Happy Birthday to Eugenia Martínez de Irujo, 12th Duchess of Montoro, who turns 55 today! Doña María Eugenia Brianda Timotea Cecilia Martínez de Irujo y Fitz-James Stuart is the vivacious daughter of the late Doña Cayetana, XVIII Duchess of Alba, the world’s most titled Aristocrat. The Duchess; life has often been under the spotlight due to her family, but she has navigated it with grace, pursuing her passions while maintaining a strong connection to her heritage and family legacy, so to mark the day, we are featuring the most important family heirloom in the Duchess’ possession: the Alba Pearl and Diamond Tiara!
This tall and romantic Tiara is surely one of the most fascinating jewellery pieces of the Alba collection. Of naturalist inspiration, with large laurel crowns and floral bouquets, in a geometric base of twisted bands and bows, it is topped by seven important pear-shaped pearls and six large diamonds.
By family tradition, it would have belonged to Doña Eugenia de Palafox Portocarrero, a Spanish aristocrat by birth and Empress of the French by marriage. Having no living offspring, when she died at the age of 94 in the Liria Palace in Madrid, the tiara would have been inherited by her great-nephew, Don Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, grandson of the Empress’ dear sister, Doña Maria Francisca (Paca), Duchess of Alba by marriage.
However, it appears that the piece’s true origins are very distinct. Some sources claim that there is no reference to such grand piece in the late Empress’ inheritance nor in the Alba archives. Also, the piece’s design does not match with the Second Empire style favoured by the Empress. It would have been created on a later date. Ansorena, the Spanish Crown Jeweller, has crafted another tiara for a Ducal family very similar in style. It is highly probable that the Diamond and Pearl tiara arrived in the family via a union with another notable Spanish Lineage: The House of Híjar. In October 1920, Don Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, XVII Duke of Alba, married Doña María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, the only daughter and heiress to the Duke and Duchess of Híjar. In 1926, they welcomed a baby daughter named María del Rosario Cayetana Paloma Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Fernanda Teresa Francisca de Paula Lourdes Antonia Josefa Fausta Rita Castor Dorotea Santa Esperanza Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva Falcó y Gurtubay, who would simply be referred to as Cayetana.
The Pearl and Diamond Tiara’s most remarkable appearance took place several years later, in October 1947, when Doña Cayetana, wore it on the day of her marriage to Don Luis Martínez de Irujo. The Duchess would describe her wedding day in her memoirs as such:
“We got married that same year, on October 12, a day as important as the Hispanidad, and a fantastic date for Seville. Because I managed to get married in Seville, fulfilling another of my dreams, which cost me no small amount of work. Those months, from the announcement of the engagement to the wedding day, I lived in that happiness of all brides, with a lot of excitement.
What was happening around me affected me little, such was the bubble in which I was immersed alongside Luis, also embarking on a meticulous, very detailed preparation, as my father’s custom demanded. For him, the wedding day of his only daughter, the future Duchess of Alba, had to be memorable and, of course, it succeeded.
I wanted to get married at the main altar of the Cathedral of Seville, beautiful, which, for those who don’t know, is the third largest temple in the world. Only Pedro of Orleans and Infanta Esperanza of Borbón, sister of Doña María de las Mercedes, the mother of King Juan Carlos, had managed to get married there. Dad worked a lot with Cardinal Segura to get permission, because he knew how excited I was, and I think he was too. In the end, he managed it.
The dress was made for me by Flora Villarreal. I recently donated it to the Costume Museum in Madrid, and they take it to all the important exhibitions held on wedding dresses. It’s a beautiful dress. Flora, who had her workshop in Madrid, did a magnificent job. I always liked her a lot as a couturier, although she has not obtained the same recognition as Balenciaga, for example.
The dress that Flora made for me was made of natural satin, with 18th century Brussels lace and was inspired by a line that Dior had launched: narrow shoulders, a very narrow waist as well, and a very full skirt. The centre buttoning, in the front, was beautiful and, since I was thin, it fit me like a glove. I was not surprised that, years later, Grace Kelly wore a similar button-down when she married Rainier of Monaco. I wore a five-meter-long tulle veil, held in my hair with a crown of pearls and diamonds (…).
