| Dukedom of Osuna | |
| Creation Date: | 5 October 1562 |
| Peerage: | Peerage of Spain |
| First Holder: | Pedro Téllez-Girón y de la Cueva, 1st Duke of Osuna |
| Present Holder: | Ángela María de Solís-Beaumont y Téllez-Girón, 17th Duchess of Osuna[1] |
Duke of Osuna is a Spanish noble title that was first awarded in 1562 by King Philip II of Spain to Pedro Girón de la Cueva, (Osuna, Seville, 29 July 1537 – 1590). Pedro was also Viceroy of Naples, (1582–1586), Ambassador in Portugal and 5th Count of Ureña.
The fortunes of the town of Osuna started to rise in the mid-15th century. At that time, Osuna was ruled by Pedro Girón Acuña Pacheco, the younger brother of Juan Pacheco. His son Alfonso Téllez-Girón de las Casas was elevated to Count of Ureña in 1464 by King Enrique IV of Castile. The dynasty's influence increased, obtaining the title of Duke of Osuna in 1562. Osuna became the Andalusian capital of the domains of the Téllez-Girón family, who carried the ducal title.
Some of the most notable members of the House of Osuna were Pedro Téllez-Girón, 3rd Duke of Osuna, who was a general and viceroy of Naples. He became known to history as the "Great Duke of Osuna".
Another celebrated member was Pedro Téllez-Girón, 9th Duke of Osuna and his wife María Josefa Pimentel, 12th Countess-Duchess of Benavente, who were among the most prominent patrons of the painter Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes.
One of his daughters, María, (Moron de la Frontera, 1553–1608) married on 18 March 1570, Juan Fernández de Velasco, 5th Duke of Frías, and their daughter, known as Ana de Velasco y Girón married, on 17 June 1603, the Portuguese 7th Duke of Braganza, Teodósio II, (Vila Viçosa, Portugal, 28 February 1568 – Vila Viçosa, 29 November 1630). The outcome of this marriage between the Ana de Velasco y Téllez-Girón and the Duke Teodósio II, was that they were the parents of John IV of Portugal "the Restorer", (Vila Viçosa, 18 March 1604 – Lisbon, 6 November 1656), the first Braganza to be crowned King of Portugal, following the nacionalist coup against the Spanish Habsburgs, on 1 December 1640.
It was alleged that being already a Duke, he fathered an illegitimate son, known as Gabriel Téllez, becoming an active Member and Travel Visitor of the Religious Orden de la Merced, and being known today as famous Spanish theatrical author Tirso de Molina, (1584 – Soria, 12 March 1648).
Married in 1694, aged 16, Maria Remigia Fernández de Velasco y Tovar, but there was not adult male issue.He was a supporter of King Philip V of Spain and plenipotentiary signer of the Treaty of Utrecht.
Painted by Goya as a child together with his eldest sister, Maria Joaquina Téllez-Girón y Pimentel.Married 19 March 1802, at 17, 17th year old Françoise Philippine Thomas de Beaufort-Spontin y Toledo, (Paris 7 March 1785 – 28 January 1830), daughter of Count and Marquis Friedrich August Alex von Beaufort-Spontin, who also became c. 1782 Duke von Beaufort-Spontin (Namur 14 September 1751 – Brussels 22 April 1817), and Leopoldina de Toledo y Salm-Salm, (Madrid, 1760 – Brussels, 4 July 1792).
He represented Spain in the crowning of Queen Victoria in England and in the marriage in 1853 of Spanish aristocrat Eugenia de Montijo to Napoleon III. He is reported by Spanish diplomat and notorious writer Juan Valera, later Spanish Ambassador in the US, to have spent with him, Embassy Officer, and his extravagant Russian friends, while Spanish Ambassador in Russia (1856–1862), incredible amounts of money in Saint Petersburg.
When Mariano died in 1882, aged 68, there were lawsuits from pretenders supposed to be closely connected to the family, as well as creditors racing many of the buildings, castles, lands, artworks, etc. Closer inspections around many of the accumulated nobility titles reveal that they are held now by rather ambiguous persons (legally speaking about their supposed inheritance rights).
He married in Wiesbaden, 4 April 1866, Marie Eleonore zu Salm-Salm, née Princess zu Salm-Salm, (Hessen, Frankfurt am Main, 31 January 1842 – Dülmen, 18 June 1891), who became thus the 12th Duchess Consort of Osuna. She remarried to the Duc of Croy when Mariano died but there was no issue from either marriage.
Notice that the Salm-Salm family had entered already within the Osuna family through the Count, Marquis and Duke Friedrich, (deceased 1817), and his first wife Leopoldina de Toledo y Salm-Salm, (deceased 1792), parents-in-law of the 10th Duke of Osuna.