Kongo / Manikongo Álvaro VII Mpanzu-a-Mabondo (King Álvaro VII)

Álvaro VII (Mpanzu-a-Mabondo) was king of the Kingdom of Congo from 1665 to 1666.

When the death of Antonio I at the Battle of Mbwila (October 29, 1665) was announced, a relative of the dead sovereign, Álvaro, was proclaimed king.

The new king sent a trusted Capuchin monk, Friar Girolamo of Montesarchio, to make peace with the Portuguese in to Luanda, Angola, in Christmas 1665. But the monk was waylaid by a rebellion in Mbamba, and only returned to the capital in June 1666, where he found Álvaro VII already dead; in the meantime, the powerful Count of Soyo, Paulo da Silva, had marched on São Salvador (the capital of the kingdom), killed the king and proclaimed Álvaro VIII in his place.