Francis Franco Explained

Francisco Franco y Martínez-Bordiú
Marquess of Villaverde
Succession2:Lord of Meirás
Reign2:6 February 1989 – 21 October 2022
Reign-Type2:Tenure
Predecessor2:Carmen Polo
Succession1:Marquess of Villaverde
Reign1:4 February 1998 – present
Reign-Type1:Tenure
Predecessor1:Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú
Spouse:María de Suelves y Figueroa (1981–1992)
Miriam Guisasola Carrión (2001–2014)
Issue:Francisco Franco de Suelves
Juan José Franco de Suelves
Álvaro Franco y Guisasola
Miriam Franco y Guisasola
Father:Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú
Mother:Carmen Franco
Birth Name:Francisco Martínez-Bordiu y Franco
Birth Date:9 December 1954
Birth Place:Royal Palace of El Pardo, Spain

Francisco de Asís "Francis" Franco y Martínez-Bordiú, 11th Marquess of Villaverde (born 9 December 1954), is a Spanish aristocrat and manager of several business associations.[1] [2] Besides his real estate businesses, he owns many parking spaces in Madrid. He is the grandson of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

Biography

Born in 1954 in Madrid, Francisco is the third of seven children of surgeon Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú and Carmen Franco, the only child of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and Carmen Polo. He had two older sisters, María del Carmen and María de la O, and four younger siblings, María del Mar, José Cristóbal, María de Aránzazu and Jaime Felipe.

He earned a licentiate degree in Medicine and Surgery from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM),[3] although he has never practised as physician.[4]

Following a hunting trip to Tarragona in 1977, Franco was sentenced to one and a half months in prison and was subject to the removal of his hunting license in 1978.[5] He was again detained in 1979 during a trip to the Montes Universales in possession of a Remington but not convicted of any offence.[6]

He was engaged for a period to Ana García Obregón.[7]

Francisco changed the order of his surnames under orders from his grandfather in order to perpetuate his Franco lineage.[8]

See also: Spanish naming customs.

Marriage and children

Francisco Martínez-Bordiú y Franco first married at Altafulla, Tarragona, on 18 December 1981, to María de Suelves y Figueroa (b. Lima, 22 August 1957), daughter of Juan José de Suelves y de Ponsich, 11th Marquess of Tamarit (Barcelona, 3 November 1928 – Madrid, 26 July 2004) and Victoria de Figueroa y Borbón (m. San Sebastián, 11 August 1955), daughter of the 2nd Count of Romanones (paternal grandfather: Álvaro, 1st Conde de Romanones; maternal great-grandfather: Enrique de Borbón, 1st Duke of Seville), and had two children:

Francisco Franco y Martínez-Bordiú and María de Suelves y Figueroa divorced in 1992. Upon his father's death in 1998, Francisco Franco y Martínez-Bordiú succeeded him as 11th Marquess of Villaverde. After the 1988 death of his maternal grandmother, Carmen Franco, 1st Duchess of Franco, he succeeded her as the 2nd Lord of Meirás (together with accompanying dignity Grandee of Spain).

He married again at Móstoles in March 2001, Miriam Guisasola y Carrión (b. 1967), and had two children:

The couple divorced in 2014.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: El marqués de Villaverde y Francis, los hombres que dirigieron el clan de los Martínez-Bordiú. Vanity Fair. 8 November 2019.
  2. Web site: Francis Franco, el nieto millonario del general: garajes, fincas y mando en plaza familiar. El Español. Juan Luis. Galiacho. 4 February 2018.
  3. Web site: La intrahistoria más reciente. La Opinión de Zamora. 30 October 2011.
  4. Web site: El otro Francisco Franco. Vanitatis. El Confidencial. 22 July 2008. Miriam. Rubio.
  5. Web site: Francisco Franco Martínez-Bordiú, condenado como cazador furtivo. El País. 29 January 1978.
  6. Web site: Juan Luengo: de cazar con el nieto de Franco a hacerlo con el hijo de Donald Trump. Vanitatis. El Confidencial. 27 November 2018.
  7. Web site: El fiestón de Francis Franco al que no acudió ninguno de sus hermanos. Vanitatis. Paloma. Barrientos. 8 April 2014. El Confidencial.
  8. News: Galiach . Juan Luis . 16 November 2003 . La saga Franco despega de nuevo (The Franco saga takes off again) . Spanish . . 22 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210413143902/https://www.elmundo.es/cronica/2003/422/1069077765.html . 13 April 2021.