Fernando de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo (Viena, 27 de octubre de 1714 - Madrid, 15 de noviembre de 1776), fue un noble español, general, diplomático, XII duque de Alba, XVI señor de Valdecorneja, decano del Consejo de Estado, caballero de la Orden del Toisón de Oro que perteneció a la Ilustración.

Biografía Familia y nobleza Fernando de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo fue hijo de Manuel José de Silva y Toledo, X conde de Galve y de María Teresa Álvarez de Toledo y Haro, XI duquesa de Alba de Tormes.

Tuvo dos hermanas: María Teresa de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo, (1718-1790), quien fue la esposa, a partir del 26 de julio 1738, de Jacobo Francisco Fitz-James Stuart y Colón de Portugal, III Duque de Berwick, (1718-1785), y Mariana de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo.

Fernando de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo contrajo matrimonio con María Bernarda de Toledo y Portugal (28 de agosto de 1710 - 1733), hija de los Vicente Pedro Álvarez de Toledo Portugal, IX conde de Oropesa, y de María Encarnación Fernández de Córdoba y Figueroa.2 El matrimonio tuvo un hijo, quien falleció antes que su padre: Francisco de Paula de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo, X duque de Huéscar, (1733–1770) y que a su vez tuvo como una hija: María Teresa de Silva Álvarez de Toledo, quien fue la XIII duquesa de Alba de Tormes.

Obra

El Palacio de los duques de Alba, edificado por Fernando de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo en Piedrahíta, Ávila. Fernando de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo fue un hombre ligado a la cultura, siendo un claro respresentante de las corrientes del iluminismo en España y amigo del filósofo Juan Jacobo Rousseau.

El 8 de noviembre de 1753, al dejar la embajada en París, fue designado Mayordomo mayor del rey Fernando VI, jefe de su Casa Real, cargo que continuó ocupando al llegar al trono en 1759 el hermano del rey, Carlos III, si bien, un año después, pidió ser jubilado de dicho cargo.

El día 9 de abril de 1754 fue igualmente nombrado director de la Real Academia Española, cargo éste que sí desempeñó hasta su muerte en 1776.

Ordenó construir al arquitecto francés Jaime Marquet el Palacio de los Duques de Alba en Piedrahíta, provincia de Ávila, de estilo neoclásico, con un extraordinario patio de armas en el frente y unos jardines versallescos a su espalda.

También supervisó, con este mismo arquitecto, la antigua Casa de Correos de Madrid, usada desde 1847 para la sede del Ministerio de la Gobernación en la Puerta del Sol, cuya torreta con el reloj de las campanadas de año nuevo es un añadido bastante posterior.

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Golden Fleece - Knights: Spanish Branch

• Silva and Alvarez de Toledo, Ferdinand, Duke of Huéscar and Alba (1714-1776)

Spanish politician and diplomat, twelfth Duke of Alba. Born in Vienna (Austria) on October 27, 1714 and died in Madrid on November 15, 1776. After being ambassador in Paris from King Ferdinand VI of Spain, was appointed Lord Steward of this (1753). Through this position had a significant influence on the king and played a political role. In 1754 he was Acting Secretary of State and caused the fall of Ensenada . A champion of Reformism Illustrated, was a leading promoter of culture from his post of secretary.

Belonging to illustrious families of the Spanish nobility, the Infantry by Alba father and mother's side, while those were born in exile in Austria, where they had followed the defeated pretender to the Spanish crown, the Archduke Charles . He returned with them in 1727, and by 1733, at age nineteen, he entered the court as chamberlain. He then joined the army and was aide of Admiral Philip infant, in Italy met Zenon de Somodevilla, Marques de la Ensenada, who when he was appointed minister obtained for him the post of Captain of Guards Corps (1744). Two years later he was appointed ambassador to Paris (until 1749), to solve the crisis of the Franco-Spanish War of Succession in Austria.

From 1753 he was chief steward of King Ferdinand VI, thus introducing in the privacy of the monarch and increasing the influence that it had on him (he was nicknamed the "namesake" by the same name as that). I used to accompany, along with other members of the government and the Court, the royal couple at parties that organized each spring in the Palace of Aranjuez. Also a friend of Jose de Carvajal , Secretary of State Ferdinand VI after his death in 1754 took his place temporarily, until the appointment of Richard Wall , which he promoted. He quarreled with the former secretary of state, Sebastian de la Quadra , Marquis of Villarias with Campoflorido ambassador (who had replaced in Paris), and one's Ensenada, exchanging their old friendship into a deep rivalry. In fact, hatched a conspiracy against him with the help of Richard Wall, other nobles and the English ambassador Benjamin Keene , accusing him of treason for his anti-British policy in America achieved its fall from grace (and their supporters in the Court) and were removed him who led the three secretariats. After that she virtually abandoned politics.

In 1755 he inherited the title of Duke of Alba to the death of his mother. It was probably Huéscar who convinced the king to be moved to the castle of Villaviciosa Odo in 1758, the year he fell sick unto death. With some political activity and with Charles III as king, he retired early to their lordships of El Barco de Avila and Piedrahita lack of understanding with the king and the Count of Aranda , president of the Council of Castile. Person educated and enlightened ideas, but Catholic, led the Royal Academy and chaired the Academy of Letters in Barcelona. Their work, together with that of the Jesuit confessor of King Francis of Ravago , was important in the promotion of art and literature. An admirer of French culture (though politically it was anti-French, more in favor of England and Austria) had correspondence with the French Jean-Baptiste D'Alembert , encyclopedist and secretary of the French Academy and the Swiss philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau . I also used the gathering to participate in organizing the Marquise de Sarria in Madrid. Between 1731 and 1733 was married to Bernard Maris Ana Alvarez de Toledo and Portugal (who died in 1738, after which the Duke never remarried), with which in 1733 had a son, Francisco de Paula de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo , died in 1770. Fernando de Silva died of dropsy in 1776.

Literature

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