Alfonso Merry del Val y Alzola explained

Honorific Prefix:His Excellency
The Marquess of Merry del Val
Office:Spanish Ambassador to Japan
Term Start:1970
Term End:July 1973
Predecessor:Luis García de Llera y Rodríguez
Successor:Joaquín Gutiérrez Cano
Office1:Spanish Ambassador to the United States
Term Start1:21 April 1964
Term End1:26 January 1970
Predecessor1:Antonio Garrigues Díaz-Cañabate
Successor1:Jaime Arguelles
Office2:Spanish Ambassador to Peru
Term Start2:21 September 1960
Term End2:16 March 1964
Predecessor2:Mariano de Yturralde y Orbegoso
Successor2:Ángel Sanz Briz
Office3:Spanish Ambassador to Lebanon
Term Start3:1958
Term End3:1960
Successor3:Emilio García Gómez
Term Start4:1957
Term End4:1958
Term Start5:1954
Term End5:1956
Predecessor5:Manuel Valdés Larrañaga
Successor5:Alfredo Sánchez Bella
Birth Name:Alfonso Merry del Val y Alzola
Birth Place:Bilbao, Spain
Death Place:San Sebastián, Basque, Spain
Alma Mater:University of Valladolid
Parents:Alfonso Merry del Val
María de Alzola y González de Castejón
Spouse:
Mercedes de Ocio y Ureta
Relations:Rafael Carlos Merry del Val (grandfather)
Rafael Merry del Val (uncle)

Alfonso Merry del Val y Alzola, 2nd Marquess of Merry del Val (24 July 1903 – 8 January 1975) was a Spanish career diplomat.

Early life

Merry del Val was born in Bilbao on 24 July 1903. He was the eldest son of María de Alzola y González de Castejón and Alfonso Merry del Val, the Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1913 to 1931.[1] His younger brother, Pablo Merry del Val y Alzola, was the Chief Liaison Officer for the foreign press under Franco.[2] [3]

His paternal grandparents were Sofía Josefa de Zulueta (a daughter of the 2nd Count of Torre Díaz) and Rafael Carlos Merry del Val, a career diplomat who served as Spanish Ambassador to Belgium and to the Holy See and Minister at the Imperial Court of Vienna.[4] Among his extended family was uncle Rafael Merry del Val, who became Cardinal Secretary of State to Pope Pius X.[5] [6] His maternal grandparents were María de las Mercedes González de Castejón y Torre and Don Pablo de Alzola y Minondo, a chamberlain to the King of Spain who was a member of the Senate of Spain,[7]

He graduated with a law degree from the University of Valladolid, but also studied at the Universities of Deusto, Oxford and Cambridge.[8]

Career

Merry del Val joined the Spanish diplomatic service in 1928. He served as Secretary of the Legation in London in 1929 (while his father was the Spanish Ambassador),[9] Consul in Prague in 1930, in the Private Secretariat of King Alfonso XIII, and in Washington in 1931.[10]

He served as Minister-Counselor in the Spanish embassy in Lima in 1953, he was Ambassador in Santo Domingo, Copenhagen, Beirut, Lima. On 7 March 1964, he was announced as the new Spanish Ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C.[11] [12] He presented his credentials to President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House in May 1964,[13] [14] [15] and served there until 1970 when he became Ambassador to Japan. While Merry del Val was in Washington, he was "one of the most socially sought after Ambassadors" and the Spanish embassy was located at 2700 15th St. N.W.[16]

Peerage and honours

Upon the death of his father in 1943, he succeeded as the 2nd Marqués de Merry del Val. For his diplomatic work, he was awarded numerous national and foreign decorations, including Medal of the Campaign, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, Knight of the Order of Charles III, Grand Cross of Military Merit, Grand Cross of Naval Merit.[8]

Personal life

In 1931, Merry del Val married his second cousin, María del Carmen de Gurtubay y Alzola, 2nd Marchioness of Yurreta y Gamboa (1910–1959), the only child of Juan Gurtubay y González de Castejón and Blanca de Alzola, 1st Marquesa of Yurreta and Gamboa (after her father's death her mother married Don José de Bustos y Ruiz de Araña Bustos, Duke of Andría).[17] [18] They divorced and the marriage was annulled by Papal decree.[19] She then married Ángel Fernández de Liencres, Marquis of Nájera, in 1936. In 1948, she married John McKee-Norton, a Canadian living in England, whom she met at the Hôtel Ritz Paris.[20] [19]

