85-Year-Old Rich Duchess Gives Up All Her Personal Fortune To Marry

The Duchess of Alba, one of Spain's richest women, is giving away her personal fortune in order to marry, the BBC reports. According to The Guardian, the Duchess of Alba has more titles than anyone on earth, owns a dozen castles, artwork by Goya and Velasquez, and has allegedly had extensive plastic surgery. The 85-year-old Duchess is giving her fortune (estimated at anywhere from 600 million to 3.5 billion euros -- roughly $854 million to $4.9 billion) away to her children as an early inheritance so she can marry Alfonso Diez, who is 24 years younger than her. Her children object to the marriage, and this is her way of overruling their objections. The Duchess of Alba reportedly said earlier this year that, "Alfonso doesn't want anything. All he wants is me." Diez is a civil servant, and has been friends with the Duchess for years. There were reports that she planned to marry him in 2008 but didn't because of a phone call the King of Spain made to her dissuading her from going through with it. Apparently, she is now marrying Diez, regardless of what the King or her children think. Her eldest son will receive the majority of her fortune and the Liria Palace in Madrid.