Francisco de Asís "Francis" Franco y Martínez-Bordiú, 11th Marquis of Villaverde (born 9 December 1954), is a Spanish

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

and manager of several business associations. Besides his real estate businesses, he owns many

parking space A parking space, parking place or parking spot is a location that is designated for parking, either paved or unpaved. It can be in a parking garage, in a parking lot or on a city street. The space may be delineated by road surface markings. ...

s in Madrid. He is the grandson of Spanish dictator

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 ...

Biography

Born in 1954 in Madrid, Francisco is the third of seven children of

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú Cristóbal or Cristobal, the Spanish version of Christopher, is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to: Given name *Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972), Spanish fashion designer *Cristóbal Cobo (born 1976), Chilean academic *Cri ...

and

Carmen Franco 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 and his wife, Carmen Polo, Carmen ...

, the only child of Spanish dictator

and

Carmen Polo María del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdés, 1st Lady of Meirás, Grandee of Spain (11 June 1900 – 6 February 1988) was the wife of the dictator, General and "''caudillo"'' Francisco Franco and is considered the most influential woman in Franco ...

. He had two older sisters, María del Carmen and María de la O, and four younger siblings, María del Mar, José Cristóbal, María de Aránzazu and Jaime Felipe. He earned a licentiate degree in Medicine and Surgery from the

Autonomous University of Madrid The Autonomous University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; UAM), commonly known as simply la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 alongside the Autonomous Universi ...

(UAM), although he has never practised as physician. Following a hunting trip to Tarragona in 1977, Franco was sentenced to one and a half months in prison and was subject to the removal of his hunting license in 1978. He was again detained in 1979 during a trip to the

Montes Universales Montes Universales is a long mountain range in the southeastern end of the Iberian System. Its highest point is the 1,935 m high summit known as Caimodorro. The 1,830 m high Muela de San Juan is another important peak. Administratively, the Mon ...

in possession of a Remington but not convicted of any offence. He was engaged for a period to Ana García Obregón. Francisco changed the order of his surnames under orders from his grandfather in order to perpetuate his Franco lineage.

Marriage and children

Francisco Martínez-Bordiú y Franco first married at Altafulla,

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

, on 18 December 1981, to María de Suelves y Figueroa (b.

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

, 22 August 1957), daughter of Juan José de Suelves y de Ponsich, 11th Marquess of Tamarit (

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, 3 November 1928 -

Madrid 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 ...

, 26 July 2004) and Victoria de Figueroa y Borbón (m.

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

, 11 August 1955), daughter of the 2nd Count of Romanones (paternal grandfather: Álvaro, 1st Conde de Romanones; maternal great-grandfather: Enrique de Borbón, 1st Duke of Seville), and had two children: * Francisco Franco y de Suelves (b.

, 30 November 1982). * Juan José Franco y de Suelves (b.

, 29 September 1985). Francisco Franco y Martínez-Bordiú and María de Suelves y Figueroa divorced in 1992. Upon his father's death in 1998, Francisco Franco y Martínez-Bordiú succeeded him as 11th Marquis of Villaverde. After the 1988 death of his maternal grandmother,

, he succeeded her as the 2nd Lordship of Meirás (together with accompanying dignity

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 ...

). He married again at

Móstoles Móstoles () is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. With over 200,000 inhabitants, it is the region's second most populated municipality after Madrid. Móstoles was a small town for a long time, but expanded rapidly in the ...

in March 2001, Miriam Guisasola y Carrión (b. 1967), and had two children: * Alvaro Franco y Guisasola (b.

, 15 August 1994). * Miriam Franco y Guisasola (b.

, 5 February 1996). The couple divorced in 2014.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franco, Francis 1954 births Francoist Spain Lords in Spain Living people Marquesses of Spain Grandees of Spain Francisco Franco Hunters