The duchess and the toyboy

Despite stupendous wealth and more than 150 aristocratic titles, the 82-year old Duchess of Alba (pictured), the grandest grandee in Spain, is not a happy bunny. Why? The old girl has just been told by her family that she cannot marry her toyboy, Alfonso Diez Carabantes, an antiques dealer 24 years her junior.

The duchess, who is known to her intimates as Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, is clearly put out by her family's intervention. She told Hola! magazine: "It's true that I planned to marry. We were both full of enthusiasm for the idea." Plans for a secret ceremony were already afoot when the family found out by chance and vetoed the match. They were apparently supported by King Juan Carlos (the Spanish royal family have a say in matters concerning the House of Alba).

The King and the House of Alba fear for the safety of the duchess’s estate should she marry Diez, who they believe is little more than an adventurer exploiting the rift between the duchess and her children. Cayetana is mistress of a fabulous collection of estates, palaces and artworks, including portraits by Goya of an illustrious antecedent said to have been the artist's lover.

However, the duchess will not let it end there. Enraged by their opposition, she proposes petitioning Queen Sofia to intercede in her favour. Says Cayetana of her own family: "They don't want me to marry, but they change partners more often than I do." An allusion to the fact that her six children's marriages have all ended in divorce.