[5] With the death of his father in 1867, Enrique as the oldest living son acquired the conde de Villalobos title,[6] which ensured his place in the middle-range aristocracy and a comfortable financial status.

Enrique inherited part of his grandfather's enormous wealth, including a number of estates in southern Leon,[10] villa de Cerralbo and the San Boal palace in Salamanca.

[13] In 1871, Enrique married the mother of his university colleague, Manuela Inocencia Serrano y Cerver from Valencia,[14] thirty years his senior and widow of the military and senator Antonio del Valle y Angelín;[15] she brought into the family the children from her previous marriage.

In 1893, the family moved into the freshly-completed building at calle Ventura Rodríguez, designed in eclectic style[18] by renowned architects and from the outset intended to be also an art gallery, very much like the private pinacotecas seen across Europe.

[19] The building – usually referred to as a palace – served later also as a prestigious venue of social meetings, reported the day after by the Madrid press,[20] and a location for political assemblies.

[31] The two developed cordial relationship bordering personal friendship;[32] de Cerralbo turned out - along Solferino - one of two grandees who sided with Carlism and automatically became one of its most distinguished figures.

[37] As Carlos VII grew uncomfortable about power shifting away from his hands and as Nocedal's leadership caused grumblings among many Carlists,[38] Cerralbo engaged in few attempts to outmaneuver him,[39] but since they remained fruitless,[40] he pondered upon withdrawing from politics.

[45] In 1886 Cerralbo headed a makeshift Junta co-coordinating the Carlist electoral effort,[46] though structures of the movement were increasingly paralyzed by conflict until the Nocedalistas were expelled in 1888.

[68] Though some of them existed only on paper and the organization was limited chiefly to Northern and Eastern Spain,[69] Carlism became the most modern political party of the time,[70] as two major partidos de turno remained rather electoral alliances, dormant between the polling periods.

[86] It is not clear whether de Cerralbo, like many Carlist leaders, was expulsed from Spain,[87] the only measure confirmed two police search raids on his Madrid residence.

[90] Cerralbo remained loyal to the pretender and his Jefe Delegado Barrio y Mier, taking part in Carlist initiatives and feasts of Madrid.

[92] Following the period of poor health and limited public activity, in mid-1900s de Cerralbo increased his engagements becoming head of the Carlist parliamentary minority.

[93] When Matías Barrio died in 1909 de Cerralbo was widely rumored to return to the Jefe Delegado position,[94] but as one of his last political decisions Carlos VII nominated Bartolomé Feliú Perez instead, the move welcomed by some and protested by the others.

[98] The claimant bowed to the pressure in 1912,[99] creating a collective governing body, Junta Superior Central Tradicionalista, with de Cerralbo as its president.

[108] As the European war broke out in 1914 de Cerralbo favored Spanish neutrality, though he sympathized with the Central Powers,[109] considering their monarchical model closer to Carlist ideal and traditionally opposing Great Britain, viewed as arch-enemy of Spain.

[117] Since his university days de Cerralbo has developed keen interest in culture and history; his first encounter with archaeology took place in the Madrid site of Ciempozuelos in 1895.

[121] In 1909, following numerous notes about odd findings, he commenced excavations in Torralba del Moral and Ambrona, continued until 1916, at that time considered the most ancient human settling discovered so far in Europe.

[123] Though de Cerralbo's excavation methodology is now considered outdated,[124] he introduced new techniques like photography both on site and in laboratory[125] or complex indexing methods.

[129] In 1912 he was recognized for 5 volumes of his monumental Páginas de la Historia Patria por mis excavaciones arqueológicas [130] by Premio Internacional Martorell[131] and applauded for his work on Torralba by International Congress of Anthropology and Archaeology in Geneva the same year.

[141] His style, like this demonstrated in Leyenda de Amor, merged classical perfection of verse with romantic sentiment,[142] appealing to contemporary taste[143] though nowadays probably looking banal and bombastic.

[146] Since his childhood de Cerralbo was infected by coleccionismo,[147] initially focused on numismatics,[148] but gradually broadened to collecting paintings,[149] arms, armor, porcelain and ceramics, rugs, tapestries and curtains, marbles, watches, lamps, sculptures, furniture, candles, drawings, rare books, stamps and other antiquities.

The critics note that he adhered to backward ideology[158] and refused to take sides during the moments of crisis (Third Carlist War, nocedalista conflict, La Octubrada, Mellist schism), quoting poor health as an excuse.

[161] Finally, some indicate that de Cerralbo formed part of the oligarchy responsible for archaic social and economic conditions of Spain, also personally taking advantage of his privileged position versus the poor.