The Kings, Queen Sofia, Infanta Elena and Princess Irene of Greece attended last night the mass for Fernando Gómez-Acebo, the youngest of the children of Infanta Pilar, who died on Friday at the age of 49 as consequence of the aggravation of the chronic pulmonary insufficiency that he suffered from. Yesterday, throughout the day, his brothers Juan, Simoneta, Bruno and Beltrán, cousins ??of the King, watched over him at the La Paz funeral home in Tres Cantos (Madrid), where other relatives and friends came.
The youngest son of the late Dukes of Badajoz, whom everyone called Cocó, was also the tenth grandson of the Counts of Barcelona. In 2004 he married Mónica Martín Luque, from whom he divorced in 2010; six years later he married, in Athens, Nadia Halamandari, a Greek journalist daughter of a well-to-do family, who days after the wedding gave birth to the deceased’s only son, Nicolás, who is now 8 years old . The couple has never lived together but they were still married and took turns caring for the child. Yesterday, both the first and the second wife, accompanied by their son, attended the funeral of their husband.
Fernando Gómez-Acebo had different jobs, one as an Iberia ground assistant, but during the last few years he had no known professional occupations. He lived with his mother, the infanta Pilar, until she died in January 2020. Fernando kept a low profile all his life and was, according to his family and friends, a discreet, sensitive and fragile person who he put up with his weak health for years.
Just a few days ago, after an aggravation of his pulmonary condition, he had to be admitted to a hospital where, already very serious, he was visited by his cousin the King and his aunt the infanta Margarita. He died late Friday afternoon, surrounded by his brothers and his second wife.
Yesterday, among others, the Dukes of Feria, José María Aznar Botella, Adolfo Suárez Illana, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Nuria González, Beatriz d’Orleans, Sandra Falcó and Tessa d’Orleans went to the funeral home.