When we think about royalty, we automatically picture Queen Elizabeth II and her extremely popular family. The British monarchy has become one of the most famous and renowned ones in the world; however, when it comes to the number of nobility titles, the crown does not belong to the most long-lived queen in history, but to a Spanish Duchess, contemporary to Queen Elizabeth, that could’ve actually claimed the throne of Scotland had it been independent. Who was this woman?
María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, best known as the 18th Duchess of Alba, was a polemic carefree woman who lived her life to the fullest, even beyond royal protocol. Born in 1926 in Madrid, she was the third woman in the history of Spain to hold the title of Duchess of Alba.
Cayetana was a descendant of King George II of the United Kingdom, through his illegitimate son, who by the way, was conceived with the King’s mistress Arabella Churchill. You guessed right, ancestor of the great politician and renowned British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. But let’s go back to Cayetana.
The Duchess of Alba spent her first childhood years in Spain; however, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Cayetana and her father went into exile and moved to the United Kingdom, where her father, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, was appointed ambassador. During this time, Cayetana hobnobbed with the British nobility and elite; as a matter of fact, Cayetana and a young Queen Elizabeth were very close friends and actually related.
During the forties, and with the imposition of Francoism in Spain, the Spanish monarchy was relatively safe, for which Cayetana and her father moved back to their home country. In the late seventies, Cayetana got married to her first husband, Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artázcoz, a popular Spanish noble with whom she had six children. He would be the first of three marriages.
If being the person with the most titles in history wasn’t astonishing enough, you might want to know that this wedding was dubbed at the time as the most expensive wedding in history. To mention one of the luxurious elements that made this wedding so expensive, let’s just say that Cayetana wore a diamond crown that had belonged to Eugenia de Montijo, wife to Napoleon III and thus, Empress of France.
As most royals do, Cayetana had a privileged education based on politics, history, culture, and art, a world that would become one of her greatest passions. The Duchess of Alba was an artist herself, but she’s best remembered for her work as patron and muse of great artists of her time, including the one and only Pablo Picasso, with whom he shares an interesting story.
In the late eighteenth century, one of Spain’s finest artists, Francisco de Goya, created a set of paintings on the then Duchess of Alba. It’s even said that Goya’s iconic Naked Maja was that other Cayetana, but that’s another story. Legend has it, Picasso wanted to follow Goya’s steps and give Spain a new icon of the Duchess of Alba by portraying his very close friend Cayetana. The painting never happened, but their artistic bond was as iconic as the painting would’ve been.
One of the things that made Cayetana, the Duchess of Alba, so iconic was her complete lack of care about royal protocols and rules. As an old woman, Cayetana was devoted to living her best. She was seen dancing flamenco at red carpets, she would go to the beach wearing sexy bikinis, and probably her biggest controversy, she married a younger man with whom she was often seen having lots of fun.
Cayetana passed on November 20, 2014. And even after almost seven years of her demise, she’s still the person that holds more nobility titles in history. To be precise, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, the 18th Duchess of Alba, is the holder of over 40 hereditary titles. Among the most important, she had 7 dukedoms, 1 count-dukedom, 19 marquessates, 22 countships, 1 viscountcy, and 1 lordship. Also, she was appointed Grandee of Spain 14 times, the most prestigious honor in the Spanish nobility hierarchy.
What’s great about the Duchess of Alba, as we’ve mentioned throughout the article, is that despite all this grandeur and status, she always rebelled against the tightening norms of the monarchy and had her way to enjoy life at its fullest without caring about the media or what anyone said.
Photos:
Cover photo: Reduced photo from Flickr: Arxiu del So i de la Imatge (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart Photo: Flickr: In Memoriam Day (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
‘The Black Duchess:’ Public domain work of art.
