María del Rosario de Silva, 9th Marchioness of San Vicente del Barco

Doña María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, Duchess of Alba de Tormes, 9th Marchioness of San Vicente del Barco, GE (4 April 1900 – 11 January 1934) was a Spanish aristocrat and socialite.

Early life María was born in Madrid, Spain on 4 April 1900. She was the sole heiress of all the titles of her father, Alfonso de Silva, 16th Duke of Híjar, and of the fortune of her mother, María del Rosario Gurtubay, the young Marchioness was one of the beauties of her time.

Personal life She married in London, on 7 October 1920, to Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba, thus becoming the Duchess of Alba. Before her death, they were the parents of a daughter:

Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart (1926–2014), who married Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artázcoz in 1947. After his death in 1972, she married Jesús Aguirre y Ortiz de Zárate in 1978. After his death in 2001, she married Alfonso Díez Carabantes in 2011.

The Duke and Duchess travelled to the United States in 1924, visiting Chicago, New York, Washington, and Long Island.

She stayed with her family in the Liria Palace in Madrid and died there of tuberculosis on 11 January 1934, aged only 33.

Ancestry