José Osorio y Silva

José Osorio y Silva, 9th Duke of Sesto, 16th Duke of Alburquerque, 17th Marquess of Alcañices (4 April 1825 – 30 December 1909), was a Spanish nobleman, politician and army officer. He was also known by one of his titles, Duke of Sesto, inherited from his father, and by nicknames Pepe Osorio or Pepe Alcañices. He was head and representative of the houses of Alcañices, Alburquerque and los Balbases, causing a personal union of sixteen noble titles and four grandee titles. He is also considered one of the most notable mayors of Madrid, serving from 1857 to 1864. Prior to this, during the 1850s and briefly in 1876 he was a Deputy for Segovia.

He had inherited strong monarchist convictions as a result of his education and family tradition. During the Glorious Revolution he convinced Isabel II that the only way to re-establish the monarchy was for her to abdicate - he was the first to sign the abdication document and became so involved in the process that the queen told her son "Alfonso, shake hands with Pepe, who has managed to make you king". During the royal family's exile he paid their expenses and put his residence in Deauville at their disposal.

He then paved the way for the restoration of the monarchy and the accession of Isabel's son Alfonso XII, on which he spent much of his family fortune. Alfonso XII came to look on him as a second father and throughout Alfonso's life José was his best friend and main advisor. He also acted as mentor to prince Alfonso (the future Alfonso XIII) and José's wife, the Russian princess Sofía Troubetzkaya, built up support for the restoration socially among the Spanish nobility while José's friend Antonio Cánovas del Castillo consolidated support politically.

On Alfonso XII's death in 1885, José was disgraced before his widow Maria Christina of Austria and left the Spanish court. He briefly returned to be the vice-president of the Senate from 1898 to 1899. He spent his last years back in politics as well as on business and leisure travel across Europe with his wife. He died aged 84 in his palace of Paseo de Recoletos on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the start of the restoration of the monarchy. He left no children and named his nephew Miguel Osorio y Martos as his heir.

Life

Childhood He was born in Madrid, in the palace of Alcañices, on 4 April 1821, the son of Nicolás Osorio y Zayas (1793-1866), marquis of Alcañices and of los Balbases, Duke of Alburquerque, the owner of 18 titles of nobility and 6 grandeeships of Spain. The marquis held several offices of the Spanish Crown, such as High Steward to king consort Francisco de Asís de Borbón, Steward and Great Equerry to Infanta Isabel, Princess of Asturias, Gentleman of the Bedchamber Grandee of Spain to queen Isabel II of Spain and tutor to prince Alfonso, later Alfonso XII of Spain.

His mother was Inés de Silva y Téllez-Girón (1806-1865), daughter of José Gabriel de Silva-Bazán, 10th marquis of Santa Cruz de Mudela, grandee of Spain and of Joaquina Téllez-Girón y Pimentel, Countess of Osilo. He had six siblings of whom only Joaquín survived to adulthood. José had a close relationship with his brother Joaquín throughout his life and ceded the title of count of la Corzana to him and his descendants on marrying María de las Mercedes de Heredia y Zafra-Vázquez, 3rd marquise of los Arenales.

From a young age he was tutored by some of the most prestigious teachers of the time, learning to speak English, French and Italian. In 1833 he attended the Masarnau school in Madrid, an institution linked to the University of Madrid. The family would spend their summers in Cuéllar (Segovia), at the castle owned by the family and which had been used for this purpose since the Dukes of Alburquerque went to live near the Royal Court. They would also often visit Ledesma (Salamanca) during the holidays. During his childhood he was a frequent visitor of the Royal Palace of Madrid together with his mother, who was a close friend of queen María Cristina and, after the death of the king and subsequent start of the First Carlist War, the family went into exile in Italy, settling in turn in Rome, Naples and Palermo.

Marriage and other romantic relationships Considered one of the most eligible bachelors of the time owing to his considerable fortune and noble titles, as a young man he was in love with María Francisca de Sales Portocarrero (daughter of Cipriano de Palafox, 8th Count of Montijo and María Manuela Kirkpatrick y Grivegnée) who would go on to marry Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 15th Duke of Alba in 1844. In order to get closer to her he became friends with her sister, Eugénie de Montijo (later Empress of the French through her marriage to Napoleon III of France), but she fell in love with him instead; on discovering the truth, she attempted to take her own life with a concoction of phosphorus and milk. In 1853, Eugénie wrote to the duke announcing her engagement to the Emperor of the French, and, met with his silence, sent him a telegram reading "The Emperor has asked for my hand, what should I do?" The duke's reply arrived days before the wedding, in a note that read only "May you be very happy." Another of his romantic attachments was said to be Josefa Peña Azcárate, known as Pepita Peña, who later married in Mexico Marshal François Achille Bazaine, noted for his role in the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.

Pepe Osorio with his wife Sophia Sergeyevna Trubetskaya, photographed in Deauville in the spring of 1869, a few days after their wedding.

Finally, in 1868, while in Deauville (France) accompanying the Spanish royal family in exile, he met the Russian princess Sophia Sergeyevna Trubetskaya, who had been widowed three years earlier by Charles, Duke of Morny, himself a half-brother of Napoleon III. Sophia's paternity was disputed between Prince Sergei Vasilyevich Trubetskoy and Tsar Nicholas I of Russia himself, who had admired her mother, Ekaterina Petrovna Musina-Pushkina, a fact of which she was proud. The couple fell in love at first sight and moved to Spain; on 20 February 1869 they obtained royal permission from Isabella II to marry, and the wedding was finally held in Vitoria on 21 March of the same year.

His wife, considered one of the most beautiful and elegant women in 19th-century Europe, dazzled the court with her cosmopolitan spirit and enthusiasm for the monarchy, as well as with her tastes in fashion and decoration, which were soon imitated just as they had been in France. A few years after the marriage, at Sophia's request, an important remodelling of the palace of Alcañices was carried out, adapting the family residence to her taste; it was there that Spain's first Christmas tree was set up, at the duchess's request, at Christmas 1870. She was appointed a lady of the Order of the Noble Ladies of Queen María Luisa, and Antonio Cánovas del Castillo made her his personal secretary;

The marriage produced no children. Sophia died on 27 July 1897, and Pepe outlived her by twelve years. Shortly before his death, he summoned his nephew Miguel, whom he named his heir, and asked him to burn, in his presence, the extensive correspondence he had kept with Paca de Portocarrero, whom he had loved; with Eugénie de Montijo, who had loved him; and with Sophia, his wife.

Titles, decorations and honours José Osorio in the robes of the Order of Charles III (19th century). From birth, as heir to the house, he held the titles of Duke of Sesto, Marquis of Montaos, of Cuéllar and of Cullera. He received his first decoration in 1844, at the age of nineteen, when he was made a knight of the Royal Maestranza of Cavalry of Seville. Numerous appointments followed, such as that of knight of the collar of the Order of Charles III, granted to him by Isabella II in 1863, of which order he later served as interim grand chancellor.

He was also a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, received the gold medal of Alfonso XIII, and was interim grand chancellor of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. He was also awarded numerous foreign decorations, such as the Grand Cross of the Order of Christ of Portugal, the Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus of Italy, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle of Prussia, and the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour of France, as well as others from Germany, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Hungary, Switzerland and Turkey.

On the death of his father at his palace on Calle de Alcalá on 31 January 1866, he succeeded him in fifteen noble titles: the house's five grandeeships — the marquisates of Alcañices and de los Balbases, the duchies of Alburquerque and Algete, and the county of la Corzana — together with the marquisate of Cadreita and the counties of Fuensaldaña, Grajal, Huelma, Ledesma, la Torre, las Torres de Alcorrín, Villaumbrosa and Villanueva de Cañedo.

Equestrian pursuits Pepe Osorio on horseback at his Soto de Mozanaque estate (Algete) in 1874, wearing traditional countryside dress. From childhood he was trained in the use of arms, practising fashionable pursuits such as fencing, for which he had a room set aside at home. His father was one of the twelve founders, in 1841, of the Society for the Promotion of Horse Breeding in Spain, and instilled in his children his own passion for equestrianism.

Considered one of the best mayors the city ever had,

He created ten first-aid houses (casas de socorro), one for each of the districts into which the city was then divided, the first being that of the central district, which was housed in the building of the Royal Hospice of San Fernando. Wishing to preserve a record of the city's artistic heritage, he undertook an inventory and photographic archive of all its existing fountains, a project that was also meant to cover churches, convents, palaces and other notable buildings, but which he never completed.

Following O'Donnell's fall and the turbulent change of power, he ended his term, handing over the mayoral staff of office to José Mesía Pando, Duke of Tamames. He was also Civil Governor of Madrid on three occasions, in 1861–1863, 1865–1866 and 1874–1875, during which periods he planned to create a photographic album of thieves, criminals and murderers so that witnesses could identify them. When Amadeo of Savoy visited Spain to meet the royal family, it was he who was tasked with receiving him and showing him the city's most picturesque spots, and he showed great efficiency in the aftermath of the 1865 cholera outbreak, in which he lost his mother. He finally resigned as governor after being appointed head of the royal household in 1875. while the debts run up by the queen in Switzerland were covered by Sofía Troubetzkoy herself. The prince's education was entrusted to Pepe, who first enrolled him at the Collège Stanislas in Paris, and later transferred him to the Theresianum in Vienna to continue his studies, which were completed at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England. The instrument of abdication was granted on 25 June 1870, and the Duke of Sesto himself was the first witness to sign it. There the duchess, together with the Marchioness of Bedmar, the Marchioness of Torrecilla, the Countess of Castellar and the Countess of Tilly, organised the well-known Rebellion of the Mantillas (1871).

The duke and duchess frequently travelled to France and Vienna to meet with the prince and the queen, keeping them informed of the situation in Spain: the civil war in the North, the Cantonalist struggles in the Levante and overseas, and the growing independence movement in Cuba. They also brought letters from Cánovas and other politicians, and took the opportunity to attend events and meetings that brought together supporters of the exiled monarchy. On one of these trips, they accompanied the royal family to the railway station as they set off for Rome to visit Pius IX. Finally, on 1 December 1874, the Prince of Asturias signed the Sandhurst Manifesto, a document declaring his willingness to become king under a parliamentary monarchy, which set in motion the political process of the Restoration.

The document had been drafted jointly by Cánovas and the prince himself, and the draft was written out in fair copy by Sofía, the Duchess of Sesto, who acted as Cánovas's secretary. The duke and duchess helped distribute the manifesto throughout the city, and Sofía secretly sent two copies to Russia so that the leading European nations might recognise the liberal monarchy then being established.

Re-establishment of the monarchy Engraving published in 1878 by La Ilustración Española y Americana depicting José Osorio delivering to Antonio de Orleans, Duke of Montpensier, a letter from Alfonso XII asking for the hand of his daughter María de las Mercedes de Orleans, as his close friend and adviser.

With the Restoration, he was appointed head of the royal household.

His financial contribution to the Alfonsist cause has been estimated at between the 15 million reales given by Julio Quesada-Cañaveral, 8th Duke of San Pedro de Galatino and 6th Count of Benalúa, and the 20 million reales cited by Antonio María Fabié y Escudero, who further maintained that after the monarchy's triumph he refused to accept even a single peseta, and whose father had been a close friend of both Sesto and Cánovas. The following day the same newspaper published his obituary, in which it described him as:

quote|A man of clear intelligence, highly cultured, courteous and gentlemanly in his manner, of unwavering loyalty to the monarchs, whom he served with genuine devotion, and a jealous lover of his homeland like an old Castilian lord. A witty and entertaining conversationalist, a man of the world who had taken a direct part in scenes of the highest interest during the Restoration and the first years of the Regency, he must have carried in his mind an archive of the most fascinating dealings — memories which he sometimes recalled in conversation, though never overstepping the bounds of reserve and discretion, and from which more than one volume of stirring and moving memoirs could be made, memoirs that would shed light on certain transcendental episodes of contemporary history.|ABC, 31 December 1909, p. 7.

His remains were later transferred to the family pantheon at the cemetery of La Almudena, where they rest today. The Madrid city government named a street after him, Calle Duque de Sesto, in his honour, located in the Salamanca district.

Heraldry