Gonzalo O'Farrill y Herrera

Gonzalo O´Farrill y Herrera, (La Habana, Cuba, 1754 - exiled in Paris, 1831), minister of War under King Carlos IV of Spain, and for a few days later, (3 to 19 March 1808, between two spells in power of Pedro Cevallos Guerra, (San Felices de Buelna, Cantabria, (Spain) 1764 - ? 1840) Prime Minister under King José I Bonaparte, former bonapartist King of Naples and eldest brother of Napoleon I Bonaparte.

He was the uncle of Spanish - Cuban woman aristocrat Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo , married around October 1809 with French invading General Christophe Antoine Merlin, a. k. a. Christophe Antoine Merlin de Thionville , (Thionville, France, 27 May 1771 - Paris, France, 9 May 1839) by then Captain General of the Spanish Royal Gards two months before their wedding.

Doña Mercedes mother, described as a sensual Cuban lady, Maria Teresa Montalvo y O´Farrill, (1771 - 1812), a widower at age 37, was supposed to be at the time the Spanish love of new King José I Bonaparte, whose wife, Julie Clary, (Marseille, 26 December 1771 – Florence, Italy, 7 April 1845); apparently, preferred a less risky position and stayed in France.

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On leaving the country in 1813, Mercedes would leave together with his sister,María Josefa (1791-¿?), married to another "afrancesado", Pedro Miguel Sáenz de Santa María y Carassa, (1781-1823), step son of General Gonzalo O´Farrill and a member of the State Council of the "new King" José I.

References

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Prime_Ministers_of_Spain
*http://www.dtcuba.com/ShowReport.aspx?c=174

Some description of the actual Hotel and former palace of the O´Farrill in La Habana, Cuba . Irish catholics settled in by the British Crown in 1713, (Utrecht Treaty), as Agents for the Black Slaves brought to work in the sugar fields from Africa to Cuba.