[7] He dedicated himself to law career[8] and acted as representative of local Madrid Catholic establishments, retaining the honorary title of secretario primero del gobierno.

[35] Inheriting late conservative outlook of his father, Melgar engaged in a number of initiatives confronting secular tide of the 1868 Glorious Revolution.

[40] He mixed with neocatólicos, tended to side with Nocedal in controversies with the Carlist claimant Carlos VII[41] and by some scholars is considered a neo himself,[42] but in his later years Melgar spoke about the Neo-Catholics with disregard if not sheer contempt.

[48] Upon the 1872 outbreak of the Third Carlist War Melgar became editor-in-chief of the paper;[49] increasingly endangered by Republican hit-squads dubbed "partido de la porra", he went into hiding.

[60] Melgar's father due to his support lent to the Carlists[61] was expropriated[62] and chased by the security;[63] he settled on exile in Sant-Jean-de-Luz,[64] but Francisco did not join him.

[67] According to himself, he declined the offer by Pidal and Moret, who first invited him to assume the job of director of Biblioteca Nacional and then suggested he become first secretary of the Spanish embassy in Paris.

[73] The two men[74] settled in Venice in the building known as Palazzo Loredan; while Don Carlos and his family[75] occupied the upper floor, Melgar lived on the lower level.

Though Carlos VII sought his advice on many issues,[88] it is unlikely that Melgar exercised major influence on the charismatic Carlist king; students underline rather his genuine devotion to the monarch.

[90] When discussing Melgar's term as political secretary historians usually present him as a "cerralbista", supporter of non-belligerent, moderate, aperturista policy of his old-time friend de Cerralbo.

[97] Melgar's position started to change in 1894; he found himself in acute personal conflict with the newly wed second wife of Carlos VII, Berthe de Rohan.

[105] Having promised on departure[106] that during his king's lifetime he would neither settle in Spain[107] nor re-enter politics,[108] Melgar returned to Paris[109] and resumed his never entirely abandoned career of a press correspondent;[110] he also maintained private links with some Carlist politicians.

[112] Also during his adolescence the relations between the two were very good; the prince appreciated that when in love with Mathilde of Bavaria, Melgar supported the marriage plans, eventually cancelled by opposition of his father and especially stepmother.

It was carried out on de facto[118] rather than formal basis, it was periodical and occasional rather than systematic and until 1919 it was performed remotely,[119] though when Don Jaime settled in Paris, the two resumed close direct personal links.

[120] Another key difference was that unlike his father, Jaime III used to go into long periods of inactivity, which permitted Melgar to exercise more personal influence on party politics.

[129] During the First World War Melgar emerged as leader of minoritarian aliadófilo faction within Carlism;[130] apart from having been a longtime French resident, he also witnessed dynastically motivated ice-cold relations between Carlos VII and Franz Joseph, developing particular enmity towards the Austrian kaiser and the Central Powers.

Personally sympathizing with the Entente but officially pursuing a neutral path, when asked by the Austrians for vague declaration of loyalty Don Jaime remained adamant, which led to his house arrest in Frohsdorf.

His pamphlets, designed either for Spanish[135] or foreign[136] audience, advanced all sort of arguments against the Central Powers, lambasting their Carlist supporters as "carlo-luteranos",[137] and mocking their slogan as "Dios, Patria, Alemania".

[144] De Mella and his followers intended to show up in the French capital and present their case but were denied visas, a Machiavellian intrigue also attributed to Melgar.

Following the breakup Melgar focused on purging the party newspaper from the Mellistas;[147] as he remained a lone player and did not build his own political background, the term "Melgaristas" was scarcely in circulation.

[150] Starting 1920[151] he is no longer mentioned as acting in-between the claimant and the party leadership, though some sources claim that until the mid-1920s he served as secretary and counselor to his king,[152] in 1923 replaced by own son.

In the late 1860s he won laurels in poetry: selected by authors like Aureliano Fernández-Guerra y Orbe and Manuel Tamayo y Baus, he was awarded literary prize for his poem dedicated to the First Vatican Council.

[171] Written with partisan zeal and propagating all sorts of calumnies against the Central Powers, they turned many Carlists against Melgar,[172] though it is not clear how many Spaniards they won for the cause of the Allies.

[175] The 220-page book covered only the years when Melgar served as political secretary of Carlos VII; lively narrated it is singularly uninformative as to details of his work, though it projects all personal preferences and dislikes of the author.

Aversion towards theoretical and ideological debates combined with abundant gossip and picturesque anecdotes make it excellent read; some historians warn that it must not be approached as literally accurate and even suspect manipulation,[176] others generally consider it a fairly reliable source.