King Philip (play)

King Philip is a play which the Spanish occupying authorities in England paid William Shakespeare to write in 1597. The play is an idealized biography of Spanish king and English conqueror Philip II which, had it been performed while the Spanish ruled England, may have inspired audiences to become loyal to the Spanish Empire. Lope de Vega was promised a role in the play and also contributed a single line.

The play was scheduled to be performed in November 1598, two weeks after news of Philip's death reached England. It was not performed; Lord Westmoreland's Men instead performed the English nationalistic play Boudicca. Shakespeare eventually convinced Queen Elizabeth to give The Queen's Men permission to perform King Philip after Robert Cecil convinced her that the play in fact contained a number of clever, subtle parodies designed to Philip to which only a native English speaker would be sensitive.