Inside the Wild and Controversial Life of the Eccentric Duchess of Alba, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart

María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba, was born on March 28th, 1926, in Madrid’s Liria Palace. Her full name was — you may need to pause to take a deep breath.

María del Rosario Cayetana Paloma Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Fernanda Teresa Francisca de Paula Lourdes Antonia Josefa Fausta Rita Castor Dorotea Santa Esperanza Fitz-James Stuart y Silva. And breathe! Now, since her birth name is a bit of a mouthful, you’ll be glad to know we’ll refer to her as Cayetana.

Cayetana was the only child of Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, the 17th Duke of Alba, and María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, the 9th Marchioness of San Vicente del Barco. They are one of Spain’s oldest aristocratic families, dating back to the 1400s. Cayetana was the eighth great-granddaughter of King James II of England and Arabella Churchill.

She was also related to Mary, Queen of Scots, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Winston Churchill. So, she had the bluest of royal blood running through her veins!

In 1935, her mother unexpectedly passed away from tuberculosis, and the eight-year-old girl became The Most Excellent The Duchess of Aliaga. She and her family lived a privileged life in their stunning neoclassical palace in Spain’s capital, Madrid. However, behind the scenes, the country was in turmoil.

After establishing the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, the royal family — led by King Alfonso XIII — was forced into exile. Yet things were about to get worse for Cayetana, her royal family, and the citizens of Spain.

The Spanish Civil War began in 1936 and lasted until 1939. After General Franco’s victory, he declared the country a military dictatorship. Franco effectively abolished the monarchy, and Cayetana’s family had to go into hiding. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, the family fled to Paris and then London, where her father had been appointed General Franco’s ambassador.

Spain’s legitimate ruler, King Alfonso XIII, passed away in exile in Rome in 1941, leaving General Franco to rule Spain with an iron fist.

Although General Franco ruled Spain as a dictator, he decided the monarchy should be restored after his passing. However, Franco chose King Alfonso XIII’s grandson, Juan Carlos, to become king, believing he would continue his legacy and authoritarian regime. In 1947, Franco declared Spain a kingdom but left the throne vacant.

Franco brought Juan Carlos back to Spain, where he was groomed to be a loyal successor to the Francoist regime, with the expectation he would preserve the dictatorship’s values.

Meanwhile, in England, as bombs fell on London, Cayetana dined with her distant cousin, Winston Churchill, and played with the future Queen and her younger sister. The Spanish Duchess and Princess Margaret became close childhood friends and greatly influenced each other. Both became strong, independent, outspoken, rebellious women who defied the rules whenever possible.

One way in which Cayetana and Princess Margaret were similar was their choice of men. They both famously chased love and pursued toy boys who weren’t exactly royal material…

In October 1947, 21-year-old Cayetana married Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artázcoz, the son of the Duke of Sotomayor. She wore a diamond and pearl crown and arrived at Seville Cathedral in a horse-drawn carriage as 2,500 guests and hundreds of thousands packed the streets.

The New York Times called it the most expensive wedding in the world, costing a whopping 20 million pesetas, over $10 million today. The wedding was so grand it overshadowed Princess Elizabeth’s wedding a month later!

After Spain’s most expensive wedding, Cayetana and Luis Martínez took a six-month-long honeymoon. Showing off one of the five languages she spoke, the newlyweds spent time in Hollywood, where Cayetana socialized with film stars like Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, Bing Crosby, James Stewart, and Walt Disney.

The Duchess described German actress Marlene Dietrich as a “veritable goddess,” but Marilyn Monroe didn’t impress her. Cayetana said, “She did not make much of an impression on me.”

On October 2nd, 1948, a year after they tied the knot, Cayetana and Luis Martínez welcomed their first child and heir, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 19th Duke of Alba. Their son is still alive today and heads the House of Alba, one of the most prominent families of the Spanish aristocracy.

In 1988, Cayetana’s son and heir, Carlos, married Matilde de Solís-Beaumont y Martínez de Campos, again in Seville Cathedral. However, the ceremony wasn’t quite as grand as his parents’ big day.

Two years later, Cayetana had another son, Alfonso Martínez de Irujo y Fitz-James Stuart, the 18th Duke of Híjar. Then, in 1953, her father passed away due to complications following lung surgery. Cayetana inherited her father’s impressive array of titles, including 18 Countdoms, 14 Grandees, and five Dukedoms, including the Duchy of Berwick.

