ABSTRACT
The main argument of this chapter is that Ruvigny, earl of Galway, military commander and diplomat in the service of England/Great Britain, was sent by Queen Anne to serve in the war of the Spanish Succession (1702–14) to keep the fragile alliance together. The Iberian Peninsula was the theatre of a conflict between the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons for the crown of Spain. Louis XIV supported his grandson Philip of Anjou, while Queen Anne, the United Provinces, and later Savoy, supported Emperor Leopold I’s son Charles of Austria as an alternative candidate. The chapter briefly examines the military campaigns in the Cevennes Mountains of France, at Badajoz, the capture of Madrid and the defeat at Almanza in 1707, before analysing the main difficulties between the allies: diverging aims and clashing personalities. Lastly it focuses on Galway’s embassy to Portugal. It draws from a number of manuscript sources, including the correspondence between the duke of Marlborough and Treasurer Godolphin, and that of Ambassador John Methuen.
