"...and never the twain shall meet"?

The rather small English community in Porto becoming an inspiration behind creating a local football club, that has grown into a national and international sports juggernaut, might seem like a random episode. In reality, it was yet another link in a long chain of events cementing a unique relationship between the two countries. The relationship as such is not that surprising: Rudyard Kipling wouldn't mind it because he was referring to East and West rather than North and South. Neither is it illogical or even counterintuitive because it's usually neighbours that people - and countries - might have friction with. Territorial disputes or even minor slights, real or perceived, would often result in harsh words, armed incidents and, eventually, full-fledged bloodshed. It's much easier to keep it civil with someone half-a-continent away - yet, keeping it civil and creating a really strong, long-lasting bond are two very different things. A lot must happen for the latter to take shape, and fighting common battles is usually a good start. British crusaders running into Portuguese forces and helping them conquer the Lisbon castle was something to build upon; having each other's back when England was locking horns with France, and Portugal was trying to fend off Spanish advances, added a few more building blocks to the budding friendship. However, it was the last quarter of the 14th century that earned that friendship its uniqueness - and it was King Joao the I who brought about that breakthrough. First, the 1386 Treaty of Windsor sealed a formal alliance between the countries. The very next year, the king married Princess Philippa of Lancaster and named the Lisbon Castle after St.George, the patron saint of England, as part of the celebrations depicted on the cover picture. The children born in that marriage became known as the "Illustrious Generation". The constellation of princes included future kings, regents and masters of religious orders, all of them major figures in their country's history - yet, none more important than the couple's third child, Prince Henry who remained in history as Henry the Navigator.

The nickname is misleading because the prince had, in fact, never sailed. Every now and then, ignorant and ambitious leaders are trying to claim undeserved honours - and it would be easy to presume that a highborn nobleman managed to do exactly that. Nothing is farther from the truth.

Portuguese Renaissance happened because Portugal had conquered the world - and conquering the world meant, first and foremost, conquering the ocean. To achieve that, one needed boots on the deck and brains on the bridge - and Henry was responsible for the latter. Formally speaking, he could be called "sponsor" but his role was much bigger than hiring "managers" and covering expenses associated with sea voyages. He started with founding a maritime school in Sagres and bringing there the brightest minds of the generation - astronomers, cartographers, actual navigators, shipbuilders, tool makers. He facilitated learning, encouraged and rewarded creativity, and set short- and long-term goals. In other words, Henry the Navigator masterminded decades of exploration - from earlier trips to Madeira and Azores in 1420s to the later breakthroughs to West Africa, India and Brazil around the turn of the 16th century. It was due to gold, spices, copper, silk and other riches brought from all those places that Portugal became a 15-16th centuries superpower - and it owed its might to the man who was half-Portuguese and half-English. Fittingly, many of those riches were shared with England through preferential trade agreements, thus further contributing to a "wonderful friendship" that has eventually spanned over more than 800 years.