The list is too long to name her, but she eventually inherited 57 noble titles, securing her as the world’s most titled noble, including the late Queen Elizabeth II of England.

She also inherited his many estates, including Madrid’s stunning 18th-century Palacio de Liria, which she brought back to its magnificent best after its facades were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. Cayetana was an avid art collector, and the palace now boasts the family’s vast art collection.

Liria Palace houses paintings by both old and modern masters, including works by Goya, Titian, El Greco, Rubens, Renoir, and Pablo Picasso. It also houses a 1605 first edition of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Christopher Columbus’s logbook, and his first map of America.

The Duchess inherited her father’s love for the arts from an early age. Her dad, Jacobo, had filled their family home in Madrid with 250 priceless paintings. But she also loved modern art, such as photography. In her youth, she posed for British and American photographers Cecil Beaton and Richard Avedon and graced the cover of Time magazine.

Pablo Picasso wanted Cayetana to pose to recreate the Goya’s La Maja Desnuda of the 13 Duchess of Alba, but she snubbed the great Spanish artist.

Stepping into her father’s shoes, Cayetana began masterfully managing the media. Over the decades, she transformed her family’s public image from a traditional old money dynasty into a modern family of celebrity luminaries and philanthropists. A free-spirited, fashionable, artistic woman ran the family, not some stuffy old Duke.

The Spanish public fell in love with her colorful personality, flamboyant fashion sense, elaborate hairstyles, and refusal to conform to royal expectations. They also lapped up the gossip and drama that followed her.

In the ’50s and ’60s, Cayetana had four more children — three sons and one daughter. Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Martínez de Irujo, 23rd Count of Siruela, was born in 1954. Fernando Martínez de Irujo y Fitz-James Stuart, 11th Marquis of San Vicente del Barco came along in 1959.

Four years later, they welcomed Cayetano Martínez de Irujo y Fitz-James Stuart, 4th Duke of Arjona, 13th Count of Salvatierra. Finally, much to her delight, Cayetana produced a daughter, Eugenia Martínez de Irujo, 12th Duchess of Montor, in 1968.

When she wasn’t popping out Dukes and Duchesses, Cayetana was busy being Spain’s most celebrated socialite. In 1959, the Duchess and fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent hosted a Dior charity at her Liria Palace. When she wasn’t hosting charity events, she entertained royals, movie stars, and political shakers…

Audrey Hepburn, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Wallis Simpson, Jackie Kennedy, Tom Cruise, and the King and Queen of Greece all visited her palace in Madrid.

Cayetana lived in the lap of luxury, bringing up her six children and entertaining famous guests in the palace. But then, in the early 1970s, Cayetana’s husband, Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artázcoz, was diagnosed with leukemia. He traveled to the United States for treatment but tragically passed away on September 6th, 1972, in Houston, Texas, leaving the Duchess heartbroken.

Cayetana was Spain’s biggest landowner by this time, owning 34,000 hectares. For comparison, the Principality of Monaco could fit into that space 170 times.

General Franco passed away on November 20th, 1975, and just two days later, Juan Carlos became the King of Spain. The official restoration of the Spanish monarchy under King Juan Carlos I marked the end of the royal family’s lengthy exile after more than four decades of military dictatorship.

King Juan Carlos immediately dismantled Franco’s authoritarian regime and established a constitutional, parliamentary monarchy, which was finally ratified in 1978.

However, instead of being Franco’s puppet successor as the dictator planned, King Juan Carlos I rehabilitated the public’s perception of the Spanish royal family. And he wasn’t the only one. Cayetana also worked hard. Just as she had transformed the country’s view of the aristocracy, she became a favorite in public, magazines, and television.

With her famous thatch of frizzy hair — sometimes dyed red, other times platinum blonde — and her squeaky voice, Cayetana helped King Juan Carlos turn Spain into a nation of loyal monarchists.

Then, in 1978, Cayetana rocked Spanish society by marrying Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate. He was a Doctor of Theology, an academic, and a writer. As a former Jesuit priest, Aguirre had also received her confession, which is a big no-no in such a religious country.

But perhaps worst of all, he was eight years her junior and had been born out of wedlock. In short, Spain’s most titled noblewoman married an illegitimate son who had given up his career to marry Spain’s richest woman.

Spanish high society was up in arms over her marriage to an illegitimate commoner. Haters gonna hate, and many labeled her new husband a social climber. But Cayetana didn’t care, not only was she in love with Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate, she was the happiest she’d ever been.

