He was the illegitimate son of
Bernardino Fernández de Velasco, 6th Duke of Frías. In his youth, he fought in Portugal, Flanders and in 1674 in Catalonia against the French. He was appointed military Governor of
Ceuta and
Cádiz.
Viceroy of Catalonia 1690s In 1696, he became
Viceroy of Catalonia. Here he was confronted in 1697 with an invasion of French troops commanded by
Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme which
besieged and took Barcelona on 10 August. Velasco y Tovar was relieved of his post and replaced by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza y Sandoval, Conde de la Corzana.
1700s After the outbreak of the
War of Spanish Succession, as a loyal supporter of the central government and the new King
Philip V of Spain, he was again appointed
Viceroy of Catalonia in 1703 instead of
Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was too pro-Catalan and pro-Habsburg. He suppressed with an iron hand all opposition against the central government and was able to
repulse an attempted landing by British and Catalan forces in 1704. But in 1705, he was unable to withstand a
second attack on the city, as a consequence of which
Barcelona and the whole of Catalonia went over to the camp of
Charles of Habsburg, the Austrian pretender to the vacant Spanish Crown.
Later life He went to live in Malaga and participated in the failed
Siege of Barcelona in April 1706. == Sources ==