The youngest of seven children, Pedro de Heeren was born in Biarritz, France in 1880 to a Spanish father and a Peruvian mother. De Heeren was a Spanish diplomat who worked as a secretary at the Paris embassy. Whilst living in Paris he played tennis, often with his wife in mixed doubles tournaments across both France and Spain. At the 1900 Paris Olympics four tennis events were contested for medals along with other non-medal handicap events. De Heeren won a doubles handicap event along with Carlos de Candamo, the first athlete to represent Peru at the Olympics, who was also his cousin. In October 1912 he was Spain’s representative at a meeting in Paris to discuss the founding of the International Lawn Tennis Federation. A short time later De Heeren was transferred from Paris to work at an embassy in Washington DC. Sadly, however, he died from a “rapid illness” in September 1915 whilst living in Newport, Rhode Island. He was 35-years-old.
Spain