María del Carmen Iglesias Cano, 1st Countess of Gilbert, is a Spanish historian. She is a member of the

Real Academia de la Historia The Real Academia de la Historia (RAH, 'Royal Academy of History') is a Spanish institution in Madrid that studies history "ancient and modern, political, civil, ecclesiastical, military, scientific, of letters and arts, that is to say, the diff ...

since 1991 and its first female director since 2014. As Director of the

, she has been responsible for the launch of the electronic version of Spain´s dictionary of national biography, the '' Diccionario biográfico español''. She holds the non-hereditary title Countess of Gisbert, which was bestowed on her by

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 ti ...

.In a decree dated May 2014 the King stated:

Biography

Education

Iglesias studied at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

Career

Iglesias is a specialist in 18th-century history, and her publications include work on the French philosopher

Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principa ...

. Iglesias was elected to ''medalla nº 23'' of the

on 16 June 1989 and took up her seat on 4 November 1991. She has been director of the Academy since 2014. She was elected to Seat ''E'' of the

Real Academia Española The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with ...

on 13 April 2000, she took up her seat on 30 September 2002.

Royal House

Iglesias has been a close friend of the

Spanish royal family The Spanish royal family consists of King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, their children (Leonor, Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofía of Spain), and Felipe's parents, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía. The royal family lives at Zarzuela Palace i ...

since the 1980s. In 1984, a year after obtaining the professorship at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, she was appointed tutor to the

Infanta Cristina Infanta Cristina of Spain (Cristina Federica Victoria Antonia de la Santísima Trinidad de Borbón y de Grecia, born 13 June 1965) is the younger daughter of the former King and Queen of Spain Juan Carlos I and Sofía. she is sixth in the li ...

in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology. Later, between the late 1980s and 1993, she was the private teacher of

Felipe, Prince of Asturias Felipe VI (;, * eu, Felipe VI.a, * ca, Felip VI, * gl, Filipe VI, . Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. He is the son of former King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, and ...

Bibliography

''El pensamiento de Montesquieu: política y ciencia natural''. 1984, republished 2005
(link to lecture on Montesquieu)

References

1942 births Nobility from Madrid 20th-century Spanish historians Spanish women historians Complutense University of Madrid alumni Members of the Real Academia de la Historia Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Spanish countesses Living people 21st-century Spanish historians {{Spain-historian-stub