The only and posthumous son of Henry, Duke of Villena and his second wife Beatriz de Pimentel, he succeeded his father as Count of Empúries and Count of Segorbe, when his uncle Alfonso V of Aragon , who had served as Regent, died in 1458.
Upon his cousin's accession to throne of Aragon in 1479, King Ferdinand II of Aragon appointed him as Viceroy of Catalonia.