Duke of Franco
Encyclopedia
Spanish nobility
Spanish nobles are persons who possess the legal status of hereditary nobility according to the laws and traditions of the Spanish monarchy. A system of titles and honours of Spain and of the former kingdoms that constitute it comprise the Spanish nobility...
. The duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
dom was created in 1975 by King Juan Carlos
Juan Carlos I of Spain
Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...
and bestowed upon Carmen
Carmen Franco y Polo
María del Carmen Franco y Polo, 1st Duchess of Franco, Grandee of Spain, Dowager Marquise of Villaverde is the only child of Spain's Caudillo, dictator General Francisco Franco and his wife Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdès...
, the daughter and only child of Spain's Caudillo
Caudillo
Caudillo is a Spanish word for "leader" and usually describes a political-military leader at the head of an authoritarian power. The term translates into English as leader or chief, or more pejoratively as warlord, dictator or strongman. Caudillo was the term used to refer to the charismatic...
, General Francisco Franco. Together with the dukedom, she received a Coat of Arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of new creation. These arms are a variation of the arms of Andrade
Andrade
Originally, the name Andrade could have come from any of numerous places of the same name in Galicia or northern Portugal and several Andrade are known from documents dating back to the 12th century. Most likely, however, it originated in the small fief of San Martiño de Andrade Originally, the...
family of Galicia, from whom Franco was descended through females.
In 1950, Carmen Franco
Carmen Franco y Polo
María del Carmen Franco y Polo, 1st Duchess of Franco, Grandee of Spain, Dowager Marquise of Villaverde is the only child of Spain's Caudillo, dictator General Francisco Franco and his wife Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdès...
had married Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, 10th Marquess of Villaverde, by whom she had several children. The dukes and duchesses of Franco are also Grandees of Spain.
List of dukes of Franco
- Carmen Franco, 1st Duchess of Franco, Dowager Marchioness of Villaverde (born 1926)
The duchess' heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
, under current Spanish succession law, is her eldest child, María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco
María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco
María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco is a Spanish aristocrat and social figure. Under Spanish law since 2006 she precedes her younger brother as heir to her mother's dukedom, and is eligible to be succeeded by and/or to cede that grandeza to her descendants.-Birth and youth:She was born in...
.