Philip I of Castile

Philip I Of Castile

Philip I (22 July 1478 – 25 September 1506), known as Philip the Handsome or the Fair, was the first member of the house of Habsburg to be King of Castile. The son of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Philip inherited the greater part of the Duchy of Burgundy and the Burgundian Netherlands (as Philip IV) from his mother, Mary of Burgundy, and briefly succeeded to the Crown of Castile as the husband of Queen Joanna of Castile, who was also heiress-presumptive to the Crown of Aragon. He was the first Habsburg monarch in Spain. He never inherited his father's territories, nor became Holy Roman Emperor, because he predeceased his father, but his son Emperor Charles V eventually united the Habsburg, Burgundian, Castilian, and Aragonese inheritances.

The future King Henry VIII of England met Philip the Handsome on a visit Philip made to Henry's father's court in London, and regarded him as providing a model of leadership towards which he aspired.