alliance.
Q 23Which island of the Knights Hospitaller did Philip II of Spain's viceroy of Sicily save from an Ottoman siege in 1565?
Francis Drake destroyed so many ships and supplies in the harbor that the Armada sailed a year late. An order from London telling him not to attack was sent after him but never arrived.
Q 14Which title held by his father did Philip II of Spain never inherit, because it passed to his uncle Ferdinand?
Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor was an elected office, and the German princes had chosen Ferdinand as the successor back in 1531. Philip, raised in Castile, was seen in Germany as a foreigner.
Q 15The Dutch revolt against Philip II of Spain grew into a struggle known by what name for its length?
Eighty Years' War
The Eighty Years' War outlasted Philip by half a century. It ended only in 1648, when Spain recognized the Dutch Republic as an independent country.
Q 16Which Dutch rebel leader did Philip II of Spain outlaw in 1580, offering 25,000 crowns to anyone who killed him?
William the Silent
William the Silent was shot dead in Delft in 1584 by Balthasar Gérard, a Catholic who had heard of the reward. The revolt he led went on without him.
Q 17Which French king died after a jousting accident at celebrations sealing peace with Philip II of Spain in 1559?
Henry II
Henry II was struck in the eye by a splinter from an opponent's lance and died ten days later. The peace had also promised his eldest daughter to Philip as a bride.
Q 18Which unstable heir of Philip II of Spain was locked up on his father's orders in 1568 and died months later?
Don Carlos
Don Carlos was arrested by the king in person, who entered the prince's bedchamber in armor just before midnight. The story later inspired a play by Schiller and an opera by Verdi.
Q 19Which pope's new calendar did Philip II of Spain adopt in 1582, so that 4 October was followed by 15 October?
Gregory XIII
Gregory XIII issued the reform in February 1582 and Philip decreed the change that September. Because he ruled Spain, Portugal and much of Italy, much of Catholic Europe skipped ten days at once.
Q 20Which general, founder of the Council of Blood, did Philip II of Spain send to crush Dutch unrest in 1567?
The Duke of Alba
The Duke of Alba was known as the Iron Duke in the Netherlands, where his tribunal condemned thousands. The Counts of Egmont and Horn were among those it sent to the block.
Malta
Malta had held out for nearly four months when 8,000 men from Sicily landed in September. Philip's father had granted the island to the knights for the rent of one falcon a year.
Q 24Which Venetian master painted a series of mythological scenes from Ovid, the poesie, for Philip II of Spain?
Titian
Titian called the canvases poems, and scholars rank them among his greatest works. Philip's more prudish successors gave most of them away as gifts.
Q 25Which Toledo painter lost any hope of royal patronage when Philip II of Spain disliked his Saint Maurice altarpiece?
El Greco
El Greco saw his painting hung in a chapter house instead of the chapel it was made for. A crucifix by Benvenuto Cellini that displeased Philip was banished to a lesser spot in the same way.
Q 26Which painter of nightmarish hell scenes did the devout Philip II of Spain collect, buying a famous triptych in 1591?
Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch had been dead for 75 years when Philip bought The Garden of Earthly Delights at auction. He gave it to his monastery two years later, and it moved to the Prado in 1939.
Q 27Which port, England's last foothold in France, was lost in 1558 during a war fought alongside Philip II of Spain?
Calais
Calais fell to French forces in January 1558. Philip's English wife is said to have declared that the town's name would be found lying in her heart when she died.
Q 28Which metal, mined in huge quantities at Potosí in the Andes, bankrolled the wars of Philip II of Spain?
Silver
Silver from Potosí's Cerro Rico made up an estimated 60% of global output in the later 16th century. Llamas and mules carried it to the coast for the treasure fleets.
Q 29In which city of Castile, later briefly Spain's capital under his son, was Philip II of Spain born in 1527?
Valladolid
Valladolid's Palacio de Pimentel, where Philip was born, belonged to a nobleman and not to the crown. At eleven months old the infant was sworn in as heir by the Cortes of Castile.
Q 30The ground plan of the palace-monastery Philip II of Spain built to honor Saint Lawrence is said to copy what object?
A gridiron
A gridiron was the instrument of the saint's death: tradition says he was roasted alive on one in the third century. Philip had won a great battle on the saint's feast day, 10 August.