Franco’s palace see real and mock weddings

6 August 2008

MADRID – A 19th-century Galician palace used as a rural retreat by General Franco will host two weddings this Friday.

Inside, Leticia Giménez-Arnau Martínez-Bordiu, Franco’s great-granddaughter will wed her fiancé.

Outside, campaigners demanding that the palace be opened to the public will hold their own mock wedding in which an actor will bring the dictator back from the dead.

The wedding and the protest come as the Galician government embarks on the process of having the Pazo de Meirás palace in Sada near A Coruña declared a monument of national interest – a move that would force Franco’s surviving relatives to open it to the public at least four days a month.

The Franco family have fought for over a year to stop public access to the turreted property, arguing that letting people in would violate their privacy.

Campaigners say that the building and its contents are of historic value and should be catalogued and put on public display.

Built in 1893, the palace was given to Franco during the Civil War by Galician businessmen eager to win favour with the general. Once Franco took power at the end of the war expropriations of nearby land expanded the palace’s grounds.

[El Pais / Expatica]