Tom PowellTHE eccentric Duchess of Alba has died aged 88.
The Spanish aristocrat, one of the richest women in the world, was adored by the Spanish people and often featured in celebrity magazines.
She was initially admitted to the emergency ward at Sagrado Corazon hospital in Sevilla with pneumonia on Sunday evening.
She was said to be in a serious but not critical condition on Monday and was then taken home to be with her six children and her 64-year-old husband Alfonso Díez.
But this morning her death was confirmed by the mayor of Sevilla Juan Ignacio Zoido, where she has lived for the last few years.
The Duchess – Maria del Rosario Fitz-James Stuart – claimed to hold more titles than any other aristocrat in the world.
She had a fortune estimated at €3billion, making her Spain’s wealthiest woman and one of the richest women in the world.
She married for the third time three years ago, after outliving both of her previous husbands.
She lived with her new husband – 25 years her junior – in the Duenas Palace in Sevilla, where they had a cinema screen installed because of her love for films.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, she was a duchess seven times over, a countess 19 times and a marquesa 23 times.
She was also distantly related to the Queen of England and Winston Churchill.
She was a total character and will be sadly missed. They don’t make aristos like her anymore.
I agree Paellataffy. I love that she lived life on her own terms.