One year after their scandalous union, she told People magazine in 1979, “Some people won’t forgive me for having married an intelligent man. We are very happy together; we don’t need anyone else.”

The deliriously happy, re-married Duchess continued to enjoy an incredibly active social life and worshipped all things Spanish. She loved the Spanish pastime of flamenco dancing and adored bullfighting. She could often be seen wearing a mantilla — a traditional Spanish lace veil — in the best seats in the house at bullfights in her hometown of Seville.

We’re not sure if it was the bullfighting or the bullfighters she went to see. In her younger days, rumors swirled that the Duchess had taken many handsome matadors as lovers!

Speaking of Latin lovers, it’s reported that Cayetana and Aguirre’s love for each other was so passionate that the Duchesses’ husband once sent lyrics he had written for his wife to Spanish singer, songwriter, and former Real Madrid reserve team goalkeeper Julio Iglesias.

Sadly, the infamous Latin crooner refused to use Aguirre’s lyrics in his songs because they were “too steamy.” Maybe Julio’s son, Enrique Iglesias, can use the lyrics in one of his more racy songs.

Upon marrying Cayetana, Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate became the Duke of Alba, one of Spain’s highest-ranking titles. Over the years, he embraced his role in managing the Alba family’s vast estate and preserving the family’s art collections.

During their 23-year-long marriage, he administered their land and art collections with the Duchess’ first child and heir — his stepson Carlos — at his side. Then, in 2001, Cayetana’s beloved husband Aguirre passed away, leaving the Duchess widowed and heartbroken for a second time.

In her youth, Cayetana was renowned for her beauty, but as the ravages of time aged her, she turned to cosmetic surgery. The Duchess allegedly had more than 60 surgeries, which elongated her face, while filler injections reduced her eyes to pinholes.

The Daily Mail wrote that with her frizzy ‘poodle’ hairstyle, “Her face was so tightened by repeated plastic surgery that she often looked like a Pekingese with Botox.” A family friend admitted that she “clearly took it too far.”

After her second husband passed away, the world assumed the Duchess would live out her autumn years leading a dignified life on her lonesome. But this is Cayetana, so she had other plans! In her 80s — while still rocking loud dresses and designer jackets, fishnet stockings, and beaded anklets — Cayetana found love again in the most unlikely places.

On a trip to a movie theater, Cayetana met a stranger named Alfonso Díez Carabantes, a civil servant who owned a PR agency. However, she soon changed her story.

Cayetana said she had first met Alfonso through her late husband in the 1980s. They rekindled their friendship and started dating in the mid-2000s, and she soon expressed her wish to marry him. However, this time, there was a massive 24-year age gap. Once again, Spanish high society insisted a man was after the Duchess’ fortune.

Cayetana’s children were the first to object to their mother marrying a man a quarter of a century her junior. Next, King Juan Carlos openly labeled Alfonso a gold digger!

Cayetana lived much of her later life in Seville. In 2006, the southern Spanish province named her a Favorite Daughter of Andalusia. This accolade sparked protests among local farm workers who felt she led such a luxurious life that she didn’t deserve the title.

The controversial Duchess came out swinging and called the farmers “delinquents” and “a handful of nuts that I don’t care about.” The farmers took her to court. The judge ordered Cayetana to pay a fine but acquitted her on appeal.

In 2008, the 530-year-old House of Alba issued a statement saying that the vivacious Duchess’ relationship with Alfonso “was based on a long friendship, and there are no plans to marry.” But yet again, this is Cayetana we’re talking about, and she’s nothing if not flighty.

Within three years, their relationship had deepened to the point that marriage looked on the cards. But it wasn’t going to be easy with her family, the king, and half of Spain standing in the way.

Cayetana’s six horrified children tried to stop the marriage because they feared they’d lose their massive inheritances. But her kids had nothing to worry about as their mom had come up with a deal to divide her fortune between her children so that her new husband couldn’t inherit her wealth.

After much negotiation, Alfonso — the man the king had called a golddigger — signed a formal document renouncing any claims to her wealth and ensuring that her legacy would be preserved for her children.

The 85-year-old went on Spanish radio to lay down the law to her children. She told listeners that all of her children had been divorced, so they had no right to give her lectures on morality… “I don’t know why my children are causing problems. We aren’t hurting anyone.”

She continued, “Alfonso doesn’t want anything; he’s renounced everything. He doesn’t want anything but me.” Taking no prisoners, she also accused one of her daughters-in-law of being “lying, wicked and covetous.”

