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

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

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. The ...

s in Madrid. He is the grandson of Spanish dictator

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

Biography

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

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú and Carmen Franco, 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. She exerted a major influence in censoring the press ...

. 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 (; UAM), commonly known as la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 by royal decree. UAM is widely respected as one of the most prestigious univ ...

(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 Mo ...

in possession of a Remington but not convicted of any offence. He was engaged for a period to television presenter 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 Altafulla () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Tarragonès in Catalonia, Spain. The town of Altafulla has a beautifully intact old quarter crowned by the Castle of Altafulla, and an old fis ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

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

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

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

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

, 3 November 1928 –

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

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

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

, 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 sons: * 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 Marquess of Villaverde. After the 1988 death of his maternal grandmother, Carmen Polo, 1st Lady of Meirás, he succeeded her as the 2nd Lord of Meirás (together with accompanying dignity

Grandee of Spain Grandee (; , ) is an official royal and noble ranks, 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 municipalities of Spain, 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 ...

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 Francisco Franco Hunters