Francisco de Asís Rivera Ordóñez (prev. The Duke of Montoro; born 3 January 1974 in

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 ...

) is a Spanish ''

torero A bullfighter or matador () is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter, and describe all the performers in the activi ...

'' or bullfighter.

Family lineage

Rivera comes from a long line of famous bullfighters: his great-grandfather was

Cayetano Ordóñez Cayetano Ordóñez y Aguilera (January 24, 1904, Ronda, Spain - October 30, 1961, Madrid, Spain) is the patriarch of the Ordóñez family of bullfighters. His parents owned a shoeshop called ''La Palma'', which gave him his nickname (Niño de ...

, ''El Niño de la Palma''; his grandfather was

Antonio Ordóñez Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ...

; his great-uncle was Luis Miguel Dominguín; his father was Francisco Rivera

Paquirri Francisco Rivera Pérez (; 5 March 1948 – 26 September 1984), better known as Paquirri (), was a Spanish bullfighter. He died after being gored by a Spanish Fighting Bull, bull named Avispado at the Pozoblanco bullring. During his career, he ...

; his brother is

Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez Antonio Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez (born 13 January 1977 in Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish ''torero'' or bullfighter. Family ties Rivera is the son of Francisco Rivera 'Paquirri' and Carmen Ordóñez. He belongs to a long line of famous bullfighter ...

; his cousin is José Antonio Canales Rivera.

Bullfighting career

In 2009, he was awarded the Fine Arts medal by the Culture Ministry of Spain, a coveted bullfighting prize, but his receipt resulted in a public outcry.

Personal life

He is the son of

(Francisco Rivera) and Carmen Ordóñez, and his brother is the matador

. His father’s second wife was Isabel Pantoja, with whom Francisco has a half-brother, Francisco José Rivera Pantoja. He has one daughter, Cayetana Rivera y Martínez de Irujo (born October 16, 1999), from his marriage to Eugenia Martínez de Irujo, 12th Duchess of Montoro, on October 23, 1998. The couple divorced in 2002. Eugenia's mother was the Duchess of Alba,

Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba GE (28 March 1926 – 20 November 2014) was one of the most senior aristocrats in Spain, as well as the most titled aristocrat in the world, a record now held by Princ ...

, who was the most titled noble in the world. In 2011, Francisco Rivera started dating Lourdes Beatriz Montes Parejo, then a 27-year-old lawyer from Sevilla. They married on September 14, 2013 in

Ronda Ronda () is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliffside location and a deep canyon that ca ...

. They have a daughter, named Carmen (born August 19, 2015).

Books

Rivera Ordóñez, who is known in the press as "Fran", was the subject of the book ''Death and the Sun: A Matador's Season in the Heart of Spain'' by American journalist Edward Lewine. In 2012 he was again involved in a book, ''The Bull and The Ban'' by filmmaker Catherine Tosko and British bullfighter and writer

Alexander Fiske-Harrison Alexander Rupert Fiske-Harrison (born 22 July 1976) is an English author, journalist, and conservationist. His writing is known for his immersion in his subject matter. He trained and worked for some years as a method actor. For his first boo ...

.''The Bull and The Ban''
- Mitaurored

References

External links