Jean Charles de Watteville

Jean Charles de Watteville

Jean Charles de Watteville (* 1628 ; † 1699 ) was the envoy of Philip IV of Spain to Charles II of England .

Life

Jean Charles de Watteville came from the Bernese patrician family von Wattenwyl . Jean Charles de Watteville held the title of Marqués de Confláns . One of his grandchildren was Hubert de Brienne, Comte de Conflans .

Barón de Batteville, was advisor to Prince Philip of Spain and an experienced military man.

The latter, now King Philip IV, sent Jean Charles de Watteville as Ambassador to the Court of St James’s after Charles II had ended the English Republic with his accession to the throne on May 29, 1660 .

On February 15, 1661, Lord High Treasurer , Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton from Jean Charles de Watteville requested customs duties for the importation of 20 tons of Spanish and French wine.

Doyen

New envoys in London were accompanied to their residence with a parade in which the diplomatic corps participated. On September 30, 1661, the new Swedish envoy Nicolaas Virien Brahe was received in Wisingsborg in this way. Jean Charles de Watteville dispatched his carriage and a train of about forty armed embassy personnel to Tower Wharf on the Thames . The carriage of the ambassador of Louis XIV , Godefroi, comte d'Estrades had also driven to this place. Estrades had sent his son with around 150 embassy personnel, 40 of whom carried firearms. After the Swedish ambassador went ashore and sat in the royal carriage, the French carriage tried to push itself in front of the Spanish one, which the Spanish embassy staff fought off.

The French embassy staff attacked the Spanish one with cut and firearms. In self-defense , the Spaniards paralyzed two horses in the French carriage, mortally wounded an envoy, pulled the French coachman from the driver's seat and maintained their privileged place in the parade .

When Louis XIV found out about the incident five days later, he had the Spanish ambassador from France expelled and instructed his ambassador at the court of Philip IV (Spain) to demand redress, which should consist in Watteville's punishment and action Persona non grata would be declared at the courts. A declaration of war was drawn up in the event of refusal. Philip IV then called from Watteville as ambassador from London and sent the Marques de la Fuente as ambassador extraordinary to Paris to disapprove of Wattewille's behavior and to proclaim that the most Christian king had forbidden his ambassadors to act out rivalries.

The question of the doyen was clarified with the Bourbon house contract of August 15, 1761. In Article 17 it was agreed that in Naples and Parma, where the rulers belonged to the house of the Bourbons, the French ambassador would have priority, but at the other courts the previously accredited ambassador had priority. If the French and Spanish ambassadors are accredited on the same day, the French ambassador has priority.

Jean Charles de Watteville was Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece from 1675 and Spanish Governor of Luxembourg in 1676 .

In 1697 Charles de Watteville was Virrey de Navarra .

See also

• Samuel Pepys

Individual evidence

1. ^ Antonio Cánovas del Castillo , "Historia de la decadencia de España, desde el advenimiento de Felipe III al trono hasta la muerte de Carlos II , 1910
2. ↑ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=80027
3. ^ Keith Feiling , British Foreign Policy 1660-1972 , p. 42
4. ↑ Ana Álvarez López, Los negocios de Luis XIV en Madrid: la acción de sus embajadores en la corte madrileña (PDF; 2.0 MB)
5. ^ Ernest Satow , A guide to diplomatic practice LONGMANS, GREEN AND GO., 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA, 1917.
6. ↑ http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Luxembourg.htm

predecessor	Office	successor
Alonso de Peralta Cárdenas	Spanish envoy to England 1660–1662	Patricio Moledi