María del Carmen Franco y Polo, 1st Duchess of Franco, Grandee of Spain, Marchioness of Villaverde (14 September 1926
– 29 December 2017) was the only child of Spain's ''
caudillo'', General
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
and his wife,
Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdés. In
Asturian fashion, she was known by many nicknames, such as Nenuca, Carmelilla, Carmencita, Cotota and Morita.
Family
Franco was born in
Oviedo
Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located ap ...
. It is alleged that she was actually the daughter of Francisco Franco's younger brother,
Ramón Franco
Ramón Franco Bahamonde (2 February 1896 – 28 October 1938), was a Spanish pioneer of aviation, a political figure and brother of later caudillo Francisco Franco. Well before the Spanish Civil War, during the reign of Alfonso XIII, both bro ...
and a prostitute who died shortly after giving birth. However, a DNA test that would be evidence that could shed light on this issue is not available.
On 10 April 1950, in
El Pardo
El Pardo is a ward (''barrio'') of Madrid belonging to the district of Fuencarral-El Pardo. As of 2008 its population was of 3,656.
History
The ward was first mentioned in 1405 and in 1950 was an autonomous municipality of the Community of Madrid ...
, she married
Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, 10th Marquis of Villaverde
''Don'' Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú y Ortega, 10th Marquess of Villaverde (1 August 1922 in Jaén, Mancha Real, Spain – 4 February 1998 in Madrid, Spain), was a Spanish aristocrat, the son-in-law of dictator Francisco Franco, and a heart surge ...
. Villaverde was a prominent surgeon. In 1968 he conducted the first
heart transplant
A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common proce ...
operation in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. The couple had seven children:
*
María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco, 2nd Duchess of Franco (b.
El Pardo
El Pardo is a ward (''barrio'') of Madrid belonging to the district of Fuencarral-El Pardo. As of 2008 its population was of 3,656.
History
The ward was first mentioned in 1405 and in 1950 was an autonomous municipality of the Community of Madrid ...
, 26 February 1951), who married
Prince Alfonso, Duke of Anjou, son of
Infante Jaime of Spain, Duke of Segovia
Infante Jaime of Spain, Duke of Segovia, Duke of Anjou (''Jaime Leopoldo Isabelino Enrique Alejandro Alberto Alfonso Víctor Acacio Pedro Pablo María de Borbón y Battenberg'') (23 June 1908 – 20 March 1975), was the second son of King Alfo ...
and grandson of King
Alfonso XIII of Spain
Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 17 May 1886 to 14 April 1931, when the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed. He was a monarch from birth as his father, Alf ...
; and had issue.
* María de la O "Mariola" Martínez-Bordiú y Franco (b. El Pardo, 19 November 1952), married in El Pardo on 14 March 1974 to Rafael Ardid y Villoslada (b. 1 February 1947), and had issue.
*
Francisco de Asís Franco y Martínez-Bordiú, 11th Marquis of Villaverde (b. 9 December 1954)
* María del Mar "Merry" Martínez-Bordiú y Franco (b. 6 July 1956), married firstly at the Pazo de Meirás on 3 August 1977 and divorced in 1982, Joaquín José Giménez-Arnau y Puente (b. 14 September 1943), and had issue, and married secondly in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
on 4 August 1986, and divorced in 1991, Gregor Tamler, without issue.
* José Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú y Franco (b. El Pardo, 10 February 1958), married civilly in New York City, on 23 November 1984 and religiously in Madrid on 27 October 1990 to
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...
Josefina Victoria Toledo y López (b. San José de Tirajana,
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
, 1963), and had issue.
* María de Aránzazu "Arantxa" Martínez-Bordiú y Franco (b. 16 September 1962), married at the Pazo de Meirás on 27 July 1996 to Claudio Quiraga y Ferro, without issue
* Jaime Felipe Martínez-Bordiú y Franco (b. 8 July 1964), married in Madrid on 24 November 1995 to Nuria March y Almela (b. July 1966), divorced and had issue. Married secondly on 7 April 2021 in a civil ceremony in Madrid to Marta Fernández.
