The Duchess of Alba and The Priest That Loved Her

The Duchess of Alba marries Jesus Aguirre while her eldest son, the Duke of Huescar, looks on.

As we continue to commemorate the recently-announced marriage of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Solis, 18th Duchess of Alba to Alfonso Diez, a "civil servant", the present is a convenient time to take a look back at the last (second) marriage of the duchess, which was to a former priest named Jesus Aguirre in 1978.  As we know, the duchess's first husband, Pedro Luis Martinez de Irujo had passed away in 1972, and the duchess took six years to make it to the altar with the fallen priest that she loved and who seemed to love her.  At this point (in 1978), the Duchess had begun to acquire a bit of the look that she has carried with her to the present: large, afro-like shock of red hair as coiffure, and subtle smile to her closed-lipped, drawn in face.  The second marriage of the duchess took place in her primary Madrid residence, the Palacio de Liria, a sumptuous palace museum in the center of town.  The duchess remained married to Jesus Aguirre until his death in 2001.  At that point, the duchess had been married to her two husbands for a total of 48 years (1947-1972 and 1978-2001).   As can be discerned from the picture below, the duchess's family assisted in the private wedding with Aguirre at the Palacio de Liria, but it seems that, with the present family opposition to Mr. Diez, they shall not be assisting at her forthcoming marriage.  Oh well.  She has plenty of time to make another visit to Dr. Chop-en-Stein, elite plastic surgeon to the mentally numb, fickle, and vain, while she attempts to sort things out with her sons.

Click image to enlarge

"A fallen priest is the perfect husband because he can explain to me what the fuck is going on when we go to Mass!  Me gusta!"

Cayetana Is At It Again: Duchess of Alba To Marry Gigolo

"Do I tengo el tiempo to go to el Doctor Chop-en-Stein antes de mi WEDDING?"

And by "gigolo" I mean "civil servant" because if you are the direct descendant of the Stuart Kings of Scotland and England a "civil servant" is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.  She might as well have married the stable boy or the chimney sweep (Yes, I realize that a "chimney sweep" is an essentially British reference).  Let's just be honest.  But Cayetana Fitz-James-Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba and Grandee of Spain (in addition to 45 other titles) has never been one to follow the rules, the latest trends, perhaps, but not the rules.  Just look at her.  Her Excellency is doing her utmost to give Jocelyn Wildenstein (AKA the Bride of Wildenstein) a run for her money in the plastic surgery department.  But somehow the Duchess of Alba is able to pull off her surgeries with a measure of grace that one might expect from a royal descendant.  Before I am accused of pandering to the royals and aristocrats like an on-the-make Edwardian rake, how often do we get to see an actual blue blood do to their face what the Duchess of Alba has done to her own?

A ravishing Duchess of Alba with her fallen priest/second husband, Jesus Aguirre.  Take that, fucking Catholicos!

Although the Duchess of Alba has been linked to numerous people throughout the years (the ubiquitous flamenco dancers, matadors, etc.), I was surprised to be reminded that this is only her third marriage.  Mentally, I had given her an extra two or three, but I suppose I was confusing her with Elizabeth Taylor.  Her first marriage, of course, was to another aristocrat, Luis Martinez de Irujo, in 1947.  Her second marriage was the stuff of which 70s TV movies, telenovelas, and pillow books are made of: Her Excellency entered into blessed union with a former priest, the aptly named Jesus Aguirre.  As controversial as the marriage was at the time, the two seemed smitten with one another in wedding photographs and of course, it was de rigeur in the 70s to go against the grain and who would the duchess be if she did not follow the latest trends?  Now, the Duchess of Alba is set to marry Alfonso Diez, who comes in at a sprightly 61 years old to her (gasp) 85.  Well, she looks good for 85.  Details are still forthcoming, but perhaps, like the duchess's first marriage, this boda will take place in Seville, amidst the stifling idiocy of the other grandees of Spain.

La Familia de la Duquesa de Alba

Spain Week on this blog is officially over, but that doesn't mean we cannot take a closer look at the family of one of the most fascinating aristocrats in the world, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, Duquesa of Alba (Duchess of Alba).  The premier grandee in Spain, the Duchess of Alba is known for her colorful life, interesting and heavily-surgerized face, and great wealth.  But she, in fact, is the matriarch of one of the most important families in Spain and her children and grandchildren occasionally fall by the way side (at least in the international press) when it comes to media coverage.  Let's take a look at them, in particular three of her children and a couple of her grandchildren (as well as her new squeeze Alfonso Diez).

