Daniel del Valle Blanco (born 2001) is a Spanish diplomat and jurist. He was appointed in April 2022, at the age of 20, as an attaché for political and youth affairs at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to the United Nations, an appointment that the Spanish media described as the youngest serving diplomat in the world at the time of appointment.
He was subsequently appointed as the ambassador and permanent observer of the International Youth Organisation for Ibero-America (OIJ) to the United Nations and as the President of the UN-Habitat Youth Advisory Board.
In 2024, he was appointed as the inaugural special envoy for Youth of the Central American Parliament. In 2025, the Office of Legal Affairs of NATO's Allied Command Operations awarded him the Serge Lazareff Prize.
Early life and education Del Valle Blanco was born in 2001. He studied law at the Real Centro Universitario Escorial-María Cristina, a centre affiliated with the Complutense University of Madrid, and took courses in economics at the University of Münster in Germany. He additionally completed a certificate on international law and climate change by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative.
Career Del Valle Blanco began his diplomatic career in 2021 as a policy adviser at the Permanent Mission of Slovakia to the United Nations in New York. In April 2022, the Sovereign Council of the Order of Malta appointed him as attaché for political and youth affairs at the Order's Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations.
He was later appointed permanent observer with the diplomatic rank of ambassador at the International Youth Organisation for Ibero-America to the United Nations. On 24 May 2024, David Xavier Sánchez of Ecuador succeeded Del Valle Blanco as the new permanent observer.
In May 2024, the Central American Parliament, a political organ of the Central American Integration System, appointed him its first special envoy for youth, with the support of the parliament's president, Silvia García Polanco.
Honours Foreign honours Panama: Officer of the Order "Presidente Juan Demóstenes Arosemena" (2023) Dominican Republic: Recognition of the Ministry of Youth (2023)
Organisational honours NATO: Serge Lazareff Prize (2025) Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Knight Central American Parliament: Central American Merit Medal (2023)
Honorary degrees IHERIS University, Togo: Doctor honoris causa in youth empowerment and global alliances (2022) CUGS University, Mexico: Doctor honoris causa in diplomacy
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