Ángel Calderón de la Barca y Belgrano

Ángel Calderón de la Barca y Belgrano (2 October 1790 in Buenos Aires, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata – 1861) in Spain was a Spanish nobleman and diplomat who served Spain at diplomatic posts in the United States and Mexico and as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from 1853 and 1854. He was a correspondent of William H. Prescott, the eminent American historian. His second wife was Fanny Calderón de la Barca, the author of Life in Mexico, an account of the two years the couple lived in Mexico.

Career In 1843, Calderón de la Barca was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. From 1844 to 1853, he served as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States in Washington, D.C. under Prime Ministers Ramon Maria Narvaez and American presidents John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore. Between 1853 and 1854, Calderón de la Barca served as Minister of State under Prime Minister Luis José Sartorius, during the reign of Queen Isabella II.

Orestes Brownson recounted the following:

Personal life Calderón de la Barca was married first to Isabel Ana de Vera y Sotosánchez and later to Frances Erskine Inglis, who was granted the Marquisate of Calderón de la Barca in 1877. She wrote Life in Mexico, a successful book concerning their residence from 1839 to 1842 in Mexico when her husband was stationed there as an envoy.

In popular culture In Steven Spielberg's Amistad, Calderón de la Barca is played by Tomas Milian.