Raphael Charles Beauclerk, better known as Ralph Beauclerk, (1917âÂÂ2007), , was an upper-class British Army officer and secret agent, decorated for his WWII service with the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
Of Spanish noble and English aristocratic descent, Beauclerk was via his father in remainder to the dukedom of Saint Albans, later succeeding as marqués de Valero de UrrÃÂa (cr. 1852), when his mother's title was revived in his favour in 1989.
His father William Topham Sidney Beauclerk (grandson of Charles George Beauclerk , only son of Topham Beauclerk by his wife Lady Diana Beauclerk (née Spencer), son of Lord Sidney Beauclerk ) was a civil engineer in the Argentine who, in 1910, married .
His mother, the only surviving child of and MarÃÂa Zamora y Pérez de UrrÃÂa, daughter and heiress of (by ), succeeded to her family titles.
Beauclerk was educated first at Downside School, Somerset, then at Bayonne in France, becoming a fluent linguist.
Commissioned into the Intelligence Corps at the outbreak of WWII, Beauclerk served in France on attachment to the SOE, being promoted Captain.
During World War II, code named Casimir, Beauclerk worked as an agent for the clandestine British Special Operations Executive (SOE), conducting espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in Nazi-occupied Europe. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance maquis and supplied them with weapons and equipment.
After his distinguished military service, Beauclerk joined Hong Kong and Shanghai Merchant Bank working in Asia until 1970 and then with the Banque Privée de Luxembourg.
In 1989, the Spanish of Valero de UrrÃÂa devolved upon Beauclerk; among his cousins was the , with kinsmen including the Duke of St Albans and the Duchess of Alba.
On 24 August 1957 at Saigon, Vietnam, Beauclerk married Noirine Mary Bowen (died 20 January 1997), daughter of James Bowen, of Bowen's Court, County Cork; the Marquis and Marquesa had two children:
Capt Beauclerk's granddaughter, doña Charlotte Beauclerk, is heiress apparent to the marquisate and her younger brothers are in remainder to the dukedom of Saint Albans. His son, the present Marquis and Marquesa de Valero de UrrÃÂa live at Médan, near Paris.
The 6th Marquis de Valero de UrrÃÂa's distinguished services were recognised by being appointed :