The whole Alba clan.

The eldest son of the Duchess, the 14th Duke of Huescar

The Duchess of Alba's daughter, the Duchess of Montoro (in the center)

The Duke of Huescar's eldest son, Fernando Fitz-James Stuart y Solis

Another grandson of the Duchess of Alba, Jacobo, the son of the 23rd Count of Siruela

The Duchess of Alba's love interest, Alfonso Diez, is 24 years her junior

The Many Looks of the Duchess of Alba

Spain Week on Robots in Masquerade is almost over so let's take another look at Her Excellency Cayetano Fit-James Stuart y Silva, Duchess of Alba.  These are some of her many looks over the years.  It's hard to believe that all of these pictures are of the same person, isn't it?

The Duchess of Alba marrying her second husband, a former priest

The 1947 Marriage of The Duchess of Alba

To commemorate Her Excellency The Duchess of Alba landing the cover of Vanity Fair Spain, we have decided to go back in time and take a look at the 1947 marriage of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva (then known as the Duchess of Montoro) to her first husband Luis Martinez de Irujo.  She married the son of the Duke of Sotomayor on October 12, 1947 in Seville and it was considered by some "the last great aristocratic marriage in Spain".  It appears here that the natural color of the duchess's hair is brown or auburn.  She resorted to dyeing it blond and then pure red in later life.

The Duchess of Montoro (Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart) with her father the 17th Duke of Alba (on her right) and her husband Luis Martinez de Irujo (on her left)

The Duchess of Montoro with her parents

The Duchess of Montoro cutting her fabulous cake with her new husband

An incredible newspaper clipping showing the marriage in Seville on October 12, 1947

The Duchess of Alba, Plastic Surgery Addict, On The Cover of Vanity Fair

The Duchess of Alba is 85 years-old.  Phil Poynter/Vanity Fair

Her Excellency Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain, a descendant of the Stuart kings of Scotland and England, is on the cover of the June issue of Vanity Fair Spain and actually looks somewhat better than usual.  The 85 year-old aristocrat is one of the most famous plastic surgery addicts in Europe, and a fixture in the Spanish social scene.  She represents a remnant of one of the most exclusive, and unusual, European aristocracies and her ancestors resided in a court that was (along with Court of Austria) the most rigid and formal in Europe.  Spain, unlike most European noble establishments, allows titles to easily be inherited by women and transmitted through women to their descendants and the Duchess of Alba became the most titled person in Spain (outside of the royal family) when she inherited more than three dozen titles (including seven dukedoms) from her parents, in the 1950s.  Indeed, the mother of seven has a fascinating personal and family history that has not been adequately examined by the American press.  The Duchess is a tigress and we have not seen the last of her on Robots in Masquerade.

Her Excellency The Duchess of Alba in 1956.  She was quite a beauty, especially for Spain where the noble ladies do not have the reputation for looks.

The Plastic Surgery of the Duchess of Alba

The Duchess of Alba in 1956.  She's always had full lips, which she has exaggerated with lip injections.

The Duchess of Alba is one of the premier grandees of the Kingdom of Spain, holding the Guinness record for most titles of a single person in the world.  Her full name is Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva 18th Duchess of Alba, and she is a descendant of King James II of England and Scotland, through the Dukes of Berwick.  She was born in 1926 and was a great beauty in her youth.  The duchess is currently 85 years old.  What she is perhaps best known for outside of Spain is her flamboyant personality and numerous surgical procedures.  Even the casual observer can spot the tell-tale signs of fat injections to the face, multiple rhinoplasties, and botox.  The following are the likely procedures that Her Excellency the Duchess of Alba has likely undergone: (1) face lift, (2) brow lift, (3) multiple rhinoplasties, (4) collagen or silicone lip injections, (5) fat injections to the face, (6) botox.  Because the duchess seems rather thin to begin with, it is unlikely that she has had face and neck liposuction, which is a rather common procedure for people that are plastic surgery addicted. The fat injections in particular (in addition to the botox) have assisted in eliminating the lines and wrinkles from her face, but rather than gaining the appearance of a healthy young beauty, she looks like a card carrying member of the undead or Jocelyn Wildenstein (a famous plastic surgery addict in New York).

The Duchess of Alba on the right with the Duchess of Cornwall in Spain last week