Carlos Fitz-James Stuart y Martínez de Irujo, XIX. duque de Alba de Tormes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Fitz-James_Stuart,_19th_Duke_o...

Don Carlos Fitz-James-Stuart y Martínez de Irujo, 19th Duke of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain (né Martínez de Irujo y Fitz-James Stuart; born 2 October 1948), is a Spanish aristocrat. He is the current Duke of Alba and thereby Head of the House of Alba.

Life and education

The Duke of Alba was born in Madrid and is the eldest son of Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artázcoz (17 November 1919 in Madrid, Spain – 6 September 1972 in Houston, Texas, United States), and Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba (March 28, 1926 – November 20, 2014).

In 1951 (at the age of 2) he became the 14th Duke of Huéscar; a title which was ceded to him by his grandfather Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba and 13th Duke of Huéscar.

He obtained a degree in law at the Complutense University of Madrid and now works as an adviser for several cultural institutions, such as the Hispania Nostra Foundation, the Valencia de Don Juan Institute, and the Hispanic Society of America. The Duke of Alba is in charge of the House of Alba Foundation and, thus, in principle of a great deal of the significant House of Alba heritage and patrimony.

The Duke of Alba is also a Knight of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla.

With the death of his mother on 20 November 2014, he became the next and 19th Duke of Alba. The inheritance of this ducal title and 38 other titles (in total 12 of them with Grandees of Spain) were officially confirmed in 2015.

In 2015, he ceded the titles Duke of Huéscar to his eldest son and heir-apparent Fernando and Count of Osorno to his second and youngest son Carlos.

Family

On June 13, 1988, the Duke of Alba married Matilde de Solís y Martínez de Campos in the Seville Cathedral. She is the daughter of Fernando de Solís y Atienza, 10th Marquis of la Motilla, and his wife Isabel Martínez de Campos Rodríguez, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Seo de Urgel. The couple had two children before they divorced in 2004:

Fernando Fitz-James Stuart de Solís, 15th Duke of Huéscar, Grandee of Spain (born 14 September 1990).

Carlos Fitz-James Stuart de Solís, 22nd Count of Osorno, Grandee of Spain (born 29 November 1991).

Subsequently, perhaps since 2004, he has maintained a friendly relationship with Alicia Koplowitz, a magnate who ranked as Spain's richest woman in Forbes World's Richest People list.