Fernando de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo

Fernando de Silva, Duke of Huéscar and Alba

Fernando de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo , Duke (Spanish: duque) of Huéscar and Alba (born October 27, 1714 in Vienna , Austria , † November 15, 1776 in Madrid , Spain), was a Spanish diplomat and statesman who was under King Ferdinand VI. briefly served as prime minister of his country.

Family background, youth

Fernando de Silva came from a family of the Spanish nobility. His father was Manuel José de Sylva y Toledo, Count of Galve. He had sided with the Habsburgs in the War of the Spanish Succession and had to leave the country after the victory of the Bourbons under Philip of Anjou and went to Vienna. In 1712 he married María Teresa Álvarez de Toledo y Haro, the 11th Duchess of Alba . Fernando was born in 1714 in exile in Vienna.

In 1727 the family was allowed to return to Spain. Fernando married Bernarda de Toledo Portugal y Fernández de Córdoba, who brought the title of Duke of Huéscar into the marriage. In 1733 their son Francisco was born. His wife died in 1738 and he did not marry a second time.

Career at court and in the army

In 1733 Fernando began his service as chamberlain at the court of Philip V. He switched to the Spanish army and acted as adjutant to Prince Philip in the campaigns in Northern Italy during the War of the Austrian Succession .

Here he met Zenón de Somodevilla y Bengoechea , the Marqués de la Ensenada . When Somodevilla was appointed minister, Fernando de Silva received the post of captain of the guard corps in 1744. During the Italian campaign, he also made friends with Ricardo Wall , an Irish-born officer in the Spanish service.

Diplomatic career

In 1746 the court sent him to Paris as ambassador. It was supposed to mend the crisis in the Spanish-French relations that followed the death of Philip and the assumption of the throne by the neutral new King Ferdinand VI. was created. He stayed in Paris until 1749. During this time he made sure that Ricardo Wall was accepted into the inner circle of the leading diplomats in Spain.

Government responsibility

King Ferdinand VI. appointed him in 1753 chief steward . This made him one of the monarch's closest friends. He got on well with Prime Minister José de Carvajal y Lancaster . Over the years, however, a rivalry had developed from the friendship with the Marqués de la Ensenada .

When Carvajal died in April 1754, Silva temporarily took over the presidency. In July 1754, the powerful war and finance minister Somodevilla fell out of favor as a result of an intrigue that was largely carried out by the British ambassador in Madrid, Benjamin Keene , and in which Ricardo Wall was probably also involved. Ricardo Wall was appointed as the new Prime Minister, the Navy and Colonial Ministry went to Julian de Arriaga .

With the death of his mother in 1755 he inherited the title of Duke of Alba . Queen Maria Barbara died in 1758 , King Ferdinand fell into melancholy and visibly deteriorated. Silva accompanied him to his retreat Villaviciosa, where the monarch died in 1759.

Late years

With the takeover of the throne by Charles III. In 1759, the Duke of Huéscar and Alba finally no longer played a role in Spanish politics.

So he withdrew to his estates and took over the chairmanship of the Real Academia and the Academia de Buenas Letras in Barcelona . As a representative of the Enlightenment , he corresponded with great intellectuals such as the encyclopedist Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert and the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau .

In 1776 he died of dropsy . After his son had died before him in 1770, the title of Duke of Alba passed to his granddaughter María de Silva .

Web links

• Biography (spanish)
• Entry at geneall.net