Alfonso Merry del Val

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His Excellency
The Marquess of Merry del Val
GCVO CvNSC
Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office
April 1913 – 18 April 1931
Preceded byThe Marquis of Villa-Urrutia
Succeeded byRamón Pérez de Ayala
Personal details
Born
Alfonso Merry del Val y Zulueta

(1864-04-20)20 April 1864
Marylebone, London, England
Died27 May 1943(1943-05-27) (aged 79)
San Sebastián, Basque, Spain
Spouse
María de Alzola y González de Castejón
​
​
(m. 1901; died 1943)​
RelationsRafael Merry del Val (brother)
Pedro José de Zulueta, 2nd Count of Torre Díaz (grandfather)
ChildrenAlfonso Merry del Val y Alzola
Parent(s)Rafael Carlos Merry del Val
Sofía Josefa de Zulueta
Alma materBeaumont College

Alfonso Merry del Val y Zulueta, 1st Marquess of Merry del Val GCVO CvNSC (20 April 1864 – 27 May 1943) was a Spanish diplomat.

Early life[edit]

Merry del Val was born on 20 April 1864 at 59 Queen Anne Street in Marylebone, London. He was the eldest of four sons born to Sofía Josefa de Zulueta (1839–1925) and Rafael Carlos Merry del Val.[1] Among his younger siblings, all of whom were born in London, was Rafael Merry del Val, who became Cardinal Secretary of State to Pope Pius X.[2][3] His father was a career diplomat who served as Spanish Ambassador to Belgium and to the Holy See and Minister at the Imperial Court of Vienna, and Gentlemen of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II and Kings Alfonso XII and Alfonso XII.

His father's family were descendants of a noble Irish family, originally from County Waterford, that settled in Seville in the 18th century.[4] His maternal grandparents were Pedro José de Zulueta, 2nd Count of Torre Díaz, and the former Sophie Anne Willcox (daughter of Brodie McGhie Willcox, MP for Southampton). Through his maternal uncle, Brodie Manuel de Zulueta, 3rd Conde de Torre Díaz, he was a first cousin of Alfonso Maria de Zulueta, 4th Count of Torre Díaz.[5] Through another uncle, Pedro Juan de Zulueta, he was a first cousin of Francisco Maria José de Zulueta, the Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford.[6]

Merry del Val studied at various Jesuit colleges, first in Bournemouth, then at Beaumont College,[4] until his family moved to Namur and Brussels in Belgium. In 1880 he entered the Catholic University of Louvain, graduating in 1884.

Career[edit]

In 1882 he entered the diplomatic career during the Restoration, and his first assignment was in Brussels as an attaché to the embassy of which his father was head. In the early part of the 20th century, he taught English to the young King Alfonso XIII,[7] then became his personal assistant. From then on, and throughout his life, he was closely affiliated with the King.[4]

In 1908, he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary in Tangier with the difficult task of resolving the conflicts caused by the activities of the Spanish Rif Mines Company and the claims of independence of Sultan Mulay Hafid. The failure of his mission and the subsequent outbreak of the Melilla War in 1909 brought instability to Spanish politics. After the events of the Tragic Week in Barcelona, the government of Prime Minister Antonio Maura fell, and Merry del Val was replaced by Luis Valera, the Marquess of Villasinda.[8]

He was assigned again to Brussels, where he remained until April 1913 when he was appointed Ambassador to the United Kingdom,[9] replacing the Marquess of Villa-Urrutia. His Anglophile tendencies and his familiarity with the British language, culture and high society greatly facilitated his mission at the Court of George V, marked by good relations between both monarchies.[10] Following Irish independence in 1922, he negotiated the establishment of diplomatic relations between Spain and the new Irish Free State.[11] He remained in London until he resigned in 1931, following the proclamation of the Second Republic after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII.[12] He was replaced by the writer Ramón Pérez de Ayala, who was in favor with the new regime.[4] He retired to Biarritz.[13]

In 1936, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he left Spain and returned to London.[14] In 1938, he negotiated with the British authorities the recognition of the Government at Burgos, acting alongside the Duke of Alba as unofficial representative of Gen. Francisco Franco. The Second Republic was eventually dissolved in 1939 after surrendering in the Spanish Civil War to the Nationalists led by Franco.[13]

Honours[edit]

On 16 March 1913, he was invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.[15] In 1925, King Alfonso XIII elevated him to the Peerage of Spain as the Marquess of Merry del Val. He was also made a Knight of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa by King Manuel II of Portugal, corresponding academician of the Royal Academy of History and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Personal life[edit]

