Death & Funeral of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba: Nov 20+21, 2014


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
Tarlita said:
I would expect the Dowager Queen Sofia to go to the funeral. Hopefully several of the SRF will go to honor/celebrate her interesting life .
Click to expand...
Last time I checked, King Juan Carlos is alive. Even though the King abdicated, they both kept their titles
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
does anyone know why the SRF wouldn't attend? elena is not even a member of the SRF any longer.
Click to expand...

I'm just guessing here but I would presume that Elena is going as a representative of the family. It is not going to be a state funeral. Perhaps the King and Queen of Spain are similar to their British counterparts in the regard that Queen Elizabeth does not attend funerals (save for members of her own family) but sends a representative.
 
The family have always been loyal to the monarchy, I don't want to sound disrespectful but I think I think the Duchess deserves better than Elena when it comes to her funeral.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
The family have always been loyal to the monarchy, I don't want to sound disrespectful but I think I think the Duchess deserves better than Elena when it comes to her funeral.
Click to expand...

I agree with you, I was expecting at least Queen Sofia to attend. Yesterday she was still in Greece, opening a El Greco exhibition in Athens, I saw her very closely, but she has pleinty of time to reach Seville this morning.

I have always herad that the KJC & QS were very close to the Alba family, and that during the Franco years the Alba family was very supporting to the then young Prince JC and his family. So IMO both JC & S should attend, more that the now King which belongs to another generation.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
does anyone know why the SRF wouldn't attend? elena is not even a member of the SRF any longer.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that Queen Sofia will be attending the Nuevo Futuro with Infanta Pilar in Madrid and that can't be changed.The King has official acts and Queen Letizia will be just back from her visit to Rome.

I'm not sure if King Juan Carlos was close to the Alba family,I know his wife and sisters were.
 
Nuevo Futuro is quite unimportant compared to the event of the funeral. In some years Sofia hasnt attened Nuevo Futuro at all, and she can go whenever she wants, its not an event on a specific day.
 
Tarlita said:
I would expect the Dowager Queen Sofia to go to the funeral. Hopefully several of the SRF will go to honor/celebrate her interesting life .
Click to expand...

Sorry, why "dowager" queen Sofia?
 
Is it any live coverage link? It should start now, I read 12.00 hrs.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
Nuevo Futuro is quite unimportant compared to the event of the funeral. In some years Sofia hasnt attened Nuevo Futuro at all, and she can go whenever she wants, its not an event on a specific day.
Click to expand...

Personally I'd like to have seen Queen Sofia at the funeral and maybe with the Infantas Elena, Pilar and Margarita as they were all close to late Duchess of Alba.
 
Funeral Mass at Seville Cathedral

Belga

Belga Image - Editorial

Hola

http://www.hola.com/actualidad/2014112175178/duquesa-alba-funeral-infanta-elena/


Getty Images

http://www.gettyimages.ie/Search/Search.aspx?query=z.i.H4sIAAAAAAAEAH2T_0rDMBDH26Wd4K_5hw8wEBFRoRVkf4pDJ4Oiok-Qdqn7o11Lsrr5jvpO5rLmch3DQrb75O6-l1yvoVjcPI9_f5J7Nn1PwmnJP4Xved5Mr8Fjk82FUsMqHz4UKfevwbN52Guee_88NtLfl1W1fOOSlypo93qw4gjMSxt_bo0T-Bno1V9_fKuntRXzCRsRjvX91gZdxvMMT2kBFoP_yJQuly7T2YEOLtCBBHmhBlmibBf3IDwG6pv9FDW22KTl_m40KhGq5FsqeVdF-rvRqNyiitxScaw7I_AVATDrMLcB68DGHtne6p6ImnZI1FbjGELikVEQqcIgC6bvwh2H2D2hyDbaTNWuFoAtdYqJX5lLdHZQSTI1SMaVCuqyZMrNVgtXrgUY2EA15D4dYoK7E1DQdk0dCKHqqHWRrSeJeyca0MElORuBQ5VVtRg3i1lBmtjZtYJnoDOK7sy19Dg17kqUdKPJlTTYfBiJcMILJYzCXG5yNo0EsoEXoBK3hdJOWErCrkiYnj_3RVLov4iVUIh_YPLUYKwEAAA.&rid=524647659&rcat=Event&rt=ESP%3a+Funeral+Service+For+Duchess+of+Alba+In+Seville+Cathedral
 
Who are the gentleman and lady sitting on the right side of the late Duchess Husband ?
 
maria-olivia said:
Who are the gentleman and lady sitting on the right side of the late Duchess Husband ?
Click to expand...

I thought the first son of the actual Duke of Alba (Ducessa's first son) and maybe the ex-wife of the Duke (mum of the new hereditary Duke of Alba), but I might ber wrong, but this is the logical order.
 