Shortly after her
father
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
's death in 1975,
King Juan Carlos
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
created her
Duchess of Franco
Duke of Franco ( es, Duque de Franco) was a hereditary title in the Spanish nobility. The title was created in 1975 by King Juan Carlos and bestowed upon Carmen Franco, the daughter and only child of Spain's ''Caudillo'', General Francisco Franc ...
and a
grandee of Spain
Grandee (; es, Grande de España, ) is an official aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility. Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the , though in neither country did they ha ...
, with a
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
of new creation. The arms are a variation of the arms of the de
Andrade family of
Galicia, from whom she is twice descended from the Pardo de Andrade branch, and twice again from the 7th counts of Lemos and Sarria.
Controversies
In 1978, she was arrested at
Madrid Barajas International Airport
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
for attempting to smuggle 300 million
pesetas worth of gold, jewellery and medals that had belonged to her father. Her daughter divorced from her husband and moved to Paris, where she lived with the antiquarian
Jean-Marie Rossi, whom she married.
In 2008, she collaborated with
Stanley G. Payne
Stanley George Payne (born September 9, 1934) is an American historian of modern Spain and European Fascism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He retired from full-time teaching in 2004 and is currently Professor Emeritus at its Department ...
and Jesús Palacios Tapias to write ''Franco, My Father'', a biography of her father from her point of view. She described her father as a warm person. With regards to the
White Terror
White Terror is the name of several episodes of mass violence in history, carried out against anarchists, communists, socialists, liberals, revolutionaries, or other opponents by conservative or nationalist groups. It is sometimes contrasted wit ...
, she noted that "he did not talk about it at home". Franco is referred to as "Generalísimo" or "Head of State", who was an "intelligent and moderate", a "brave and Catholic" man and who established an "authoritarian but not totalitarian" regime.
[, online: ]
Franco chaired the
Francisco Franco National Foundation
The Francisco Franco National Foundation ( es, Fundación Nacional Francisco Franco, links=no; FNFF) is a foundation and propaganda hub created in 1976 devoted to promoting the legacy of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The only child of Fra ...
, which is under criticism for its
revisionist opinions such as calling the
Spanish coup of July 1936 an "armed referendum". The Spanish historian
Borja de Riquer called that a
euphemism
A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...
with reference to an era in which approximately 140,000 Spaniards were executed in a reign of terror by the
Falange
The Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS; ), frequently shortened to just "FET", was the sole legal party of the Francoist regime in Spain. It was created by General Francisco F ...
, the
Guardia Civil
The Civil Guard ( es, Guardia Civil, link=no; ) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the a ...
and other
Nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
organisations.
During the premiership of
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López (; born 25 February 1953) is a Spanish politician who was the prime minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He led the People's Party (PP), the dominant centre-right political party in Spain.
A member of the Fre ...
the foundation received financial support from the
Spanish Minister of Education and Culture. Funding was terminated in 2004.
She is regarded as an icon by the remaining followers of
Francoism
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spa ...
.
Death
She died from
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
on 29 December 2017 in Madrid, aged 91, and was buried next to her husband in the crypt of
Almudena Cathedral
Almudena Cathedral (''Santa María la Real de La Almudena'') is a Catholic church in Madrid, Spain. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid. The cathedral was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993.
History
When the capita ...
.
Honours
* Spain: Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of Beneficence
The Order of Beneficence ( el, Τάγμα της Ευποιΐας) is an order of Greece that was established in 1948.
It is conferred by the Greek government as a moral reward for women especially, Greek and foreign, for the good services they ...
[http://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1962/03/09/pdfs/A03306-03306.pdf ]
References
External links
Universal Studios Newsreel for 8 April 1957 "18th anniversary of end of Spanish revolution in Spain, Franco and daughter watch soldiers, the ''caudillo'' looks on with pride, 18 years of peace and rebuilding".
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franco y Polo, Carmen
1926 births
2017 deaths
People from Oviedo
Francoists
Spanish duchesses
101 101 may refer to:
* 101 (number), the number
* AD 101, a year in the 2nd century AD
* 101 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC
It may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''101'' (album), a live album and documentary by Depeche Mode
* "101" (song), a ...
Grandees of Spain