Miguel Ricardo de Álava

Miguel Ricardo de Álava y Esquivel KCB 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 Wellesley, the future 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. 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.