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 A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

'', General Francisco Franco and his wife, Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdés. In

Asturia Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive ...

n 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 a ...

. It is alleged that she was actually the daughter of Francisco Franco's younger brother, Ramón Franco 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 Mad ...

, 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 surg ...

. Villaverde was a prominent surgeon. In 1968 he conducted the first heart transplant operation in Spain. The couple had seven children: * María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco, 2nd Duchess of Franco (b.

, 26 February 1951), who married Prince Alfonso, Duke of Anjou, son of Infante Jaime of Spain, Duke of Segovia 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 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 plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

Josefina Victoria Toledo y López (b. San José de Tirajana, Canary Islands, 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 fath ...

'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 t ...

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 Juan Carlos I of Spain, King Juan Carlos and bestowed upon Carmen Franco, the daughter and only child of Spain's ''Caudillo'', ...

and a grandee of Spain, with a coat of arms of new creation. The arms are a variation of the arms of the de

Andrade Andrade is a surname of Galician origin, which emerged in the 12th century as the family name of the knights and lords of the small parish of ''San Martiño de Andrade'' ( St. Martin of Andrade), in the municipality of Pontedeume. The first men ...

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 metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

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, 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 ...

, the Guardia Civil and other

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

organisations. During the premiership of José María Aznar 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 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), ...

Grandees of Spain