Manuel Godoy

Manuel de Godoy y Álvarez de Faria Rios (12 May 1767, Badajoz, Spain4 October 1851, Paris, France), 1st Prince of the Peace, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbó, was the First Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and then from 1801 to 1808, and as such, one of the central Spanish political figures during the rise of Napoleon and his invasion of Spain. Godoy came to power at a young age as the favourite of King Charles IV and Queen Maria Luisa. He has been partly blamed for the Anglo-Spanish War of 1796–1808 that brought an end to the Spanish Empire. Godoy's unmatched power ended in 1808 with the Tumult of Aranjuez, which forced him into a long exile, dying in Paris in 1851. Birth and family Godoy was born in Badajoz as the youngest child of José de Godoy y Cáceres-Ovando, regidor of Badajoz for the "estado noble", and Antonia Álvarez de Faria, of noble Portuguese extraction. Much is known about his family and the documented nobility of his four grandparents, mainly due to the reports presented by his brothers Luis and Diego for their respective memberships to the Order of Santiago, and Order of Calatrava, as well as his mother's brothers, José and Juan Manuel Álvarez de Faria for the Order of Santiago. The Godoy family of Badajoz came originally from Galicia, claiming descent from Pedro Muñiz de Godoy, master of the orders of Santiago and Calatrava, and of the border with Portugal, who distinguished himself during the reign of Henry II of Castile, and died in 1385 at the Battle of Valverde. His siblings were: José (Badajoz), canon of Badajoz and of Mojacar. Luis, field-marshal and captain-general of Extremadura, knight of the Order of Santiago (1787).