西班牙女公爵未嫁心上人放弃万贯家产

Spain's fabulously¹ rich Duchess of Alba has signed away her enormous wealth, string of palaces, priceless works of art and vast swathes of Spanish real estate to marry for love at 85, Spanish media has reported.

据西班牙媒体报道，腰缠万贯的西班牙阿尔巴女公爵在85岁高龄之际，签字放弃巨额财富，包括多座宫殿、价值连城的艺术珍宝、以及大片西班牙房产，只为嫁给心上人。

Duchess of Alba(R) and her suitor(L). Spain\s fabulously rich Duchess of Alba has signed away her enormous wealth to marry for love at 85.
Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, a regular subject of gossip in Spain's glossy² magazines and said by Guinness World Records to have more titles than any other royal on the planet, wants to marry a humble³ civil servant 25 years her junior.

The duchess has divided her fortune between her six children to convince them that her suitor is besotted（使糊涂） with her rather than her money and the kinds of possessions that are considered national treasures, reports said.

"Every great love story should end in marriage," the duchess told Vanity Fair magazine in May as she posed in the garden of one of her palaces, explaining why she wanted to make social security worker Alfonso Diez, 60, her third husband.

All her children were born to her first husband, engineer Luis Martinez de Irujo, son of the Duke of Sotomayor. She shocked many in Spain after his death by marrying former Jesuit priest Jesus Aguirre in 1978.

But her recent match has divided the House of Alba. Her son Cayetano Martinez de Irujo, the Duke of Salvatierra, said just a few weeks ago he had only met his mother's suitor three times and she shouldn't marry because of her historic responsibility.

It looked as if the duchess had caved in to pressure from her children and a rumored⁴ request from Spain's King Juan Carlos not to formalize her relationship.

"I still don't know why my children are causing problems," the duchess complained to Spanish radio station La Cope in February.

"We aren't hurting anyone. If only things could be fixed⁵... Alfonso doesn't want anything, he's renounced⁶（宣布放弃） everything. He doesn't want anything but me."

The duchess, who appears to struggle to speak and often needs support to walk, allayed⁷ her children's worries by dividing up her fortune in early July, reported media, including Spanish celebrity⁸ magazine Hola!

The duchess's fortune includes palaces and mansions⁹ throughout Spain, paintings by the likes of Velazquez, Goya and Rubens and huge stretches of land. Her wealth is estimated at between 600 million and 3.5 billion euros ($4.9 billion).