Fernando de Valenzuela

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Fernando de Valenzuela (January 8, 1630, Naples – February 7, 1692) was a Spanish royal favourite and minister.

His father, Don Francisco de Valenzuela, a gentleman of Ronda, had been compelled to flee from Spain in consequence of a brawl, and had enlisted as a soldier in Naples, where he married Dona Leonora de Encisa. Francisco having died young, his son was placed by his mother as a page in the household of the duke of Infantado. He lost his place owing to a reduction of the duke's establishment, and for several years he lived obscurely. By good fortune, he succeeded in persuading Maria de Uceda, one of the ladies-in-waiting of Mariana, second wife of Philip IV, to marry him.

By her help, de Valenzuela obtained a footing in the palace. He was appointed introducer of ambassadors on October 12, 1671, and it became notorious that whoever had a petition to present or a place to ask for must apply to him. He became popularly known as the duende, the "fairy" or "brownie" of the palace, and was believed to be the lover of the queen. In 1675 a court intrigue, conducted by his rivals and supported by Don John of Austria the Younger, was so far successful that he was driven from court; but the queen gave him the title of Marquis of Villa Sierra, and appointed him ambassador to Venice.

De Valenzuela succeeded in getting the embassy exchanged for the governorship of Granada. His stay at this post was short, for he was able to organize a counter-intrigue which soon brought him back to court. The queen-regent now openly appointed him prime minister, gave him official quarters in the palace, and conferred a grandeeship on him, to the profound indignation of the other grandees. In January 1678 a palace revolution broke out against the queen-regent, who was driven from Madrid, and Valenzuela fled for refuge to the monastery of El Escorial. He was, however, taken out by force, and his house was pillaged and his property confiscated. His jewels, furniture and ready money were estimated to amount to 120,000 pesos. He was degraded from the grandeeship and exiled to the Philippines.

At a later period he was released from close confinement and allowed to settle in Mexico, where a pension was given him. He died in Mexico, from the kick of a horse he was breaking in, on February 7, 1692. Part of his property, and the title of Villa Sierra, but not the grandeeship, were restored to his wife and children. The career of de Valenzuela probably helped to suggest the subject of Ruy Blas to Victor Hugo.