The Duchess of Alba

THE Duchess of Alba, who has died from pneumonia aged 88, was one of Spain's wealthiest and most colourful aristocrats and the world's most titled noble.

Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva was related to Winston Churchill and shared toys with the future Queen Elizabeth II (they were born less than a month apart) while living in England as a girl. Her lineage could also be traced back to the Stuart dynasty, which led some royal observers to suggest that she might have a claim on the throne of an independent Scotland.

Twice-widowed, the fabulously wealthy noble had an outspoken nature and a predilection for extravagantly colourful, almost hippy-style clothing even late in life. Known simply as Cayetana, she was for decades a mainstay of the gossip press.

The duchess, known for her frizzy white hair and squeaky voice, raised eyebrows nationwide and outraged her six children in 2011 when at the age of 85 she wed for a third time, marrying a civil servant Alfonso Diez who was 25 years her junior.

At the wedding, she thrilled a crowd of several hundred when she hiked up her dress and did some flamenco dance steps on a red carpet at the palace, a 15th-century residence in the cobblestoned old quarter of Seville.

Her children feared a potential gold-digger, although Mr Diez renounced any claim to the family fortune. The duchess moved to appease her heirs by dividing up most of her vast estate among them a few months before the nuptials, handing out palaces and mansions to them all.

With estates dotted across mainland Spain and on some of its islands, she was known for being able to crisscross the country without having to spend the night in a property that was not hers.

She also had one of Spain's most dazzling art collections, including works by grand masters Goya, Rembrandt and Velazquez. Her collection of artefacts also included a first edition of Don Quixote, Columbus's first map of America and the last will and testament of Ferdinand the Catholic, the father of Catherine of Aragon. Forbes recently estimated her wealth to be in the region of £2.2 billion.

The Duchess was born in the sumptuous Liria Palace in the centre of Madrid. A Grandee of Spain and the holder of six dukedoms, she could trace her noble lineage back 17 generations. She inherited her titles from her father, with whom she lived in London - where he was named Spanish ambassador - while hostilities raged in Spain's 1936-39 civil war.

She took over the house of Alba, becoming its 18th leader as well as the 11th Duchess of Berwick, to mention just two titles, upon her father's death in 1953.

She married Luis Martinez de Irujo y Artacoz in 1947 in what was described as one of the costliest weddings seen in Spain. The newspaper El Pais later wrote that the wedding had cost 20 million pesetas, a fortune in a country still recovering from the ruinous civil war.

After her first husband died in 1972, the duchess married a former Jesuit priest Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate in 1978, who had been her confessor. He died after a long illness in 2001.

She spent much of her time in the southern city of Seville and was named a Favourite Daughter of the Andalucia region in 2006. The honour caused protests by a small group of local farm workers who felt she did not deserve the title, having spent her life living in luxury. The feisty aristocrat reacted by calling the protesters "delinquents" and "a handful of nuts that I don't care about".

The farmers took her to court; she was initially ordered to pay a fine, but was later acquitted on appeal.

In late October 2011, weeks after her wedding to Mr Diez, the duchess slipped on a rug at her Seville palace and cracked her pelvis. She suffered a fall while visiting Rome with her husband in April 2013, and was operated on there for a broken femur.

Mr Diez said he and his wife always had a wonderful time. "It often seems that I'm the older of the two," he said.

The duchess was also effusive about her love for her younger husband. "When you get to know someone and you like them, you end up falling in love a little and I fell in love with him," said the Duchess in 2008.

As for her children's attitude, the duchess said: "I don't know why my children are causing problems. We aren't hurting anyone. Alfonso doesn't want anything, he's renounced everything. He doesn't want anything but me."

The Guinness World Records said the duchess's more than 40 titles made her the world's most titled noble. She was five times a duchess, 18 times a marchioness, 18 times a countess, 14 times a Spanish grandee and once a viscountess.

She is succeeded by her son Carlos Fitz-James Stuart y Martinez de Irujo and is survived by her sons Alfonso, Jacobo, Fernando and Cayetano, and her daughter Eugenia.