Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Count of Olivares

Enrique de Guzmán y Ribera, 2nd Count of Olivares (Sp.: Don Enrique de Guzmán y Ribera, segundo Conde de Olivares; 1 March 1540–1607) was a Spanish nobleman and statesman.

Enrique de Guzmán y Ribera, was born in Madrid, the son of Pedro Pérez de Guzmán, 1st Count of Olivares, of Sevilla, and Francisca de Ribera Niño, of Toledo (Niño was her mother's family name. Her father's family name was Conchillos but she took her mother's as it was more important).

He entered the service of the royal house at a young age and at age fourteen he travelled in Europe with his own father in the service of prince Philip (later king Philip II of Spain) including to England where king Philip married queen Mary I of England.

He later participated in the war in Naples and in the Battle of St. Quentin (1557) where he was wounded in a leg, something he would use for the rest of his life as an excuse to only go where it suited him.

At the death of his father, in 1569, he inherited the family house and he continued to serve the king in positions of great confidence like the negotiations with France regarding the new marriage between king Philip with Elizabeth of Valois.

Olivares held many important positions under Philip II of Spain, serving as treasurer of Castile, warden of the Alcázar of Seville, and as Spanish Ambassador to France.

In 1582, at age 42, he was appointed ambassador to Rome where for the next ten years he would represent the king of Spain before the popes Gregory XIII (1572–1585), Sixtus V (1585–1590) and Gregory XIV (1590–1591).

Relations Between the King of Spain and Pope Sixtus were tense: king Philip had asked Pope Sixtus to condemn the French Catholics who supported Henry of Navarre in their fight against the League led by the king of Spain, but Pope Sixtus refused to do so. Olivares first plead, then threatened the pope, and relations deteriorated. The Pope requested several times that Olivares be replaced, but king Philip would not comply. Finally the situation was resolved with the death of the pope. Another point of contention was the rivalry between the Jesuits, subject to the Pope, and the Spanish Inquisition, subject to the king of Spain.

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