José Manuel Zuleta y Alejandro, Duke of Abrantes, was born in Melilla on 8 December 1960.
He is married with three daughters.
He joined the General Military Academy in 1979 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1984.
In July 2015 he was promoted to Brigadier General and in March 2019 he was promoted to Division General.
He has an Army Staff diploma and Joint Staff diploma, and has completed the Leadership Programme for Public Management at the IESE business school.
He has served in the "Sagunto" 7 and "Villaviciosa" 14 Cavalry Regiments, in the IX/61 Transport Unit and the Joint Staff Intelligence Division. He was a professor at the Military Staff College.
From May to November 2000 he completed a Mission at the SFOR headquarters in Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina).
He has held various posts in the Royal Household of His Majesty the King, in the Royal Guard, the Military Chamber and the Department of Protocol.
His last post was in the Secretariat of His Royal Highness the Prince of Asturias.
By Royal Decree 545/2014, of 25 June, he was appointed as Head of the Secretariat of Her Majesty the Queen in the Royal Household of H.M. the King.