[7] He moved in February 1885 to the University of Bologna's Collegio di Spagna, where he remained until December 1885, earning a doctorate in jurisprudence by reading a dissertation titled Introduzione allo studio del diritto costituzionale.

1] He participated in a parliamentary scandal in July 1889, when amid a tense squabble in the legislature, he wielded his walking stick against Felipe Ducazcal [es], who had reportedly approached the Marquis of Vega de Armijo displaying an aggressive attitude.

[15] After serving as responsible for the districts of Buenavista and Audiencia, as patron of the School of San Ildefonso, and as director of the Services of Abattoirs, Markets and Thoroughfares and Works, Figueroa renounced to the office in 1892.

[15] He delivered an ignominious tirade against the Mayor of Madrid Alberto Bosch y Fustegueras from his parliamentary seat in 1892,[16] so much that the offended called for a duel, which was held on 10 July 1892 in Leganés.

In 1896 he acquired a daily newspaper, El Globo, based in Madrid, appointing Francos Rodríguez as editor and tilting the editorial line from republicanism to liberal monarchism.

He contributed to the rise of José Canalejas to the top of the Liberal Party and, as a reward, he was appointed minister of public instruction in 1909 and later propmoted to the presidency of the House of Representatives (Congreso de los Diputados) in 1912.

When he again became prime minister (1915–1917), he changed Spain's foreign policy closer to the allies and confronting Germany over an incident of Spanish ships being torpedoed by German submarines.

He was minister of justice (1922–1923) in the liberal government of Manuel García Prieto and became president of the Senate in 1923, serving in such capacity when the military coup of Miguel Primo de Rivera took place on 13 September 1923.

He was appointed Minister of State in the government of Juan Bautista Aznar Cabañas, but the elections in 1931 showed that the monarchy was unpopular so he advised Alfonso XIII to leave Spain.

Romanones talked personally to Niceto Alcalá Zamora and his revolutionary committee and agreed to the peaceful transfer of power to the Provisional Republican Government, without military intervention, in exchange of the guarantee for the life of the royal family.