Alfonso Merry del Val

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.

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]

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.