Good day to all!

[Chas]

In the UK, Portugal is called The Old Ally.

Welcome to XMarks from north of you in Norfolk, England.

Regards

Chas

[fpessanha]

In the UK, Portugal is called The Old Ally.

Welcome to XMarks from north of you in Norfolk, England.

Regards

Chas

Really? Thanks for the information! I was under the impression that the old Anglo-portuguese alliance was oblivious to the British...

But there is more to that in our political, economic and military alliance.
The first time the English were an ally was in the 12th century when our first King had Lisbon under siege, still under the control of the Arabs.
Then, during the Portuguese independence wars in 1385, the Portuguese had some English knights in their ranks. Shortly after that the Portuguese King, John I, married an English woman, daughter of the Duke of Lancaster - Philipa of Lancaster (here D. Filipa de Lencastre). She was the mother of "the illustrious generation" that started the Portuguese maritime discoveries movement.
Then, in the 17th century, a Portuguese princess married your own Charles II - Catherine of Braganza - and introduced the habit of drinking tea in England, already very much an habit within the Portuguese elite. Your world-known proverbial habit of the "cuppa" was introduced by a Portuguese Queen...
Then, in the 18th century we signed an important trade treaty concerning the trade of Port Wine for English woven cloth. That's where the British get the habit of drinking Port Wine from. And that is why almost all Port Wine cellars have English names...

Not many people know that!