Francisco Franco, 2nd Lord of Meirás

Coat of arms of Francisco, 2nd Lord of Meirás and 11th Marquis of Villaverde

Don Francisco de Asís Franco y Martínez-Bordiú, 2nd Lord of Meirás, Grandee of Spain, 11th Marquis of Villaverde (born 9 December 1954 in Madrid), is a Spanish aristocrat and grandson of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. In Spanish, his peerage is written El XI Marqués de Villaverde (English: The 11th Marquis of Villaverde).

Family

Francisco, a. k. a. Francis, is the third of seven children of surgeon Cristóbal, 10th Marqués de Villaverde, and his wife Carmen, 1st Duchess of Franco, the only child of Generalísimo Francisco Franco, the Spanish Caudillo, and his wife Carmen Polo. His older sisters are María del Carmen y María de la O, and his four younger siblings are María del Mar, José Cristóbal, María de Aránzazu and Jaime Felipe.

When Francisco was born, General Franco ordered his last names (Martínez-Bordiú and Franco) to be legally inverted so that his first male grandchild could perpetuate the Franco lineage.

Marriage and children

Francisco Martínez-Bordiú y Franco married firstly, at Altafulla, Tarragona, on 18 December 1981, 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 his wife (m. San Sebastián, 11 August 1955) Victoria de Figueroa y Borbón, 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 issue:

• Francisco Franco y de Suelves (b. Madrid, 30 November 1982).
• Juan José Franco y de Suelves (b. Madrid, 29 September 1985).

Francisco Franco y Martínez-Bordiú and María de Suelves y Figueroa were divorced in 1992. Upon his father's death in 1998, Francisco Franco y Martínez-Bordiú succeeded as 11th Marquis of Villaverde. After the 1988 death of his maternal grandmother, Carmen Polo, he was the only one to claim the Lordship of Meirás (together with accompanying dignity Grandee of Spain) she had held. Thus, he became 2nd Lord of Meirás.

He married secondly, at Móstoles in March 2001, Miriam Guisasola y Carrión (b. 1967), and had issue, born before wedlock:

• Alvaro Franco y Guisasola (b. Madrid, 15 August 1994).
• Miriam Franco y Guisasola (b. Madrid, 5 February 1996).

Finally they divorced in 2014.

Ancestry

External links

• Ducal House of Franco