Manuel Gutiérrez Mellado, 1st Marquis of Gutiérrez Mellado (April 30, 1912 - December 15, 1995) was a Spanish general and government minister. Appointed Chief of Staff of the Spanish Army in June 1976, Gutiérrez Mellado served as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain from September 21, 1976 to February 26, 1981, holding the Defence portfolio from July 4, 1977. All this time the President of the Government (i.e., Prime Minister) was Adolfo Suárez

Adolfo Suárez

Adolfo Suárez y González, 1st Duke of Suárez, Grandee of Spain, KOGF is a Spanish lawyer and politician. Suárez was Spain's first democratically elected prime minister after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, and the key figure in the country's transition to democracy.-Parents:He is a son of...

.

During the failed Coup d'état on February 23rd 1981

23-F

23-F was an attempted coup d'état in Spain that began on 23 February 1981 and ended on the following day. It is also known as El Tejerazo from the name of its most visible figure, Antonio Tejero, who led the failed coup's most notable event: the bursting into the Spanish Congress of Deputies by a...

, Gutiérrez-Mellado was one of only three members of the Spanish Congress of the Deputies (with Suarez and the communist Santiago Carrillo

Santiago Carrillo

Santiago Carrillo Solares is a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain from 1960 to 1982.- Childhood and early youth :...

) to physically confront the armed Guardia Civil troops led by Lieutenant Colonel Tejero.

On 7 October 1994 Gutiérrez-Mellado was raised into the Spanish nobility

Spanish nobility

Spanish nobles are persons who possess the legal status of hereditary nobility according to the laws and traditions of the Spanish monarchy. A system of titles and honours of Spain and of the former kingdoms that constitute it comprise the Spanish nobility...

 by King Juan Carlos I

Juan Carlos I of Spain

Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...

 with the hereditary title marqués de Gutiérrez-Mellado (English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

: Marquess of Gutiérrez-Mellado).

A retired captain-general, Gutiérrez-Mellado was killed in 1995 at the age of 83 in a car crash on the highway from Madrid to Guadalajara

Guadalajara, Spain

Guadalajara is a city and municipality in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain, and in the natural region of La Alcarria. It is the capital of the province of Guadalajara. It is located roughly 60 km northeast of Madrid on the Henares River, and has a population of 83,789...

. He was buried the next day in the Villaviciosa de Odón cemetery, the town he lived in for several years. After his death his daughter María del Carmen Gutiérrez-Mellado and Blasco became the 2nd Marquise of Gutiérrez-Mellado.