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Spain’s Duchess of Alba, the eccentric 88-year-old with more titles than any other aristocrat, has been hospitalised with pneumonia, a spokeswoman for her charitable foundation said Monday.
Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James-Stuart was admitted to the emergency ward at Sagrado Corazon hospital in Seville on Sunday evening, the spokeswoman for the Fundacion Casa de Alba told AFP.
The duchess last came to international attention in 2011 when she danced flamenco at her wedding to Alfonso Diez, a civil servant 25 years her junior.
Well-known from the pages of celebrity magazines with her frizzy white hair, she lives in the southern city of Seville in one of her various palaces.
“She had suffered a stomach virus a few days earlier but had recovered from it.
Now she has pneumonia.
At her age, one thing leads to another,” the spokeswoman said.
“She is weak,” the spokeswoman added.
“We are worried because we love her very much.
“The 18th Duchess of Alba has more titles than any other noble on Earth according to Guinness World Records, which lists 57 titles for her due to her complex international ancestry.
Spanish media have estimated her fortune at between 600 million and 3.
5 billion euros ($5.
0 billion).
Spaniards followed with fascination the story of her last wedding — the third marriage for the twice-widowed duchess — which she admitted caused her to fall out with her children.