7th Conde de los Andes

Francisco Moreno Herrera, 7th Conde de los Andes, Spanish grandee, was born in Jerez de la Frontera in 1909.

He held a Doctorate in Law from the University of Madrid and a degree in Political Science from Oxford University. He married Teresa de Arteaga & Falguera, Marquesa de la Eliseda, daughter of the Duque del Infantado.

He was a founding member and an active contributor of Acción Española (Spanish Action), the royalist ideological movement led in the thirties by Ramiro de Maeztu. 

He was elected deputy in 1933, in the conservative list for Cadiz, which also elected José Antonio Primo de Rivera, José María Peman and Ramón de Carranza. 

He volunteered in the Civil War, and was one of the eight people who accompanied Don Juan in his failure incorporation to the front at Somosierra. He was a captain during the war. He was seriously injured in Corbalán during the Battle of Alfambra.

In 1939, he was appointed Civil Governor of Santander but he resigned a few months later and dedicated his life to serve the monarchy.

In 1943, Don Juan, in Lausanne, entrusted him to organize a monarchist network in the Spanish provinces. That same year he was in charge of collecting the signatures of the procuradores (the name for the deputies during the Franco regime) in a document addressed to the Head of State asking to give way to the monarchy. As a result of it, he was arrested at his home in Madrid. He stayed three days in the dungeons of the General Security Directorate and later sent into exile to the island of La Palma, where he spent seven months.

A year later he was once again arrested at dawn at his home for his activities on the defense of his ideals.

Later he was appointed member of the Privy Council of Don Juan.

In 1969, he was elected member of the Royal Academy for Moral and Political Sciences, of which he was secretary in his later years. In his inaugural speech his ideology evolved towards liberal democracy with bicameral representation. This was reflected in his support for the political reform of Adolfo Suarez.

He was a prolific columnist in Spanish press and a political lecturer. He was the author of many books focused on the study of public institutions: "Fascism, Catholicism and monarchy," "Authority and Freedom," "Theory and Action", "Socialism and Catholicism "The Economy and the New State ", "The natural and artificial intermediate bodies in political institutions in North America and England ". His work "Political Essays" won the National Book Award in 1973.

He was also a renowned gourmet, founder of the "Brotherhood of fine dining" and a pioneer of culinary journalism in Spain. He signed his articles as Savarín and his style, always friendly, set the trend in this country.

He died in 1978.