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The Duchess of Alba, the grandest grandee in Spain, is said to be able to cross the country from north to south without leaving her estates.
But despite wealth and the bluest of blue blood, Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, 82, is being denied her heart's desire after her children scotched her plans to marry an antique dealer 24 years her junior.
Furious at their opposition, the feisty duchess plans to petition Spain's Queen Sofia to intercede in her favour.
The House of Alba fears for the safety of a sumptuous patrimony should the twice-widowed duchess marry a third time. She is mistress of a fabulous collection of estates, palaces and art, including portraits by Goya of an ancestor said to have been his lover.
Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart has never been camera shy. With her piping, querulous voice and eye-popping outfits, she is constantly in the public eye at society weddings and bullfights featuring her ex-son-in-law Francisco Rivera Orduoez, a popular torero.
Since the death of her second husband seven years ago, she has enjoyed a close relationship with an old family friend, Alfonso Diez Carabantes, 58, and wants to marry him. Plans for a secret ceremony were apparently well advanced before the family found out by chance.
Backed, it is said, by King Juan Carlos, they vetoed the match.
Some gossip columnists hint that Diez is little more than a gold-digger seducing a frail old woman estranged from her children. Others say it's a bit much if Spain's top aristocrat cannot choose her own partner for her twilight years.
Spain's royals have a deciding voice in matters concerning theHouse of Alba, so the headstrong Cayetana has sought an audiencewith Queen Sofia to enlist hersupport.
"They don't want me to marry, but they change partners more often than I do," the duchess complained about her six children, all of whose high-profile marriages ended in divorce.
The saga bounced into public view a week ago when the national news agency Efe published the following brief communique issued by the House of Alba: "In the light of reports about the relationship between the Duchess of Alba and Alfonso Diez, this House emphasises only the affectionate friendship between the duchess and Mr Diez, there being no plans whatsoever of matrimony."
The curious declaration seems to have been wrenched unwillingly from the duchess by her family in a vain attempt to stem months of tittle-tattle.
A dazzling beauty in her youth, possessor of 44 noble titles and 150 hereditary ones, the duchess is said to have enjoyed a lively love life. The father of her fourth son, Fernando, is widely reported not to have been her first husband but a Sevillian flamenco dancer. Her second husband was a former Jesuit priest.
Her sons Carlos, Alfonso and Cayetano are said to oppose the match, while Jacobo, Fernando and Eugenia want their mother to do what makes her happy. At present, Carlos, her eldest son, stands to inherit everything.
- INDEPENDENT
