| Carlos Fitz-James Stuart | |
| Honorific-Prefix: | The Most Excellent |
| Birth Name: | Carlos Juan Martínez de Irujo Fitz-James-Stuart |
| Family: | House of Alba |
| Father: | Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artázcoz |
| Mother: | Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba |
| Birth Date: | 1948 10, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Madrid, Spain |
| Children: | Fernando Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Huéscar Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 22nd Count of Osorno |
Carlos Fitz-James Stuart y Martínez de Irujo, 19th Duke of Alba, GE (né Martínez de Irujo y Fitz-James Stuart;[1] born 2 October 1948), is a Spanish aristocrat. He is the head of the House of Alba, one of the most prominent families of the Spanish nobility.
He was born in Madrid and is the eldest son of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba (28 March 1926 in Madrid – 20 November 2014 in Seville) and her first husband, (17 November 1919 in Madrid – 6 September 1972 in Houston), a younger son of the 9th Duke of Sotomayor. In 1951 (at the age of 2), he became the 14th Duke of Huéscar – a title which was ceded to him by his grandfather, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba and 13th Duke of Huéscar.[2] He is a direct descendant of James II of England.
He obtained a degree in law at the Complutense University of Madrid and now works as an adviser for several cultural institutions, such as the Hispania Nostra Foundation, the Valencia de Don Juan Institute, and the Hispanic Society of America. He is in charge of the House of Alba Foundation and, thus, in principle of a great deal of the significant House of Alba heritage and patrimony. He is also a Knight of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla.
Upon the death of his mother in 2014, he was first in line to succeed as 19th Duke of Alba (and Grandee of Spain) and also to inherit 38 other titles (10 of them with a Grandeeship of Spain).[3] The succession to most of the titles was officially confirmed in 2015 except for the Lordship (Señorío) of Moguer and the County of Modica that have been inherited traditionally. Later in 2015, he ceded two titles – Duke of Huéscar to his elder son and heir apparent Fernando,[4] and Count of Osorno to his younger son Carlos.[5]
On 13 June 1988, he married Matilde de Solís-Beaumont y Martínez de Campos in the Seville Cathedral. She is the daughter of Fernando de Solís y Atienza, 10th Marquess of la Motilla, and his wife Isabel Martínez de Campos Rodríguez, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Seo de Urgel.
The couple had two sons before their marriage was annulled in 2004:[6]
Subsequently, between 2004 and 2006, he maintained a friendly relationship with Alicia Koplowitz, 7th Marchioness of Bellavista, a Spanish businesswoman who ranked as Spain's richest woman in the Forbes World's Richest People list.[7]
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no. 23, p. 304, 23 January 1951. Retrieved 10 April 2010
no. 282, p. 49354, 25 November 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015
no. 282, p. 49353, 25 November 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015