WITH an estimated wealth of €3.5 billion and more than 40 official titles, she was the world’s most noble aristocrat and one of Spain’s wealthiest.
The Duquesa de Alba’s vast holdings included over 40 estates, palaces, and castles, notably Palacio de Las Dueñas in Sevilla and Liria Palace in Madrid.
So wealthy was her family, it was said she could travel the length and breadth of Spain without leaving her properties.
And she was a huge Anglophile having dined with Winston Churchill and partied with Princess Margaret.
In an exclusive interview with the Olive Press in 2011 – one of the few she ever gave in English – she revealed she was ‘not a fan of bike lanes’ and Picasso had wanted to paint her ‘in the nude’.
READ EDITOR JON CLARKE’S INTERVIEW WITH THE DUQUESA: Despite new topless pics of the Duquesa: ‘Why they wouldn’t let Picasso paint me in the nude!’
Now a new exhibition is celebrating the extraordinary life of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart at her former palace home in Sevilla.
Marking the centenary of her birth, the Palacio de Las Dueñas show features 200 artworks and other personal items.
Curated by her daughter, it highlights her influence as a cultural icon and art collector.
The Duchess spent much of her childhood in London while her father served as Spain’s ambassador to Britain, telling us in 2011 she was a ‘big fan’ of Marks & Spencer and Selfridges.
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Throughout her life, her personal relationships captivated the nation. At 21, she married fellow aristocrat Luis Martinez de Irujo with whom she had six children.
Following his death, she surprised Spain by marrying a Catholic priest, before a later marriage to PR man Alfonso Diez drew the disapproval of the monarchy.
She resolved family objections by dividing her fortune among her six children before marrying Diez in 2011, when she was 85 and he was 61.
A passionate aficionado of bullfighting and a devoted patron of Spanish culture, the Duchess often took the seat of honour at the ring in Sevilla.
She died in 2014 at the Palacio de las Dueñas.
The exhibition promises to be a fitting tribute to the larger-than-life Duchess and runs until August 31.
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