Carmen Franco, 1st Duchess of Franco

María del Carmen Franco y Polo
Dowager Marquise of Villaverde

Coat of Arms for the Dukedom of Franco
Duchess of Franco
Tenure 20 November 1975 – present
Heir apparent María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco
Born (1926-02-14) 14 February 1926
Oviedo, Asturias, Spain
Spouse Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, 10th Marquis of Villaverde (m.1950–1998)
Issue María del Carmen, Duchess of Anjou and Cádiz
María de la O Martínez-Bordiú
Francisco Franco, 11th Marquis of Villaverde
María del Mar Martínez-Bordiu
José Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú
María de Aránzazu Martínez-Bordiú
Jaime Felipe Martínez-Bordiú
Father Francisco Franco
Mother Carmen Polo, 1st Lady of Meirás

Doña María del Carmen Franco y Polo, 1st Duchess of Franco, Grandee of Spain, Dowager Marquise of Villaverde (born 14 February 1926) is the only child of Spain's Caudillo, dictator General Francisco Franco[1] and his wife Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdès. In Asturian fashion, she is known by many nicknames such as Nenuca, Carmelilla, Carmencita, Cotota and Morita.

Family life

Franco was born in Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. On 10 April 1950, in El Pardo, she married Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, 10th Marquis of Villaverde (1 August 1922 Jaén, Mancha Real – 4 February 1998 Madrid).[2] Villaverde was a prominent surgeon. In 1968 he conducted the first heart transplant operation in Spain. The couple had seven children:

Shortly after her father's death in 1975, King Juan Carlos created her Duchess of Franco and a Grandeza de España in her own right, with the honorific of Doña and a Coat of Arms of new creation. These Arms are a variation of the Arms of the de Andrade family of Galicia, from whom she is twice descended from the Pardo de Andrade branch, and twice again from the 7th Counts of Lemos and Sarria.

Controversy

In 2008 the Duchess collaborated with Stanley G. Payne and Jesús Palacios Tapias to write Franco, My Father, a biography of her father from her point of view. She described her father as a warm person. With regards to the White Terror, she noted that "he didn't talk about it at home".[3] Franco is referred to as "Generalísimo" or "Head of State", who was an "intelligent and moderate", a "brave and catholic" man and who established an "authoritarian, but not totalitarian" régime.[4][5]

Franco chairs the Foundation "Fundacion Nacional Francisco Franco" which is under permanent criticism for its revisionist opinions e.g. by calling the Spanish coup of July 1936 an "armed referendum". Spanish historian Borja de Riquer called this a euphemism with reference to an era in which approximately 140,000 Spaniards were executed in a reign of terror by Falange, Guardia Civil and other fascist organisations.[6] During the premiership of José María Aznar the foundation received financial support from the Spanish Minister of Education and Culture. The funding was terminated in 2004. She is regarded as an icon by the remaining followers of Francoism.[5]

Honours

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ Staff (20 December 1954). "Milestones". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  2. ↑ "María del Carmen Franco y Polo, 1ª duquesa de Franco". geneall.net. 2011. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  3. ↑ http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/433755/0/franco/carmen/libro/
  4. ↑ Ingendaay, Paul (2011-06-13). "Franco, der Tapfere". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  5. 1 2 Jan-Henrik Witthaus; Patrick Eser (2015), Machthaber der Moderne: Zur Repräsentation politischer Herrschaft und Körperlichkeit (in German), 68 (Edition Kulturwissenschaft ed.), Transcript Verlag, p. 224, ISBN 9781594039003, online: Machthaber der Moderne, p. 224, at Google Books
  6. ↑ Streck, Ralf (2003-08-26). "Im Bett mit Franco". Telepolis (in German). Retrieved 2016-02-28.
Spanish nobility
New title Duchess of Franco
1975–present 		Incumbent

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