Spain : The Duchess of Alba dies at 88

MADRID — The Duchess of Alba, a flamboyant Spanish aristocrat known for her lifestyle, her vast wealth, her art collection and her unmatched list of titles, died on Thursday 21 November 2014 in her palace in Seville. She was 88.

Her death was announced by the mayor of Seville, Juan Ignacio Zoido.

The duchess — her full name was María del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva — had more than 40 titles, largely inherited through ancestors’ marriages. She was recognized by Guinness World Records as the noble with the most official titles in the world.

Certain privileges came with her status as head of the five-century-old House of Alba. She did not have to kneel before the pope, for example, and she had the right to ride on horseback into Seville Cathedral.

But more than her titles and her royal relations, it was her romantic life and her outspokenness that fascinated the Spanish news media.

 She was born on March 28, 1926, in the family’s Liria Palace in Madrid, where Francisco Goya had painted one of her ancestors. But she spent some of her formative years in London, where her father was posted as ambassador during World War II.

The Duchess of Alba, seen here in 1947, was one of Spain's most popular and gossiped-about figures

She returned to Spain to marry Pedro Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artàzcoz, the son of the Duke of Sotomayor, in a lavish ceremony in Seville Cathedral that The New York Times called “the most expensive wedding in the world.”

After her husband’s death in 1972, the duchess made a highly unconventional choice by marrying her confessor, a defrocked Jesuit priest, Jesús Aguirre y Ortiz de Zárate, who was 11 years her junior. He died in 2001.

“I’m not a person who allows herself to get managed,” she once said in an interview with the Spanish magazine Hola. “I’ve got my own ideas and try to turn them into reality.”

She also drew attention for her facial cosmetic surgery, and for her penchant for hippie-style hats and bright, flowered dresses.

Her third marriage, in 2011, again made headlines. This time she married Alfonso Díez Carabantes, a civil servant almost 25 years her junior. The ceremony was in the chapel of one of her many lavish and historic residences, the Dueñas Palace in Seville.

News of their romance thrilled the Spanish gossip media but apparently angered her children, who were concerned about the intrusion into the Alba household of a man with little wealth or credentials. One of her six children, Cayetano Martínez de Irujo, called on his mother to bear in mind her “historic responsibility” before deciding to marry again.

The Alba family fortune has been estimated at $4.4 billion, although much of that wealth has not been officially valued.

Still, to end such family opposition to her marriage plans, the duchess presented her children with an inheritance plan that would guarantee each of them at least one of the House of Alba’s properties. In addition, Mr. Díez Carabantes renounced any claim to the family fortune.

Besides their estates, the Alba family owns one of the finest and largest art collections in private Spanish hands, reaching back five centuries to the origins of the family. It also includes Impressionist paintings and other works acquired far more recently by the duchess herself.

In a tribute on Thursday, Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister, praised her efforts to build an art and history collection that he described as “essential to understand the development of Spain and Europe.”

Much of the collection sits in the Liria Palace in Madrid. It includes historic books and documents, most notably Christopher Columbus’s first map of the Americas. As part of Spain’s national patrimony, the collection could not be divested by the duchess or her heirs without the Culture Ministry’s permission.

The duchess is survived by her husband and six children as well as several grandchildren.

Her oldest son, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, is to take over at the helm of the family’s foundation, whose assets also include another palace in Salamanca. He inherits dozens of titles.

A huge crowd of wellwishers gathered at Seville cathedral today to mourn the Duchess of Alba as her coffin was brought in for her funeral service 

Friends and relatives including her widower Alfonso Diez, daughter and sons, attended the ceremony in the grand surroundings of the 16th century building 

The funeral took place in magnificent surroundings, with the coffin surrounded by long candles on elegant silver holders

Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 14th Duke of Huescar (fourth left), heir of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, the Duchess of Alba, sits with his siblings Eugenia Martinez de Irujo, 12th Duchess of Montoro (fifth left), Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 23rd Count of Siruela (fourth right), Alfonso Martinez de Irujo, 15th Duke of Aliaga (second right) and Cayetano Martinez de Irujo, 13th Count of Salvatierra (right) and her widower, Alfonso Diez (third left) during the funeral service for his mother

Sons Cayetano Luis Martinez (centre) and Alfonso Martinez (right), leave the townhall for the Duchess's funeral

The Duchess' royal family tree can be traced back to King James II and Arabella Churchill - the daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, who was also an ancestor of the British Prime Minister.

Queen Sofia and the Duchess of Alba posing for photographers in front of Francisco de Goya's painting 'Portrait of Duchess of Alba in White' at Palace of Cibeles, in Madrid in 2012