 
Last edited:
The Duchess announced just before she married that her husband would receive none of her estate. Her will was shown and her estate was divided between her six children.
 
Thanks Lula, I thought it was the daughter of Anne de France .
 
Looks like there were large crowds to bid farewell to the late Duchess in Seville today.
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
does anyone know why the SRF wouldn't attend? elena is not even a member of the SRF any longer.
Click to expand...
The TRF members from Spain may provide a better explanation. I am not surprised that the members of the Royal family chose not to attend.
 
For me it's strange that high members of SRF didn't attend the funeral.

In fact, maybe their relations with Duchess of Alba were rather distant.
 
Lenora said:
For me it's strange that high members of SRF didn't attend the funeral.

In fact, maybe their relations with Duchess of Alba were rather distant.
Click to expand...

I have read once, at Point de Vue, that when JC & S were a young couple living in Madrid under Franco, they were spied at every moment of their life by Franco's people, in order not to be able to try any plot against them, and one way to keep the couple bound, it was not to allow them to have any money. All their needs were covered, but they did not have cash at all. They managed to have some little cash, from the Greek State, which was giving a salary to JC as an officer of the Greek Army, and also thanks to the generosity of some "Grands d' Espagne" families, and especially of the Duchess of Alba.

This is the reason I'm astonished they did not attend, maybe not for protocol reasons, but for human reasons.
 
Infanta Elena went as the representative of the King. Zarzuela said months ago that while Infanta Elena is not member of the Royal Family, she could represent her brother on special occasions.

Also King Juan Carlos sisters often represented him in events related to royalty or nobility, although they were never part of the Royal Family . They do not represent the Royal Family, but represent the House of Borbon.

The funeral of the Duchess was not an official or state funeral, so the presence of King Felipe and Queen Letizia, in this massive televised funeral in Sevilla, was not appropriate. King Felipe had his own acts in Madrid today.

King Juan Carlos or Queen Sofia who maintained a friendship with the Duchess for decades had been the appropriate representatives. But Queen Sofia is on a private visit in Athens since last week, last night attended the opening of an exhibition of El Greco and a conference today. And it is not known where King Juan Carlos is.

Probably in the next days the family will organize a mass in Madrid, and it is easier than a member of the Royal Family goes.
 
Elena was for almost 50 years an official member of the royal house, is the eldest daughter of JC and the sister of the current King. Highly doubt the Alba family felt snubbed.
Rip Cayetana
 
It's obviously that members of any royal family couldn't attend any funerals next day after the death. It's too short notice. I really don't understand why the duchess' family desided to organize the funeral so quickly.
 
Any video from the funeral?
 
lula said:
Infanta Elena went as the representative of the King. Zarzuela said months ago that while Infanta Elena is not member of the Royal Family, she could represent her brother on special occasions.

Also King Juan Carlos sisters often represented him in events related to royalty or nobility, although they were never part of the Royal Family . They do not represent the Royal Family, but represent the House of Borbon.

The funeral of the Duchess was not an official or state funeral, so the presence of King Felipe and Queen Letizia, in this massive televised funeral in Sevilla, was not appropriate. King Felipe had his own acts in Madrid today.

King Juan Carlos or Queen Sofia who maintained a friendship with the Duchess for decades had been the appropriate representatives. But Queen Sofia is on a private visit in Athens since last week, last night attended the opening of an exhibition of El Greco and a conference today. And it is not known where King Juan Carlos is.

Probably in the next days the family will organize a mass in Madrid, and it is easier than a member of the Royal Family goes.
Click to expand...

The Spanish royals will not be the first or the last ungrateful people.

https://ru-royalty.livejournal.com/2612087.html
The above link contains photos of the funeral of the late Cayetana, Duchess of Alba.
 
Last edited:
Yes, they have organized it quickly, probably because they expected it and the whole family was in Sevilla. And probably because they want to end the show with the press.

Viewing images and photos, few famous or important people and nobles have gone. It was more like a funeral for people of Sevilla and her friends there. So I think that with more time, the family will hold a mass in Madrid.
 
To me there is love in the Alba family and specially the new Duke of Alba.
He could have lead the funerals but no she shared with his mother 's last husband.
Certainly a promise he did to his Mother.
The family is devastated , specially the late Duchess Daughter.
Very positive Articles about the Duchess of Alba in the Newspaper.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

lula
Death and Funeral of the Duke of Suárez: March 24 and 31, 2014
2
Replies
52
Views
9K
An Ard Ri
An Ard Ri
lula
  • Locked
50th anniversary of the death of King Paul I of Greece: March 2014.
3 4 5
Replies
137
Views
33K
Nikolopoulus
N
lula
Prince and Princess of Asturias's Visit to the United States: June 20-23, 2012
2 3
Replies
78
Views
15K
ANNIE_S
ANNIE_S

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom