Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz

Infanta Pilar
Infanta of Spain; Duchess of Badajoz Dowager Viscountess de la Torre
Born	(1936-07-30) 30 July 1936 Cannes, France
Spouse	Luis Gómez-Acebo, Viscount de la Torre (m. 1967; d. 1991)
Issue	Simoneta Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón Juan Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón, Viscount de la Torre Bruno Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón Luis Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón Fernando Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón
Full name María del Pilar Alfonsa Juana Victoria Luisa Ignacia y Todos los Santos (et omnes sancti) de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias
House	Bourbon
Father	Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona
Mother	Princess María Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Royal styles of Infanta Pilar of Spain, Duchess of Badajoz
Reference style	Her Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Ma'am

Infanta Pilar of Spain, Duchess of Badajoz, Dowager Viscountess de la Torre (María del Pilar Alfonsa Juana Victoria Luisa Ignacia y Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias) (born 30 July 1936, in Cannes) is the elder daughter of Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona and Princess María Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and older sister of King Juan Carlos I. She has also a younger sister, Infanta Margarita of Spain.

Early life

Infanta Pilar spent her early years at the royal family's home in exile at Estoril in Portugal.

She was a bridesmaid at the 1962 wedding of her brother Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark in Athens.

Marriage and issue

She married Don Luis Gómez-Acebo y Duque de Estrada, ?th Viscount de la Torre, Grandee of Spain (Madrid, 23 December 1934 – Madrid, 9 March 1991) on 5 May 1967 in Lisbon, Portugal. He was a son, the fourth of six children, of Jaime Gómez-Acebo y Modet (ca. 1900 – ?) and wife (m. 1927) Isabel Duque de Estrada y Vereterra, 9th Marchioness de Deleitosa (ca. 1903 – ?). His father was a son of the 3rd Marquess de Cortina and an uncle of Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela. They had five children:

• HE Doña María de Fátima Simoneta Luisa Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón (born 28 October/31 October 1968). She married in Palma de Mallorca on 12 September 1990 José Miguel Fernández y Sastrón, later Fernández-Sastrón (born 14 June 1959), son of Jorge Fernández y Menéndez and wife Eloísa Ana Sastrón y Herrera. They divorced on 16 October 2012. They have two sons and one daughter:
  • Luis Juan Fernández-Sastrón y Gómez-Acebo (born 23 September 1991)
  • Pablo Fernández-Sastrón y Gómez-Acebo (born 4 May 1995)
  • María de las Mercedes Fernández-Sastrón y Gómez-Acebo (born 17 January 2000), her godfather is Felipe VI of Spain
• HE Don Juan Filiberto Nicolás Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón (born 6 December 1969), ?th Viscount de la Torre. On 2 January 2014 he married Winston Holmes Carney in the Consulate of Spain in Miami. They have one child:
  • Nicolás Gómez-Acebo y Carney (born 2 March 2013)
• HE Don Bruno Alejandro Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón (born 15 June 1971), married in Madrid at the Church of la Encarnación on 5 October 2002 Bárbara Cano y de la Plaza and they have three sons:
  • Alejandro Juan Gómez-Acebo y Cano (born 5 November 2004)
  • Guillermo Gómez-Acebo y Cano (born 23 November 2005)
  • Álvaro Gómez-Acebo y Cano (born 30 May 2011), his godfather is Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou
• HE Don Luis Beltrán Ataúlfo Alfonso Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón (born 20 May 1973), married at La Granja de San Ildefonso, Segovia, on 18 September 2004 model Laura Ponte y Martínez; separation confirmed in July 2009. They divorced in 2011, and have a son and a daughter:
  • Luis Felipe Gómez-Acebo y Ponte (born 1 July 2005), his godfather is Felipe VI of Spain
  • Laura Gómez-Acebo y Ponte (born 1 July 2006)
• HE Don Fernando Humberto Gómez-Acebo y de Borbón (born 13 September 1974), married in Madrid on 27 November 2004 Mónica Martín Luque, without issue. Announced separation in July 2011. Finally, they divorced in January 2013.

Pilar needed to renounce to her rights of succession to the Spanish throne to marry a commoner as stipulated by the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles III on marriages of members of the royal family.

She was President of the International Equestrian Federation from 1994 to 2005, when she was replaced by Princess Haya bint Hussein. The Infanta still supports very actively the international equestrian sport. She wrote the foreword of the official Spanish translation of the national instruction handbook of the German National Equestrian Federation, Técnicas Avanzadas de Equitación - Manual Oficial de Instrucción de la Federación Ecuestre Alemana. This manual was published in Spain and Latin America and counted with the participation of prominent riders and high officials of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) from Spanish speaking countries. She was member of the International Olympic Committee for Spain from 1996 to 2006, when she became an honorary member, and Member of the Executive Board of the Spanish Olympic Committee. She was President of Europa Nostra, the pan-European federation for cultural heritage between 2007-2009.

The Infanta is fluent in English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Letterhead of Infanta Pilar.

Titles

• 30 July 1936 – 13 April 1967: Her Royal Highness Infanta Pilar of Spain
• 13 April 1967 – 5 June 1967: Her Royal Highness Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz
• 5 June 1967 – 9 March 1991: Her Royal Highness Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, Viscountess of la Torre
• 9 March 1991 – present: Her Royal Highness Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, Viscountess Dowager of la Torre

The Infanta's style and title in full: Her Royal Highness Doña María del Pilar Alfonsa Juana Victoria Luisa Ignacia de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias de Gómez-Acebo, Infanta of Spain, Duchess of Badajoz, Viscountess Dowager of la Torre.

Honours

See also List of honours of the Spanish Royal Family by country

National Orders

• The 1,191st Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa (16/04/1936).
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III (14/10/1988).

Foreign Orders

• Kingdom of Greece : Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Olga and Sophia (13/05/1962).
• Portugal : Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry (06/06/1968).

Former sovereign families

• House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies : Dame Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (1960).

Arms

Arms of Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz

Notes The Duchess's personalized coat of arms is based on the arms of the monarch in right of Spain. Crest The crown of Infantes of Spain Escutcheon Quarterly: 1 gules a castle triple-embattled with three towers each triple-turreted or masoned sable and ajouré azure; 2 argent a lion rampant purpure crowned or, langued and armed gules; 3 or, four pallets gules; 4 gules a cross, saltire and orle of chains linked together or, a centre point vert; enté en point argent, a pomegranate proper seeded gules, supported, sculpted and leafed in two leaves vert. Inescutcheon: azure bordured gules, three fleurs-de-lys or. The whole differenced by a label of three points azure, charged on the middle point with a lion gules fimbriated or and one of the Pillars of Hercules argent and on the outer points with an oak proper fimbriated or. Orders The Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III ribbon. Banner The Duchess of Badajoz's personal Royal Standard is that of the Spanish Monarch (a crimson square flag) with a swallow-tail and charged with her personalized coat of arms. Symbolism As with the Royal Arms of Spain. The first quarter are the arms of Castile, the second of León, the third of Aragon and the fourth of Navarre. Enté en point, the arms of Granada. Inescutcheon, the arms of Bourbon-Anjou. A lion gules with one of the Pillars of Hercules argent has been the arms of Badajoz, an oak has been a charge of the arms of Extremadura. Previous versions Until 1991 As a married woman the Duchess of Badajoz has her arms displayed on an oval shield.

Ancestry

Family of Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz

16. Infante Francis of Spain, Duke of Cádiz               8. Alfonso XII of Spain                       17. Isabella II of Spain               4. Alfonso XIII of Spain                             18. Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria               9. Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria                       19. Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria               2. Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona                                   20. Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine               10. Prince Henry of Battenberg                       21. Countess Julia von Hauke               5. Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg                             22. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha               11. Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom                       23. Victoria of the United Kingdom               1. Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz                                         24. Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies               12. Prince Alfonso, Count of Caserta                       25. Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria               6. Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies                             26. Prince Francis, Count of Trapani               13. Princess Antonietta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies                       27. Archduchess Maria Isabella of Austria               3. Princess Maria Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies                                   28. Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans               14. Prince Philippe, Count of Paris                       29. Duchess Helena Luisa Elizabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin               7. Princess Louise of Orléans                             30. Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier               15. Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans                       31. Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain