KING FELIPE II ON THE CAMINO INGLES (ENGLISH WAY)

Given that the English Way unites the gates of Ferrol and A Coruña with the city of Santiago de Compostela, it was also used by travellers that were going to these cities. Amongst those who did this journey is the King of Spain, Felipe II, when he was still a prince, as his father would have done before him.

Felipe had been made a widower by the loss of his first wife, Princess María Manuela of Portugal. His second matrimony would be with María Tudor, son of King Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon, as a result married into the family of Felipe’s father with whom she had originally intended to Marry.

The ceremony went from Valladolid towards Santiago de Compostela. From there they followed the English Way as far as the gate of A Coruña, where they set sail for England on the 13th of July of 1554. The voyage took seven days, arriving in Southampton on a rainy day. The wedding took place in Winchester cathedral on the 25th of July, the day of Santiago. The marriage lasted only four years.

On the journey to Santiago, the port of A Coruña, the future king spent the night in a house of the Sarandón family, known as “Pazo de Barral” or “Country House of Barral”, as is written on one of their coats of arms. The building stands out from others for the multiple pointed arches on its façade and its decoration, especially the principal door with spheres and the windows on the upper floor.