Alfonso Merry del Val y Alzola

[1] His younger brother, Pablo Merry del Val y Alzola, was the Chief Liaison Officer for the foreign press under Franco.

[2][3] His paternal grandparents were Sofía Josefa de Zulueta (a daughter of the 2nd Count of Torre Díaz) and Rafael Carlos Merry del Val, a career diplomat who served as Spanish Ambassador to Belgium and to the Holy See and Minister at the Imperial Court of Vienna.

[4] Among his extended family was uncle Rafael Merry del Val, who became Cardinal Secretary of State to Pope Pius X.

He served as Secretary of the Legation in London in 1929 (while his father was the Spanish Ambassador),[9] Consul in Prague in 1930, in the Private Secretariat of King Alfonso XIII, and in Washington in 1931.

While Merry del Val was in Washington, he was "one of the most socially sought after Ambassadors"[16] and the Spanish embassy was located at 2700 15th St.