Cayetano Martínez de Irujo has fond memories of his childhood Christmases, before his father died. Then everything changed and not for the better. “My father died when I was nine years old and from the last Christmas he was there to the next there was such a brutal change that from then on Christmas stopped making much sense for me. There have been many Christmases in the palace [referring to Liria, in Madrid] that I remember with my mother and my brothers and… well, well. It was the only time a year where we all met at the palace. Once in a palace, you really see little of yourself and practically nothing with those who don’t live there. So that uniqueness it had. The gifts and that, but anyway, nothing special for me.”
The death of the Duchess of Alba, in November 2014, ended the little familiarity that this celebration has had for him practically all his life. Cayetano explains that that year was the last Christmas in Liria. The last truly familiar one: “I thought the tradition was going to continue like this. But at the beginning of January… Not in my worst dreams would I have imagined that jealousy and envy could become what they have become. It doesn’t make any sense for me to go there anymore. “I prefer to keep the memory I have of my mother’s time and how beautiful Christmas was until I was nine years old.”
He refers without specifying, as it is well known, that his time as manager of the vast Alba estate on behalf of the duchess ended as soon as his brother Carlos passed from Duke of Huéscar to Duke of Alba and he was dismissed from his duties. Cayetano left Liria and the already tense relationship with his older brothers cracked even more. The rider continues to commemorate the death of the duchess every November 20 with a mass in Seville to which his brothers gradually stopped going.
However, the rider does not shy away from celebrating with close people: he will have dinner on Christmas Eve with the family of his partner, Bárbara Mirjan, and will spend the 25th with Genoveva Casanova and their two children together; He has wanted the time for the relationship between the two to have “been on track,” in his own words. As for dinner, Liria was a splurge: “He always had turkey for dinner and caviar first. My mother’s last days were a joy,” he explains, laughing. For dessert, Sachertorte. Now, she also hopes to enjoy what they offer her, “which will undoubtedly be delicious,” concludes the Duke of Arjona and Count of Salvatierra.