I lack the words to tell how the journey in the carriage was like, pulled by horses harnessed with tassels and with the coachmen’s blankets embroidered with the four letters of the family: ALBA. Although I have a good memory, my assistant, Lola, and I have contrasted all these details with the press clippings from that time. What the newspapers didn’t pick up was my joy, the warmth of the thousands of people who were waiting for me in the streets, praising me with: “Duquesa, iguapa! ¡guapa!”. Years have passed and even today they continue to compliment me affectionately. How can I not love Seville and the Sevillians if they are my home, if as soon as I go out on the street, they do nothing but love me? (…).
The press at that time was more respectful than it is today, although regarding my wedding some foreign newspapers—as was the case with my debutante ball—criticized the supposed money we had spent, undoubtedly without knowing the details of all the money my father had distributed. My father… the most important man in my life, he was there, sitting next to me in the carriage, after everything we had been through together: from Mom’s death to two wars (…).
As I walked arm in arm with my father down the aisle of the Cathedral towards the altar, I remember that I was feeling very moved seeing all the women wearing their mantillas, which were mandatory for the ceremony. How proud I felt then of that decision! I loved the mantillas, I still like it very much today and I regret that they are seen less and less, both at bullfights and in church”.
The late Duchess’ stunning wedding dress can now be admired at the ‘La Moda en la Casa de Alba’ exhibition in Madrid until March 2024.
There were several occasions in which the Duchess of Alba wore her Diamond and Pearl Tiara, namely the Imperial Ball in New York in 1959, where she and her husband were the guests of honour, as well as one of the galas prior to the wedding of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, in Athens, in 1962.
In addition, the Pearl and Diamond Tiara can be taken off its’ frame and worn as an outstanding necklace. Doña Cayetana wore it this way on several evening events, namely for a Gala in the City of Barcelona in 1963, where she was joined by the Begum Aga Khan.
In October 1998, the Duchess of Alba’s only daughter, Doña Eugenia, would follow in her mother’s footsteps by crowning her bridal look with this Pearl and Diamond Tiara. She was the only family bride to so, as Doña Cayetana loaned one of her other Tiaras to her daughters-in-law.
The Duchess would describe her daughter’s wedding day, considered the wedding of the year in Spain, as:
“Fran and Eugenia’s wedding made up for all the unpleasant events we had experienced that year. They were married on October 23, 1998, at the main altar of the Cathedral of Seville, as Luis and I, and Mati and Carlos. Eugenia was beautiful. She looked like a medieval Princess from a fairy-tale. She had the dressed designed by Ungaro and it was spectacular. I had known Emanuel for years, because he had started in Balenciaga workshops, and we got along very well. When he found out that Eugenia was getting married, he told us that he would love to make her wedding dress. Eugenia agreed and it was a success, although we had to go to Paris several times for the fittings. And on that day, she wore the Pearl Tiara from Eugenia of Montijo, the one I had also worn.
Eugenia left Dueñas in the carriage from the House of Alba, like I had done half a century before, but I think this time everything was even more beautiful. Once again, the people of Seville showed us how much they love us, because the streets were packed to celebrate the wedding of my daughter and Francisco Rivera Ordóñez. I could go on and on chatting about that day, but that will be up to her—if she wants—at some point in her life.
The Duke and Duchess of Lugo, as pleasant as always, attended on behalf of the King and Queen. Many members of European royalty were also there”.
Upon the Duchess of Alba’s passing in 2014, it was her daughter Eugenia, the Duchess of Montoro, who ended up inheriting the impressive Pearl and Diamond Tiara, and would amusingly wear it for a casual photoshoot for Harper’s Bazaar Magazine in 2018. It might take a few years until we have the opportunity to see this outstanding piece again in public, perhaps for the wedding of the Duchess’ only daughter, Cayetana (Tana).
This article was written by assistant editor, David Rato, who runs the Spanish Royal Jewels account on Instagram!
