He was the son of Don Beltrán III de la Cueva y Castilla, 6th Duke of Alburquerque and Isabel de la Cueva y Córdoba.
"[1] To suppress "banditism", he didn't hesitate to clash with the local authority, the Principality of Catalonia, and to restrict the Catalan constitution.
Between 1627 and 1632, he was Viceroy of Sicily, where he had 2 bronze statues erected of Kings Charles I and Philip IV.
Francisco Fernández de la Cueva married 3 times and had 10 children.
[2] First he married with Doña Antonia de Toledo-Beaumont, sister of Antonio Álvarez de Toledo, 5th Duke of Alba, who died without children.