Fifty Years Since the Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cádiz

The Duke and Duchess of Cádiz.

The couple during their religious wedding. The groom's mother and the bride's grandfather were their witnesses.

Carmen and Alfonso.

On 8 March 1972, Don Alfonso de Borbón y Dampierre, Duke of Cádiz, and Doña María del Carmen Martínez-Bordiú y Franco were married at the Royal Palace of El Pardo in Madrid. The groom was the eldest son of Infante Jaime of Spain, Duke of Segovia, and Emanuela de Dampierre. The bride was the eldest child of Don Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú y Ortega, 10th Marquis of Villaverde, and Doña María del Carmen Franco y Polo, 1st Duchess of Franco. The engagement of Don Alfonso and Doña Carmen was announced in December 1971.

Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofía of Spain with their children.

Princess Désirée of Sweden.

The Duchess of Alba.

Infante Jaime of Spain and the Begum Aga Khan with Francisco Franco.

Among the blue-blooded guests were Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofía of Spain with their three children, Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace of Monaco, Prince Bertil of Sweden, Princess Christina of Sweden, Princess Désirée of Sweden, the Begum Aga Khan, and the Duchess of Alba. Other attendees included Imelda Marcos, First Lady of the Philippines, and Juan Perón, the former President of Argentina.

The Duke and Duchess of Cádiz had two children: Don Francisco de Asís de Borbón y Martinez-Bordiu (1972-1984) and Don Luis Alfonso de Borbón y Martinez-Bordiu (b.1974). On 5 February 1984, Alfonso and his sons Francisco and Luis Alfonso were involved in a motor vehicle accident near Pamplona which left the Duke of Cádiz and his sons with severe injuries; Francisco, only eleven years-old, succumbed to his injuries two days after the accident. Don Alfonso and Doña Carmen separated in 1979; they were civilly divorced in 1982 after a decade of marriage. In 1986, the couple was granted an annulment by the Vatican.