work as ambassador in London and Paris gave Álava access to a wide network of prominent contacts that, in some cases, went beyond the strictly professional sphere. Thus, in September 1813, William II of the Netherlands, at the time Prince of Orange, with whom he fought during the Napoleonic campaigns, congratulated him on his impending marriage and asked him, in a relaxed tone, to invite him to the ceremony, which Álava happily did. The French queen consort, María Amalia, wrote to him about her daughter's future wedding and other family concerns. Nonetheless, it was the Duke of Wellington who was probably Álava's greatest admirer and friend, who gained the iron duke's trust when he served as his aide-de-camp during the fight against the French. The novelist Ildefonso Arenas wrote a historical novel about the intervention of General Álava as Wellington's aide-de-camp in the Battle of Waterloo, Álava en Waterloo , published in Barcelona in 2012. Frequent and honourable mention of Álava is made in Napier's History of the Peninsular War, and his name is often met both in lives of the Duke of Wellington and in his correspondence. There are currently three monuments dedicated to him, namely the Monument to the Battle of Vitoria in Plaza de la Virgen Blanca and two statues, at the Diputación Foral de Álava and Museum of the Armoury, all of them in Vitoria, Spain. Quotation Aversion to certain English words Notes References Attribution |- |- 1770 births 1843 deaths People from Vitoria-Gasteiz Spanish untitled nobility Progressive Party (Spain) politicians Prime Ministers of Spain Foreign ministers of Spain Government ministers of Spain Members of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Politicians from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Spanish generals Spanish diplomats Spanish commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Ambassadors of Spain to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland