Duchess Of Alba, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, & Alfonso Diez To Marry (PHOTOS AND VIDEO)

Ready for yet another royal wedding?

Well, not quite royal, but it's close. Come fall, 85-year-old Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, the Duchess of Alba and possessor of more aristocratic titles than anyone else in the world, will marry Alfonso Diez, making the commoner the Duke of Alba.

The Spanish aristocrat has 46 titles, according to Reuters, as she is a duchess, a countess and a marquesa several times over. Spanish Vanity Fair reports that her wealth is valued at an estimated at nearly $4.9 billion and when combined, her property is 170 times the size of Monaco.

But being such a wealthy and titled woman comes with pressures and the Duchess of Alba has been a tabloid fixture in Spain for decades.

After losing her first husband Luis Martinez de Irujo in 1972, the Duchess spent time with a variety of eligible male matadors and flamenco dancers and eventually tied the knot with the much-younger Jesus Aguirre, an ex-priest, reported People back in the Seventies.

At the time, the magazine called the unconventional union "the marriage that astounded Spain."

Now Cayetana has made headlines yet again for a third marriage, this time to Diez. The 61-year-old civil servant is 25 years younger than his well-heeled fiance, reports Reuters.

Beyond the couple's age gap, the controversy over their proposed union centers on Cayetana's children's disapproval. Reuters reports that the Duchess' son Cayetano Martinez de Irujo, the Duke of Salvatierra, expressed displeasure at having only met Diez three times, especially because he will become the Duke of Alba.

The Duchess told Hola!, "The tough part was that my children didn't understand and they got quite angry with me."

But the magazine reports that to allay her family's fear, she spent the summer dividing up her wealth, including palaces and artwork by masters like Goya and Velazquez, between her six children. By giving up her wealth in advance, she seems to have her children's support in time for her nuptials, planned for late September or early October, according to Hello!.

Check out a pic of the Duchess of Alba and her lucky man below.

Comments

[kkdkdkdkdk]

04:58 PM on 08/15/2011

Holy smokes Batman, the Joker is dressed up as a woman.

[MM MM]

08:49 PM on 08/13/2011

I felt sorry for Mr. Alfonso Diez if he gets nothing after the Duchess is long gone! It takes a lot to do what he did...

[Sarah Underwood]

06:31 AM on 08/13/2011

Something tells me that if they have been close friends for many years and he is still wanting to marry her after she gave up a sizable portion of her wealth then he he probably isn't in this for the money. Good luck to them, being old is no excuse to accept being lonely.

[norepublicanleftbehind]

03:53 AM on 08/13/2011

The kids sound greedy. She gave them all of her money and presumably they all have titles, The least they could do is be happy for Mummy.

[norepublicanleftbehind]

03:49 AM on 08/13/2011

Good luck to you both.

[pleblian]

11:10 PM on 08/12/2011

If you have nothing nice to say...

[anitaj]

03:38 AM on 08/13/2011

come sit by me.

[Libertarian5]

10:48 PM on 08/12/2011

Their relationship be blessed. It's nice to see a woman escape puritan conventions (so often enforced by conservative women with a false gender-consciousness) and enjoy a younger man. It's normal, who, man or woman, wouldn't want a fresher bod to touch? I just wonder why it had to end up in marriage--but her step is already daring and liberating enough, I'm not going to quibble. Et vive la mariée!

[Topps]

12:38 PM on 08/12/2011

Loneliness must be a monster she found a cure do your thing .Good luck to you Duchess

[92102]

10:30 AM on 08/12/2011

The Dutchess has an uncanny resemblence to Ruth Gordon's character in Rosemary's Baby.

[Promise]

03:08 PM on 08/14/2011

Also Ruth Gordon's character in Harold and Maude, which is more to the point. Also, Ruth Gordon married Garson Kanin, a wonderful playwright who was much younger than she was.

[Karama]

10:31 PM on 08/11/2011

This happens more often the other way around. A man in his 80s and the woman in her 20s.

[southernman]

08:13 AM on 08/12/2011

Candy is Candy no matter the flavor

[ResistImperialism]

09:03 PM on 08/11/2011

European royalty are the ugliest people in the region, probably the hundreds of years of in-breeding. The as of late marriage into commoners would probably help in this regard.

[Zigeuner]

03:43 AM on 08/12/2011

She was a handsome woman when she was younger:

http://fondosdibujosanimados.com.es/wallpaper/Duquesa-De-Alba-Joven/
http://foros.ws/img.php?image=http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/172/41469200.png

[norepublicanleftbehind]

03:50 AM on 08/13/2011

That was not very nice

[MisBrit]

08:41 PM on 08/11/2011

But she...no, I won't. She seems sweet though.

[ArjenBoatsma]

04:52 PM on 08/11/2011

Marrying an 85 year old, filthy rich Duchess is one thing, but NOT calling off the wedding after she divided up her estate among her children?

[obeliskpress]

04:50 PM on 08/11/2011

Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Alfonso has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.

[SiameseTrainer]

03:04 PM on 08/11/2011

Good thing she has already produced an heir!