Santiago Alba y Bonifaz

Santiago Alba Bonifaz (23 December 1872, Zamora – 8 April 1949) was a Spanish politician and lawyer. He served as Minister of the Navy, Minister of Education and Science, Minister of the Interior, Minister of Housing, and Minister of Foreign Affairs during the reign of Alfonso XIII.

Born to a middle class family with important political connections, he was the son of Obdulia Bonifaz (a relative of Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla) and of César Alba García Oyuelos, a prominent Valladolid lawyer. Alba grew up in Valladolid and studied at the university, receiving a law degree. He also began working for the La Opinión as editor-in-chief, and later bought the newspaper El Norte de Castilla in 1893, where he had also worked as a manager.

Upon the death of her husband, Alba’s mother inherited an estate in Cantabria, in the town of Noja. When Alba became the first Marquis of Albaicín, the estate became the Palacio del Albaicín. In 1918, after suffering from an accident in which his car crashed into a tree, he spent some time there recuperating.

He married Enriqueta Delibes in 1897 and began his political career in the elections of 1901, as a representative of the party Unión Nacional, earning a seat in the Cortes as deputy for Valladolid province. He won the seat again in the 1903 elections—after switching to the Partido Liberal—but would give up his seat to become Subsecretary of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, and in the elections of 1905, he would again give up his seat in order to become Governor of the Bank of Spain. In succeeding elections, which were held until 1936, he would again be elected deputy representing Valladolid, Granada, or Zamora provinces. From 1933 to 1936, he was President of the Cortes.

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