Excitement in Spain as eccentric Duchess marries man 24 years her junior
The King and Queen of Spain - close friends - will not be present because of protocol states that the royal family attend first marriages. But last week, the Duchess introduced Mr. Diez to the king at his palace in Madrid - a necessary act of the ceremony for the woman who, they say, could walk from the northern tip of Spain the right to the point the most south without ever leaving his land ancesteral.
The Duchess is a distant relative of Queen Elizabeth, but - it is said - is more "noble". She holds the world record for the most aristocratic titles, being a duchess seven times over, a countess 19 times and a marquesa 23 times. Indeed, her full name is Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva.
As head of the 530-year-old House of Alba, she is entitled to ride her horse into Seville Cathedral, and according to protocol does not have to kneel before the Pope. Some geneologists even claim that the Queen must bow to her, owing to the fact that the duchess is descended from James II through his illegitimate son James Fitz-James, while the Queen is from the "upstart" Saxe-Coburg-Gotha line.
Philippine history in San Francisco
IT WAS my first time in Oakland. I looked out the window and saw the skyline that reminded me of Bienvenido Santos and his 1987 novel “What the hell for, you left your heart in San Francisco?” The Asia Foundation made it possible for me to be one of the “events” at the recent Filipino-American FilBookFest in the San Francisco Public Library.
The street between the library and the Asian Art Museum was closed to vehicular traffic and lined with booths with books on the Philippines, T-shirts, music, Kapampangan food and even Magnolia Ice Cream. Only lechon and dirty ice cream were missing to complete the festival atmosphere. National Artist BenCab had a closed door but well-attended nude sketching session, National Artist Virgilio Almario delivered a lecture on Rizal’s poetry, and a Balagtasan troupe known as MTV (composed of poets Mike Coroza, Teo Antonio, and Vim Nadera) regaled the crowd with verbal jousting. Dolphy’s biography sold like hotcakes from the hands of his sons Eric and Epi who were in town to visit their mom. Among the many writers I spotted were Honey Carandang, Marites Vitug, Luis Francia, Vina Lanzona, Butch Dalisay and Pete Lacaba. Fidel V. Ramos was in his element posing for souvenir photographs to promote a no-holds-barred FVR biography by Scott Thompson.
T-shirts are sold, bearing her unmistakable frizzy hair and distinctive features. People are happy for her - "they tell me so on the street," she said - and admire her resolve in marrying again, in her ninth decade. The Duchess of Alba and her fiancee
The by now infamous words “Ok, so, Fernando is faster than you” have started a life of their own and YouTube clips of that moment of the race are very popular, and there are even T-shirts for sale with the same text, and for Massa's fans there is a
