Towards the end of her life, she cut an eccentric figure with bright white hair and waxy skin. But when María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, the 18th Duchess of Alba, was in her prime, she was considered one of the greatest beauties of her age: Picasso wanted to paint her, Jackie Kennedy visited her Seville palace and she was friends with Grace Kelly.
Descended from James II of Scotland and his mistress Arabella Churchill, the duchess was one of the most senior aristocrats in Spain and thought to have been one of the most titled aristocrats in the world. Her titles gave her several privileges, such as riding a horse into Seville Cathedral and not having to kneel before the Pope.
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The duchess’s first marriage was to Luis Martínez de Irujo in 1947 in what newspapers dubbed ‘the most expensive wedding in the world’. From this marriage, she had six children, with her eldest son, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, assuming the title of 19th Duke of Alba when she died. Later, in the 1950s, Picasso wanted to paint her because Goya had painted one of her ancestors. However, the duchess decided against it as she thought that being painted by the communist Picasso in the fascist political climate of Spain would have caused too much of a scandal. That didn’t stop her, however, from bringing Picasso paintings to a private showroom in Seville which led to her being labelled as ‘left-wing’.
After her first husband died in 1972, she married former Jesuit priest Jesús Aguirre. When he died in 2001, she expressed a wish to marry Alfonso Díez Carabantes, a civil servant who was 24 years her junior, which worried her family. However, in 2008, the House of Alba released a statement which said that their relationship ‘was based on a long friendship and there are no plans to marry’. Despite this, the two married in 2011.
The Duchess of Alba, Spain’s richest woman and one of its most eccentric figures, has died aged 88 in Seville.
Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart had more titles than any other aristocrat and owned palaces and an extensive property portfolio as well as paintings by Goya and Velazquez.
She died at home on Thursday after a short illness.
The duchess is survived by her husband of three years, Alfonso Diez, who is 25 years her junior.
The Duchess of Alba was the head of one of Spain’s oldest noble families.
Her coffin was taken to the city council building in Seville, where relatives, dignitaries and members of the public paid their respects.
