Duke of Franco

Coat of arms as borne by the 1st and 2nd Duchesses of Franco

Duke of Franco (Spanish: Duque de Franco) is a hereditary title in the Spanish nobility. The title was created in 1975 by King Juan Carlos and bestowed upon Carmen Franco, the daughter and only child of Spain's Caudillo, General Francisco Franco. Together with the dukedom, she received a coat of arms of new creation. These arms are a variation of the arms of Andrade family of Galicia, from whom Franco was descended through females.

In 1950, Carmen Franco, 1st Duchess of Franco, had married Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, 10th Marquess of Villaverde, by whom she had several children. Dukes and duchesses of Franco are also Grandees of Spain. After the death of the 1st Duchess of Franco, succession of the ducal title with accompanying dignity has been requested by her eldest daughter María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco.[1] Under Spanish nobility law, her eldest daughter Maria is first in line, but does not succeed automatically; with the application to the Crown and the issue of the Royal Letter of Succession, and after an announcement period of thirty days, succession is only legally entering into force after a tax is paid.

In 2018, the far-left Izquierda Unida party sent a letter to King Felipe VI asking that title of Duke or Duchess of Franco be repressed as a violation of Spain's Historical Memory Law but the power to make or unmake nobility resides solely in the Spanish monarch and is not covered by that law.[2] The Dukedom was granted to the heir apparent, María del Carmen Martínez-Bordíu y Franco, the eldest daughter of the late Duchess, on the same year, as published in the Official State Gazette on the 4th of July of 2018.[3]

List of dukes of Franco

References


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