The 85-year-old Duchess of Alba’s latest romance with Alfonso Diez was crowned yesterday as she married for the third time.
Duchess of Alba said few months ago she believed that “every great love story should end in marriage”.
One of Spain’s richest and best-loved public figures, Duchess of Alba walked down the aisle with a toyboy 25 years her junior.
A crowd of several hundred clapped and roared its approval as the Duchess of Alba waved and danced on a red carpet following her wedding to Alfonso Diez at Palacio de las Duenas, at her opulent 15th-century residence in the cobble-stoned old quarter of Seville.
Duchess of Alba, who is a distant relative of Winston Churchill and Princess Diana, went ahead with the marriage to 60-year-old civil servant Alfonso Diez despite her children’s qualms.
It emerged in August that Duchess of Alba has divided her fortune between her six children to convince them that her suitor is besotted with her rather than her money.
And the duchess certainly seemed like a young girl in love, celebrating after the ceremony by kicking off her shoes and dancing a bit of flamenco.
Known now for her frizzy white hair, squeaky voice and wildly colorful clothes, Duchess of Alba is among Spain’s most famous people.
And scandal threatened to overshadow the day when earlier this week the Spanish magazine Interviu published a 30-year-old photograph of Duchess of Alba sunbathing topless in Ibiza.
Duchess of Alba’s lawyer Javier Saavedra said:
“We are considering suing for interfering with her rights to privacy.”
While hundreds of well-wishers and press gathered outside the gates only a few dozen family members and close friends were invited to the Duchess of Alba’s wedding ceremony.
The twice-widowed duchess wore a pale pink knee-length dress by Spanish designers Victorio y Lucchino on Tuesday.
Duchess of Alba full name is Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva.
The duchess goes by simply Cayetana, and is a distant relative of Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill.
Duchess of Alba and Alfonso Diez, a social security administration employee, are old acquaintances through her second husband, who was a former priest, and Diez’s brother.
They bumped into each other about three years ago outside a movie theater in Madrid and eventually started dating.
Duchess of Alba’ six children, all from her first marriage, reportedly balked when the idea of marriage emerged.
In July of this year Duchess of Alba assigned them and her grandchildren juicy chunks of her vast estate, including mansions and palaces, in an effort to appease them.
Estimates of duchess wealth range from 600million and 3.5billion euros.
Duchess of Alba’s fortune includes palaces and mansions throughout Spain, paintings by the likes of Velazquez, Goya and Rubens and huge stretches of land.
Two of the children did not attend the wedding.
Her only daughter, Eugenia, was reported to hospitalized in Madrid with chicken pox, while one of her sons, named Jacobo and reportedly unhappy with his slice of the family fortune – was said to be traveling outside Spain.
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