Miguel Ricardo de Álava y Esquivel, KB, MWO (7 July 1770 – 14 July 1843) was a Spanish General and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Spain in 1835. He was born in the Basque Country, at Vitoria-Gasteiz, in 1770. Álava holds the distinction of having been present at both Trafalgar and Waterloo, fighting against the British at the former and with them at the latter. Alava served as a naval aide-de-camp during the time of Spain's alliance with France but switched sides in 1808 when Napoleon invaded Spain. The Spanish Cortes appointed him commissary (military attaché) at the British Army Headquarters, and the Duke of Wellington, who regarded him with great favour, made him one of his aides de camp. Before the close of the campaign he had risen to the rank of brigadier-general. Later he joined the headquarters of the British Peninsular Army as a military attaché and became a close friend of the Duke of Wellington. During the Waterloo Campaign in 1815, Alava was the Spanish ambassador to The Hague at the court of King William I of the Netherlands, which allowed him to attend the Duchess of Richmond's ball and to be at Wellington's side during the Battle of Waterloo. Early life Born into a noble family of naval tradition, he was the son of Pedro Jacinto de Álava y Navarrete and María Manuela de Esquível y Peralta. His uncle was Ignacio María de Álava, renowned officer who became the Captain general of the Navy in 1817. He married his cousin María Loreto de Arriola y Equível, a grandchild of the Marquesses of Legarda, in 1813. Between 1781 and 1790 he completed his school studies at the , an institution dedicated to the education of sons of noblemen run by the Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del País. In 1785, at age 13, he entered as a cadet in the Infantry Regiment of Seville n. 11, lead at the time by his other uncle, José de Álava, reaching the rank of second lieutenant in 1787. After his time in the infantry, and coinciding with the end of his studies, he entered the Navy in 1790, possibly attracted by the distinguished figure of his uncle, Ignacio Maria de Álava. He joined different ships from which he participated in multiple military actions by the Spanish navy against France and England: in Ceuta, the Siege of Toulon and