During the late 16th century England found itself fighting against Spain which at this time was in personal union with Portugal. The English Armada was launched as part of this conflict in an attempt to restore Portuguese independence and counter both Spanish and Portuguese military ships which formed the Spanish Armada.
The 19th century saw the alliance between Portugal and the United Kingdom come into effect once more when Napoleon Bonaparte built the Continental System, which Portugal refused to join, leading Napoleon to invade. In 1807 Napoleon's army attacked Lisbon, forcing the Portuguese royal family to flee toBrazil under the protection of the British Royal Navy. In the later half of the century, as Portugal's imperial power declined following Brazil's independence, there were disputes between itself and the United Kingdom in southern Africa (1890 British Ultimatum) which was a great embarrassment for the Portuguese monarchy and colonial prestige.[5] Portugal was one of the Allies of World War I along with Britain. While officially neutral in World War II, Portugal remained friendly to the British, a counterpart to Spain's cooperation with the Axis.
On 13 June 2022, the Prime Minister of Portugal and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom signed a new agreement between the two nations in London, known as the UK-Portugal Joint Declaration on Bilateral Cooperation, thereby reinforcing the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance and confirming its status as the longest-running alliance still in force.[6] The Joint Declaration was also signed to celebrate the 650th anniversary of the Treaty of Tagilde.[7]
The 650th anniversary of the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 was officially commemorated by both nations on 16 June 2023. The British government stated at this time that they intend to enter into "a new bilateral Defence Agreement, due to be signed later in the year, set to take our defence cooperation to the next level."[8]
Economic relations
From 1 January 1986 until 30 December 2020, trade between Portugal and the UK was governed by the European single market, while the United Kingdom was a member of the European Union.[9]
Portugal was an official Allied Powerin World War I, yet they received nothing after the Treaty of Versailles.[12]In World War II, Prime MinisterAntónio de Oliveira Salazar was committed to the six-century-old treaty (which had been renewed in 1899). Portugal provided assistance to Spain during the Spanish Civil War, while the United Kingdom provided non-intervention and neutrality. This helped Portugal by not by declaring war but by helping Spain stay neutral and by assuming a co-belligerent status against Germany by leasing air bases in the Azores to the Allies in 1943. It cut off vital shipments of tungsten to Germany in 1944, after heavy Allied pressure. Lisbon was the base for International Red Cross operations aiding Allied POWs, and a main air transit point between Britain and the U.S.[13]
In 1557 and 1842, and in 1898, Britain and Portugal established Hong Kong and Macau on both sides of the Pearl River Estuary along the coast of Guangdong Province. Today, Hong Kong and Macau have been established a Chinese Special Administrative Regions on 1 July 1997 and 20 December 1999, and ended the rule of 156 and 442 years, respectively, for British and Portuguese.
Chapman, Annie Beatrice Wallis. The Commercial Relations of England and Portugal, 1487–1807 (Royal Historical Society, 1907)
Chapman, A.B.W. and V.M. Shillinton. Commercial Relations of England and Portugal (Routledge; 2005). ISBN978-0-415-38301-1
Fisher, H. E. S. "Anglo-Portuguese Trade, 1700–1770". Economic History Review 16#2 1963, pp. 219–233 online
Gregory, Desmond. The beneficent usurpers: a history of the British in Madeira (Associated University Presses, 1988).
Hayes, Paul. Modern British Foreign Policy: The Nineteenth Century 1814–80 (1975) pp. 133–54.
Horn, David Bayne. Great Britain and Europe in the eighteenth century (1967), covers 1603 to 1702; pp 269–309.
Ligthart, Henk, and Henk Reitsma. "Portugal's semi-peripheral middleman role in its relations with England, 1640–1760." Political Geography Quarterly (1988) 7#4: 353–362.
Prestage, Edgar. Chapters in Anglo-Portuguese Relations (Greenwood, 1971)
Robson, Martin. Britain, Portugal and South America in the Napoleonic Wars: Alliances and diplomacy in economic maritime conflict (IB Tauris, 2010)
Richards, D.S. Peninsula Years: Britain's Red Coats in Spain and Portugal (2002)
Shaw, Luci M.E. The Anglo-Portuguese alliance and the English merchants in Portugal, 1654–1810 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998)