In 1901, Merry del Val married María de Alzola y González de Castejón (1879–1959) in Bilbao.[16] She was a daughter of Don Pablo de Alzola y Minondo, a chamberlain to the King who was a member of the Senate of Spain,[17] and María de las Mercedes González de Castejón y Torre.[17] While in England, Maria was a friend of diarist Henry Channon.[18] Together, they were the parents of two children:[19]

The Marquess died on 27 May 1943 in San Sebastián.[13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Mlle Sofia de Zulueta". www.19thcenturyphotos.com. Library of Nineteenth-Century Photography. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  2. ^ "The Pope's Secretary of State: An Account of Cardinal Raphael Merry Del Val". World's Work. W. Heinemann: 238. 1904. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Rafael Merry del Val (1865-1930), Roman Catholic Cardinal". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d del Campo, Luis G. Martínez (24 November 2015). Cultural Diplomacy: A Hundred Years of the British-Spanish Society. Liverpool University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-78138-436-7. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Count's daughter dies at Chudleigh". Torquay Herald Express. Nov 26, 1965. p. 4. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  6. ^ "New Professor of Civil Law at Oxford". The Times. 10 November 1919. p. 43. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  7. ^ Forsting, Richard Meyer (31 May 2018). Raising Heirs to the Throne in Nineteenth-Century Spain: The Education of the Constitutional Monarch. Springer. p. 95. ISBN 978-3-319-75490-1. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  8. ^ Archives diplomatiques; recueil mensuel de diplomatie, d'histoire et de droit international (in French). 1913. p. 205. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  9. ^ New International Encyclopedia. Dodd, Mead. 1916. p. 452. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  10. ^ Hall, Coryne (15 June 2018). To Free the Romanovs: Royal Kinship and Betrayal in Europe 1917-1919. Amberley Publishing Limited. p. 258. ISBN 978-1-4456-8198-6. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  11. ^ TIMES, Wireless to THE NEW YORK (17 December 1930). "HINTS SPANISH REVOLT HAS FOREIGN SUPPORT; Ambassador in London Says Source of Funds "Is Not Difficult to Suppose."". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  12. ^ Kuhn Jr, Ferdinand (16 April 1931). "OFFER MORE HOMES TO EXILED ALFONSO; Marquess of Londonderry and Duke of Sutherland Have Several Estates Available. ENVOY TO LONDON RESIGNS France Not Enthusiastic Over Prospect of Spanish Republic Because of Earlier Failure. Ambassador Says Farewells. OFFER MORE HOMES TO EXILED ALFONSO Homes Offered to Alfonso. French Not Enthusiastic". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  13. ^ a b c "A. MERRY DEL VAL, 79, SPANISH DIPLOMAT; Marquis Served as Ambassador to London for Thirteen Years". The New York Times. 28 May 1943. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  14. ^ Val, Marquis Alfonso Merry del; Nana, By; Times, Inc wireless To the New York (4 October 1936). "SPAIN'S INSURGENTS DENY FASCIST AIMS; Marquis Merry del Val Says Rebels Represent Forces of Order Fighting Reds. ADMITS ARMY PLANS RULE He Insists It Will Be Temporary -- Declines to Speculate on the Form of Permanent Regime". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  15. ^ The Statesman's Year-book. St. Martin's Press. 1928. p. 1312. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  16. ^ "Maria Merry del Val (née Alzol) (1879-1959), Wife of Don Alfonso Merry del Val, Spanish Ambassador to England 1913 - 1931. Daughter of Don Pablo de Alzola". www.npg.org.uk. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  17. ^ a b "A PORTRAIT STUDY OF THE WIFE OF THE SPANISH AMBASSADOR". Tatler & Bystander. Tatler Publishing Company: 95. 1918. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  18. ^ Channon, Chips (4 March 2021). Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 1): 1918-38. Random House. p. 788. ISBN 978-1-4735-6719-1. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  19. ^ a b c Elenco de grandezas y títulos nobiliarios españoles (in Spanish). Ediciones de la Revista Hidalguía. 1995. p. 575. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  20. ^ "AT THE WHITE HOUSE--LETTER OF CREDENCE". Spanish Newsletter. Communication Affiliates Incorporated. 1964. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  21. ^ Kohler, Sue A.; Carson, Jeffrey R.; Arts, United States Commission of Fine (1978). Sixteenth Street Architecture. Commission of Fine Arts. p. 480. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  22. ^ Maley, Willy (30 January 2023). Our Fathers Fought Franco. Luath Press Ltd. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-80425-078-5. Retrieved 7 May 2024.

External links[edit]

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Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom
1913–1931 		Succeeded by
Spanish nobility
Preceded by
Created
 Marquess of Merry del Val
1925–1943 		Succeeded by
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