Spanish-Cuban woman of 100 years old happy with second recovered noble title

December 1, 2019

The Cuban-Spanish aristocrat María Elena de Cárdenas, who turned 100 last June 5th, appeared this Friday very happy about a Spanish Supreme Court ruling that recognizes her rights over the marquisate of Campo Florido, previously held by Alicia Alcocer Koplowitz.

Luis de la Vega, son of María Elena de Cárdenas, told Efe that this morning he greeted his mother while she was having breakfast, giving her the good news and she was left "fascinated".

"I am very grateful to Spanish justice," said "Manana," as her children and grandchildren call her, upon learning at her house in Coral Gables (Miami-Dade) of the decision made Thursday by the high court.

In addition to ruling in favor of María Elena de Cárdenas, the Supreme Court condemned the defendant, Alicia Alcocer Koplowitz, to pay court costs, according to what the lawyers representing "Manana's" family in Spain communicated to them.

"Manana" recalled that her father, Luis de Cárdenas y de Cárdenas, asked her in 1964 that to the extent possible she try to recover the family titles that, due to various circumstances, including the triumph of the Revolution in Cuba in 1959, were in other hands.

Of the three titles she claimed, only one case still lacks a final ruling, the marquisate of Bellavista, which "Manana" disputes with Alicia Koplowitz, one of the richest women in Spain.

Alicia Koplowitz is the aunt of Alicia Alcocer Koplowitz, who has just lost the title of Marchioness of Campo Florido, as the Supreme Court determined that "Manana" has "better right" to it.

In 2018, the centenarian residing in Coral Gables, a residential city adjacent to Miami, recovered through court another marquisate, that of Almendares, which was in the possession of Miguel Mariano Freite Gómez.

The son of "Manana," who is the Miami delegate of the Maestranza de Caballería de La Habana, a noble corporation founded in 1709 and recently re-established as a non-profit association, emphasized that the family is confident in also recovering the marquisate of Bella Vista.

Last week "Manana" was the hostess at her house in Coral Gables for an investiture ceremony of the new knights and ladies of the Maestranza de Caballería de La Habana, under the presidency of its secretary general, Manuel María Rodríguez de Maribona y Dávila, count of Alba.

The centenarian, a lucid woman of great affability, obtained Spanish nationality in 2018.

In an interview with Efe in 2018, "Manana" recalled that as a child she would tell her mother that she wanted to be Sevillian like her and her mother would respond that she was "half and half".

Her family both in Cuba and in Miami, where they settled after the Revolution, never stopped feeling Spanish.

"Many Spaniards," she says, "are not aware of the luck they have in belonging to a generous and committed nation like few others, where its people are so charming and the quality of life incomparable," she emphasized.