He later married Mercedes de Ocio y Ureta,[21] a daughter of Zoilo Enrique de Ocio y López de Haro (1908–1994).[22] [23]

The Marquess of Merry del Val died in San Sebastián on 8 January 1975. As he had no surviving issue, his nephew, Rafael Merry del Val y Melgarejo, became the 3rd Marquess of Merry del Val.[23]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 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 . . 7 May 2024.
  2. Book: Maley . Willy . Our Fathers Fought Franco . 30 January 2023 . Luath Press Ltd . 978-1-80425-078-5 . 39 . 7 May 2024 . en.
  3. Web site: Alfonso Merry del Val y Zulueta . dbe.rah.es . . 8 May 2024.
  4. Web site: Mlle Sofia de Zulueta . www.19thcenturyphotos.com . Library of Nineteenth-Century Photography . 7 May 2024 . en.
  5. The Pope's Secretary of State: An Account of Cardinal Raphael Merry Del Val . World's Work . 1904 . 238 . 7 May 2024 . W. Heinemann . en.
  6. Web site: Rafael Merry del Val (1865-1930), Roman Catholic Cardinal . www.npg.org.uk . . 7 May 2024.
  7. A PORTRAIT STUDY OF THE WIFE OF THE SPANISH AMBASSADOR. . . 1918 . 95 . 7 May 2024 . Tatler Publishing Company . en.
  8. Web site: Merry del Val y de Alzola, Alfonso . aunamendi.eusko-ikaskuntza.eus . Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia . 8 May 2024 . eu.
  9. News: Titled Diplomat . 8 May 2024 . . 9 Mar 1964 . 5 . en.
  10. Dear Mr. President . www.repositories.lib.utexas.edu . . 8 May 2024 . 4 March 1964.
  11. News: Spain Picks New U.S. Envoy . 8 May 2024 . . 7 March 1964.
  12. Web site: BOE-A-1964-5655 Decreto 743/1964, de 18 de marzo, por el que se designa Embajador de España en Washington a don Alfonso Merry del Val y Alzola, Marqués de Merry del Val. . www.boe.es . Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado . 8 May 2024.
  13. News: Johnson Sees Spain's Envoy . 8 May 2024 . . 20 May 1964.
  14. AT THE WHITE HOUSE--LETTER OF CREDENCE . Spanish Newsletter . 1964 . 7 May 2024 . Communication Affiliates Incorporated . en.
  15. Web site: FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1964–1968, VOLUME XII, WESTERN EUROPE . history.state.gov . . 8 May 2024 . Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964-66, ECIN 6 EEC-SP. Confidential. Drafted by Ortiz and approved in S on May 8. The memorandum is Part 1 of 3. Memoranda of other portions of the conversation dealing with Spain’s trade with Cuba and use of the Rota naval base are ibid., Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 65 D 330. The meeting was held in the Secretary’s office..
  16. Book: Current Biography Yearbook . 1965 . H. W. Wilson Company . 291 . 8 May 2024 . en.
  17. Web site: Carmen de Gurtubay y Alzola, 2nd Marquesa de Yurreta y Gamboa (1910-1959), Spanish noblewoman; daughter of Blanca de Alzola y González de Castejón, 1st Marquesa de Yurreta y Gamboa . www.npg.org.uk . . 8 May 2024.
  18. Web site: Blanca de Alzola y González de Castejón, 1st Marquesa de Yurreta y Gamboa (died 1960), Former wife of Juan Gurtubay y González de Castejón, and later wife of José Alfonso de Bustos y Ruiz de Arana, Duque Andría . www.npg.org.uk . . 8 May 2024.
  19. Book: Félix . Azurmendi Badiola, Jose . Vascos en la Guerra Fría . 28 November 2013 . Ttarttalo, S.L. . 978-84-9843-448-4 . 161 . 8 May 2024 . es.
  20. Web site: Spanish Movimiento Nobilitario July 1936 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081010092919/http://www.insde.es/ramhg/admin/data/movimiento_1936_jul.pdf . 10 October 2008 . dmy .
  21. Book: Revista Hidalguía número 37. Año 1959 . Ediciones Hidalguia . 778 . 8 May 2024 . es.
  22. Book: Kohler . Sue A. . Carson . Jeffrey R. . Arts . United States Commission of Fine . Sixteenth Street Architecture . 1978 . . 480 . 7 May 2024 . en.
  23. Book: Elenco de grandezas y títulos nobiliarios españoles . 1995 . Ediciones de la Revista Hidalguía. . 575 . 7 May 2024 . es.