He was the first legitimate son of
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, and became the fourth Duke after his father's death. His titles included
Duke of Huéscar,
Marquis of Coria He had two short marriages, in 1555 to Guiomar de Aragón (died 1557), daughter of
Alfonso de Aragón, Duke of Segorbe and in 1562 to María Josefa Pimentel y Girón (died 1566), daughter of Antonio Alonso Pimentel y Herrera de Velasco, III duque de Benavente. Between 1557 and 1558 he occasionally replaced his father during his absences in the position of
viceroy of Naples. In 1566, Fadrique had promised to marry Magdalena de Guzman, lady of Queen
Elisabeth of Valois, but resiled from it, costing him arrest and imprisonment in the
Castle of La Mota,
Medina del Campo,
Valladolid. In April 1568, finding himself in
Murcia waiting to embark for Oran, Philip II commuted this punishment to a new destination in
Flanders, where his father was at the head of the
tercios in his capacity as
governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Don Fadrique was commander of the Spanish troops during the most bloody phase of the war in the Netherlands. He was in charge of the Spanish troops that slaughtered the populations of
Mechelen,
Zutphen and
Naarden, as well as during the costly
Siege of Haarlem. In Mechelen, his troops were allowed to pillage, loot and destroy for three days. His father the Duke did not approve, he was afraid of his son's reputation that was already not good with
Philip II of Spain, their King. In 1578, Philip II ordered the case reopened against Fadrique, during which it was discovered that in order to prevent the marriage with Magdalena de Guzman, he had secretly married by proxy to María de Toledo, daughter of
García Álvarez de Toledo and Osorio, IV
Marquis of Villafranca del Bierzo, with the permission of his father the Duke of Alba, in contravention of the provisions of the King. Fadrique was again confined to his prison in the Castillo de la Mota, and his father was banished from the court, from where he went into exile to
Uceda. Because of his poor state of health and the precarious conditions of his confinement, in May 1580 Fadrique was released from his prison, under the condition of residing in the town of
Alba, from where he was prohibited from leaving. He was Duke between 11 December 1582 and 11 December 1583 and was succeeded in his titles of nobility by his nephew
Antonio Álvarez de Toledo y Beaumont. == Ancestry ==