Don

Don (honorific)

Don, from Latin dominus, is an honorific in Spanish , Portuguese , and Italian . The female equivalent is Doña , Dona , and Donna , abbreviated "Dª" or simply "D."-Usage:...

 Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, 17th Duke of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain (Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, 17 October 1878 - Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, 24 September 1953) was a Spanish noble

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

, diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

, politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and art collector. He was one of the most important aristocrats of his time, and held, among other titles, the Dukedoms of Alba de Tormes and Berwick, the Countship of Lemos, Lerín and Montijo and the Marquessate of Carpio. He was also a Knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

 of the Order of the Golden Fleece

Order of the Golden Fleece

The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...

 of Spain in 1926.

The Duke was son of Carlos María Fitz-James Stuart, 16th Duke of Alba and María del Rosario Falcó, 21st Countess of Siruela. He married in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on 7 October 1920, María del Rosario de Silva, 9th Marquise of San Vicente del Barco

María del Rosario de Silva, Duchess of Alba

Doña María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, Duchess of Alba de Tormes, suo jure 9th Marquise of San Vicente del Barco, Grandee of Spain was a Spanish aristocrat and socialite...

 (Madrid, 4 April 1900 - Madrid, 11 January 1934) and had a single daughter, Cayetana

Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba

Doña María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain is the current head of the House of Alba and the third woman to carry the title in her own right...

, who inherited all the family's titles and fortune.

Between 2 February 1930 and 18 February 1931 Alba was Foreign Minister in Spain. During the Spanish Civil War, the Communists occupied his residence, the Palace of Liria (which his daughter later restored), and murdered his younger brother Hernando Carlos Maria Theresa FitzJames Stuart y Falco (1882-1936). Alba became General Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

's official representative in London. He was still the Ambassador there in 1939, when Neville Chamberlain

Neville Chamberlain

Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...

's cabinet formally gave Franco's Nationalists diplomatic recognition. Following World War II, Alba's relations with Franco markedly cooled, the result of Alba supporting a prompt monarchist restoration much more than Franco did.

Ancestry

Dukedoms

• 17th Duke of Alba, Grandee of Spain
• 10th Duke of Montoro, Grandee of Spain -Ceded ot his daughter Doña Cayetana
• 10th Duke of Berwick, Grandee of Spain
• 10th Duke of Liria and Jérica, Grandee of Spain
• 13th Duke of Huéscar, Grandee of Spain -Ceded to his grandson Don Carlos
• 11th Count-Duke of Olivares, Grandee of Spain
• 2nd Duke of Arjona, Grandee of Spain

Marquisates

• 16th Marquis of the Carpio, Grandee of Spain
• 22nd Marquis of Coria
• 19th Marquis of Moya
• 17th Marquis of Barcarrota
• 18th Marquis of Sarria
• 19th Marquis of Ardales -Ceded to his sister Doña Sol
• 17th Marquis of Villanueva del Fresno
• 16th Marquis of Villanueva del Río
• 19th Marquis of la Mota
• 13th Marquis of Eliche
• 11th Marquis of Osera
• 11th Marquis of Tarazona
• 13th Marquis of San Leonardo
• 15th Marquis of la Albaga

Countships

• 19th Count of Lerín, Grandee of Spain, Constable of Navarre
• 21st Count of Lemos, Grandee of Spain
• 19th Count of Osorno, Grandee of Spain
• 21st Count of Siruela, Grandee of Spain
• 15th Count of Monterrey, Grandee of Spain
• 24th Count of San Esteban de Gormaz
• 20th Count of Miranda del Castañar
• 19th Count of Villalba
• 17th Count of Gelves
• 18th Count of Andrade
• 15th Count of Fuentes de Valdepero
• 16th Count of Galve
• 15th Count of Casarrubios del Monte
• 10th Count of Fuentidueña
• 13th Count of Ayala
• 11th Count of Santa Cruz de la Sierra
• 10th Earl of Tinmouth
• 20th Count of Modica (Kingdom of Sicily
  Kingdom of Sicily
  The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
  
  )

Styles

• The Most Excellent
  The Most Excellent
  The Most Excellent is an honorific prefix that is traditionally applied to certain people in Spain and certain Spanish-speaking countries...
  
  The Duke of Huéscar (1878–1901)
• The Most Excellent The Duke of Alba de Tormes (1901–1953)