Spanish Spy’s Secret Mission to Overthrow Moroccan Sultan Revealed

In 1801, Minister Godoy had the idea of making Badia a spy. "Badía was the man for the job. Courageous and daring like few others, discreet, cunning and enterprising..." Godoy wrote in his memoirs published in 1836. At the time, relations with Morocco were tense and action had to be taken. Sultan Moulay Souleymane was threatening to take Ceuta and Melilla, had suspended Moroccan wheat exports to Spain and had contacts with British diplomats.

Thus, Badia studies Islam, has himself circumcised and gives himself a new identity: Ali Bey Abd Allah, from a wealthy family exiled in Paris and London. Very skillful, he quickly gained the trust of the sultan. At the same time, he mobilizes the tribes of the south while the Spanish army is preparing to intervene. But at the last minute, Charles IV ordered the cancellation of the attack, putting his spy in a difficult situation. Sultan Moulay Souleymane began to distrust him and finally expelled him to Algeria in 1805, recalls El Español.

"The motivations that inspired Badía’s activities in Morocco were a mixture of patriotism, personal ambition and altruism. He was an exceptional Spaniard for his intelligence, courage and scientific and literary talent," summarizes Doctor of Philosophy Michael Mcgaha. Instead of returning to Spain, Badia continued to serve as a spy in the eastern part of the Mediterranean. Arriving in the Nile, he defuses a British plot against Mehmet Ali before continuing his journey to Mecca.

On his return from the Holy City, he went to Palestine and Syria, before joining Paris via Istanbul at the end of April 1808. Then he returned to Spain before going into exile again in France in 1813 where he published "The Travels of Ali Bey in Africa and Asia". The work was a bestseller in Europe. In 1818, under a new false identity and as part of a new mission entrusted by Louis XVIII of France, Badía died in a town on the fringes of the Syrian desert. The circumstances of his death remain unclear.