The mystery of the 3rd Duchess of Sevilla

If you ever thought royal and noble genealogy is easy: no it is not! You need to be accurate, and pretty good at doing research. People have often wondered how and where I discovered things … ah well I have discovered tons of sources in the past fifteen years, and some of them I better not reveal. But it is amazing how much you can find out by searching online.

There are also many what some people call “vampires”, royals and nobles that must have died, but nobody has ever found proof of it. For many, many years, royal genealogists have looked for the date of death of María Luisa de Borbón y Parade, 3rd Duchess of Sevilla – a side branche of the Spanish royal house. All that was known was that she likely had died in Madrid around 1950. Yesterday a French genealogist pointed out on the Nobiliana Forum, that she seems to be mentioned in the England & Wales National Probate Calendar 1858-1966, a database with some basic information about wills, connected to England & Wales. But he had no access, so I had a look at it via Ancestry and there it was … finally after just over 64 years! María Luisa de Borbon y Parade died on 10 June 1949 at Ciempozuelos, Spain. She left effects worth £4534 3s. 7 d. in England. Her heir seems to have been her sister Enriqueta de Borbon y Parade, 4th Duchess of Sevilla.

María Luisa had been born in Madrid, Spain, on 4 April 1868 as daughter of the 2nd Duke of Sevilla (a great-grandson of King Carlos IV of Spain) and his wife Josephine Parade. She was the widow of Juan Monclús y Cabañellas, who died after an operation at Stretton House, Church Stretton district, Shropshire, England, on 13 December 1918, only aged 56. They had married at London on 25 July 1894.

Mystery solved, but there are many more …

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