Don Miguel Ricardo de Alava, by William Salter.

The Diplomat. Madrid

Today is the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, which put an end to the French Revolution and to Napoleon Bonaparte's imperial dreams. The Spanish diplomatic and military history has forgotten about one of its heroes of the Peninsular War, who played a determinant role in that battle.

It is the General Miguel Ricardo de Álava (Vitoria, 1772–Barèges, France, 1843), who held, on several occasions, the position of Spanish Ambassador to England (twice), France (twice) and the Netherlands.

Álava has the honour of being the only Spanish officer to have participated in the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo, the most important ones of his time. He fought the first one –and lost– against the English of Admiral Nelson. He fought the second one in Belgian land against the French and along his friend Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington.

Álava was ambassador of Ferdinand VII to the Netherlands, with headquarters in Brussels, when Napoleon fled from the island of Elba and returned to the metropolis victorious. By order of the monarch, he integrated into the General Staff of Wellington in which, at the end of the day, would be the only Spanish contribution to the so-called Seventh Coalition created against the French Emperor.

There is a lot of documentation, most of it British, indicating Álava's presence with Wellington the night prior to the battle (from 17 to 18 June 1815), as well as during it and, when everything was over, having dinner on their own at the inn Jean de Nivelles of Waterloo, according to the book 'Álava en Waterloo' by Ildefonso Arenas.

General Álava was Spanish Ambassador to England, France and the Netherlands

Subsequently, this general was ambassador to France (1815 and 1835), deputy for Álava (1821), president of the Parliament (1822), ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1834 and 1838), senator (1834 and 1836), minister of the Navy (1835) and president of the Cabinet for a few days (1835).

During the Maria Christina's regency, he was ambassador to London, where he tried to manage the intervention of the Quadruple Alliance firmly and with economic and military support during the Carlist Wars in favour of the Queen Isabella II. However, his determination did not bear fruit.

Finally, and not being very happy about it, he accepted to be ambassador to Paris, where he presented a plan for the Christian troops to cross to France in their fight against Carlism, to refuel in the neighbouring country and to stop the supplies getting to Carlists. In London's Embassy again, he returned to Spain, being already very sick, in June 1843 and died within a month on one of his trips to the south of France to take therapeutic baths.