The Spanish Armada episode was one of the facts that pointed out the hatred between Spain and England in the sixteenth century. That happened in 1588, but twenty years before the Spanish ambassador in the Court of London had spoken about the good and friendly relationship he had with Queen Elizabeth, having added that when she knew he had to leave the country she was rather sad. The queen had lost a friend and an ally. Those had been relatively peaceful years, when political and religious conflicts had been solved by means of diplomacy. Hence, something might have happened within the period of time that comprises these two events that could lead to the impairment of Anglo-Spanish relations.
    The aim of this paper is to offer a new view on the years 1568-1571, a crucial period in the historical development of the two nations when, from my point of view, the old amity existing between the two Courts started to vanish. This was the time when Europe was under numerous structural changes and peace and political alliances were necessary to keep the balance of power, and it was also the time when Guerau de Spes went to England to fill the office of Philip II’s Spanish ambassador in the country. He was a key character in the conflict as he was rather a spy than an ambassador. Instead of obeying his master’s first instructions to keep the peaceful situation, he immediately got involved in two of the greatest conspiracies of that time, that is to say, the Rising of the North and the Ridolphi Plot, consequently growing the seed of hatred between England and Spain.