The Duchess of Alba married Alfonso Díez Carabantes on October 5th, 2011, at her home, the Palacio de las Dueñas in Seville. The wedding was a small celebration, but thousands of fans waited outside the palace to cheer the newlywed couple.

While the wedding celebrations were in full swing, 85-year-old Cayetana hoiked up her dress to perform an energetic flamenco dance for the spectators. She confessed she wasn’t quite the “mover and shaker” she had been in her youth.

The Duchess and Alfonso didn’t spend much time together, but they were happy. She described her new husband as “a fantastic person. He has completely changed my life.” Shortly before their marriage, he told Vanity Fair magazine, “Together, we have a wonderful time. She’s always asking: What shall we do next? She’s unstoppable. It often seems that I’m the older of the two.”

However, time waits for no man or woman, and ill health kept her out of the public eye and gossip magazines in her final years.

However, Cayetana did have one final message before she kicked off her shoes and danced the flamenco off this mortal coil. Shortly before she passed away, Cayetana told an interviewer, “I confess I am thinking of keeping on living although it’s only so I can enjoy the expression on people’s faces when I point at them and say: ‘I’m going to bury you all.'”

To the end, Spain’s beloved, outspoken, alien-looking, eccentric aristocrat retained her zest for life and wicked humor.

Just three years after they walked down the aisle, Cayetana passed away after suffering from pneumonia, surrounded by family in the Palacio de las Dueñas on November 19th, 2014. She was 88 years old. Thousands of Spanish citizens paid their respects as her body lay in repose in Seville’s Town Hall.

Cayetana’s funeral was held at Seville Cathedral, and she was buried at the Iglesia De Los Gitanos. Photographs of the Duchess with her family adorned her coffin.

Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, paid his respects, while the new King of Spain, Felipe VI — who had only been in office for five months after his father, King Juan Carlos’ abdication — telephoned her son. ​​The Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo, represented the Spanish royal family.

The Mayor of Seville, Juan Ignacio Zoido, said, “Cayetana always had Seville in her heart, and for this reason, she will always remain in Seville’s heart, too.” Then, he lowered Seville’s flags to mourn the city’s lost Duchess.

Upon Cayetana’s passing, her eldest son, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 14th Duke of Huéscar, inherited all his mother’s Alba titles. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Cayetana was the most titled person in the world; she was a Duchess seven times over, a Countess 22 times, a 14-time Grandee of Spain, and a Marquesa 24 times.

That record is now held by another member of the Spanish aristocracy, Princess Victoria of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 20th Duchess of Medinaceli. She only has 43 titles.

The 18th Duchess of Alba was also Spain’s richest woman. Her wealth came from being Spain’s most significant private landowner, owning palaces, castles, country houses, and estates across the country. Some claim you could traverse Spain from north to south without leaving her estates.

When Cayetana passed, she was estimated to be worth $5 billion. But despite her riches, she always insisted she was not wealthy. She once joked, “I have a lot of artworks, but I can’t eat them, can I?”

Shortly before Cayetana passed, she wrote in her second autobiography, “I’m Cayetana de Alba… I’ve got half a dozen other names and several titles, too…” This force of nature was the last symbol of the golden age of the Spanish Grandees. She lived life by her own rules and never suffered fools gladly.

From her toy boy husbands to her flamboyant wardrobe and love of flamenco dancing, Cayetana always lived with an unmatched joie de vivre, vibrant personality, and unique look.

The Duchess left behind six children and eight grandchildren. When her eldest son, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 14th Duke of Huéscar and 19th Duke of Alba, passes away, her handsome grandson, Fernando Juan Fitz-James Stuart y de Solís, the 17th Duke of Huéscar and the heir to the Dukedom of Alba, will continue Cayetana’s legacy.

He married Sofía Palazuelo Barroso on October 6th, 2018, in the chapel of the Palacio de Liria in Madrid. His grandmother would have been so proud.

Two years later, ​​on September 8th, 2020, Fernando and Sofía had a daughter, Rosario Matilde Sofía Cayetana Dolores Teresa. Then, on January 10th, 2023, they had a second daughter, whom they named Sofía.

But the Duke was asked to rename his newborn daughter as he gave her the name Sofia Fernanda Dolores Cayetana Teresa Angela de la Cruz Micaela del Santisimo Sacramento del Perpetuo Socorro de la Santisima Trinidad y de Todos Los Santos. And breathe!