Beltrán Alfonso Osorio, 18th Duke of Alburquerque

18th duke of Alburquerque

Beltrán Alfonso Osorio y Díez de Rivera, 18th Duke of Alburquerque, GE, OSL (15 December 1918 – 7 February 1994

His passion for equestrianism emerged after he was given his first pony age 5. On his 8th birthday, his father gifted him with a newsreel clip of the 1926 Grand National. He thereafter became enthusiastic with the idea of competing in it. The duke quickly became one of the promising horse riders of his home club, Puerta de Hierro, rising to prominence when he competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics and later at the 1960 Summer Olympics. His jockey career began when he came second in the Sussex Stakes at Lingfield Park. Despite the duke's unhelpfully tall physique, he finally rode the Grand National as "gentleman rider" in 1952. Osorio also took part in 1963, 1965, 1966, 1973, when he already had 16 bone screws; in 1974, when he finished in a respectable 8th place; and aged 58 in 1976, breaking 7 ribs and vertebrae, his right wrist and femur as well as suffering a severe concussion that gave him a two day coma. As a result, the Jockey Club stewards declined to renew his riding permit and it was widely said that should he continue, "the hospital would run out of screws and the duke out of legs". The Duke of Alburquerque continued riding in Europe until he was 65. He retired leaving behind an extremely popular legacy, particularly in Britain, where he is remembered for his "courageous and injury defying performances" at Aintree in which he and his horse "Nereo" became fundamental. On his death in 1994, a racing journalist described him as "an immensely popular character in British racing who cut the distinctive figure of being a tall, slender man with the nose and prominent chin of the traditional Spanish Grandee, closely resembling a Punch cartoon."

He was born in Madrid, his parents being Miguel Osorio y Martos, 17th Duke of Alburquerque, and Inés Díez de Rivera y Figueroa, daughter of the 5th Count of Almodóvar, who was also a Grandee. In 1936, when he had not yet reached the legal age, he participated in the Spanish Civil War, on the Battle of Somosierra, later fighting in the Infantry Regiment of Navarre, at the command of the 4th Company of the Tercio de San Fermín, later passing to the Cavalry Regiment of the Army of the Centre. At the end of the war, he entered the General Military Academy, from which he left with the rank of lieutenant. From 1954, and until 1993, he held the position of Head of the House of the Count of Barcelona, and for his service and dedication Juan Carlos I of Spain made him a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

He married firstly, in the Church of Saint Anthony of the Germans in Madrid on 2 October 1952, Teresa Bertrán de Lis y Pidal (1923 1969), daughter of Vicente Carlos Luis Bertrán de Lis y Gurowski, 2nd Marquess of Bondad Real (himself a grandchild of Infanta Isabel Fernanda of Spain), and his wife María de la Concepción Pidal y Chico de Guzmán, of the House of the Marquesses of Pidal. She died in a car accident when her vehicle collided with that of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, son of Rafael Trujillo, who would die a few days later. There were three children by this first marriage:

Juan Miguel Osorio y Bertrán de Lis, 19th Duke of Alburquerque, who continues the line. Teresa Osorio y Bertrán de Lis (b. 1962). María Osorio y Bertrán de Lis (b. 1966), 14th Countess of Villaumbrosa. He married secondly, in Estoril on 27 June 1974, María Cristina Malcampo y San Miguel (1935 2004), 15th Duchess of Parque, 7th Duchess of San Lorenzo de Valhermoso, 9th Marchioness of Casa Villavicencio, 9th Marchioness of San Rafael, 4th Countess of Joló, 3rd Viscountess of Mindanao, twice Grandee of Spain. There were two children by this second marriage:

María Cristina Osorio y Malcampo (b. 1975), 8th Duchess of San Lorenzo de Valhermoso, 5th Countess of Joló, 4th Viscountess of Mindanao and 10th Marchioness of Casa Villavicencio. María Rosa Osorio y Malcampo (*b. 1978), 16th Duchess of Parque and 10th Marchioness of San Rafael.