Diego del Alcázar, 10th Marquis of la Romana

This part of the Spanish history is somewhat unknown in Spain, but in Denmark this episode left a profound mark in the literature, gastronomy and customs in the Danish culture.

A popular song from the period also tells about one burning cigarette end thrown by a Spaniard, set up a fire the castle of Koldinghus (“¡Castillo de Kolding!

Romana and his men arrived in Santander where he was appointed Commander of the Galician Armada, at which point he was able to achieve the withdrawal of the French from Galicia and Asturias.

It is, perhaps, the lucidity and the determination of the Marquis of la Romana quickly repatriate on 21 August 1808 his 9,000 men from the island of Langeland, Denmark, with the help of British ships, to the coast of Cantabria and from there to support the offensive against the French, that is one of the most pointed episodes of Spanish military history.

The Third Marquis of la Romana is the example of the trajectory of a cultured polyglot, who enjoyed telling anecdotes such as the episode in which Manuel de Godoy offered him a false clock.

In 2007 and 2008 the figure of this cultivated man was commemorated, Patron of the Arts, artifice of a splendid library and a magnificent collection of paintings of Francisco de Goya, belonging to the current Marquis of la Romana, Diego del Alcázar, who knew how to reconcile a great diplomatic ability with the courage and the loyalty to his country in a tormented period of history, marked by the violence of war.

Among the speakers there were Hugo O'Donnell, Duke of Tetuan, who gave a lecture on "The Marquis of la Romana’s expeditionary corps as reflected in the prints by the Suhr brothers".

From the late Middle Ages to the mid 15th century, the site’s overriding priority was that of protection and defence as evidenced by the “tower-fortress”, architectonic style, complemented with an additional storey.

At this time in history, when there was no longer such an urgent need to make defence an overriding objective, property extensions were now mainly for aesthetic purposes and hence the stronghold became a prime example of suburban noble architecture of the 16th century, markedly renaissance in style, shedding the medieval functions described later.

This example is an unusual one in Castilian – and Spanish - architecture and history because hardly any Medieval and Renaissance mansions remained in the countryside as the Monarchs insisted on the presence of the nobles in the Court.