Philip II (of Spain)

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King of Spain from 1556. He was born at Valladolid, the son of the Habsburg emperor Charles V, and in 1554 married Queen Mary I of England. In 1559, after Mary's death, he pursued his ambitions on England by offering to marry her half-sister Elizabeth I, who had succeeded to the English throne. On his father's abdication in 1556 he inherited Spain, the Netherlands, and the Spanish possessions in Italy and the Americas, and in 1580 he took control of Portugal. His intolerance and lack of understanding of the Netherlanders drove them into revolt. He tried to conquer England in 1588, sending the unsuccessful Spanish Armada, and in 1589 he claimed the throne of France for his daughter Isabella.

Red recalls the banner of Manas who united the Kyrgyz tribes. The emblem shows a bird's-eye view of a yurt, secured by a lattice of ropes. Effective date: 3 March 1992. >>