Former Jesuit Married Spanish Royalty

A dazzling beauty in her youth, possessor of 44 noble titles and 150 hereditary ones, today's duchess is renowned for her forthright character, forged during a high-rolling spell in England in the Second World War where her father, the 17th Duke, was Spanish ambassador in London.

In 1947 She married Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artacoz, son of the Dukes of Sotomayor, in "the most expensive wedding in the world". The couple lived mostly in the ancestral Las Dueñas palace in Seville, and had six children. She is said to have enjoyed a lively love life. The father of her fourth son, Fernando, is widely reported not to have been her husband but the Sevillian flamenco dancer Antonio el Bailarin.

After her husband's death in 1972, the duchess controversially married the free-thinking former Jesuit priest Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate, in 1978. On his death in 2001, the title and property reverted to Cayetana. Dedicated Alba-watchers say her six children are split over their mother's marriage plans.

Link (here) to the full story.

More on the former Jesuit (here) , (here) and (here)

Photo is Jesus Aguirre in the center and Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart the 18th Duchess of Alba on the right.