María Elena de Cárdenas y González waited almost 100 years to become a marchioness and still claims two other noble titles

November 3, 2019

A Cuban Marquess in Coral Gables would be a good title for a biography of María Elena de Cárdenas y González, but how can you sum up a century of life in just a few words.

For this Havana-born great-grandmother, who arrived in Miami in 1961, her family has been first. Also the legacy and tradition of her ancestors, whom the Spanish Crown distinguished in the 18th and 19th centuries with several nobility titles because they stood out as military officers, landowners and governors.

De Cárdenas, who turned 100 last July 5th, had to wait 99 years to become Marquess of Almendares, a title that Queen María Cristina de Borbón granted in 1842 to her great-great-grandfather, Ignacio Herrera y O'Farrill, in recognition of his services as a member of the board that directed the construction of the first railroad in Cuba, which was a key factor in the boom of the sugar industry.

In addition to the Marquessate of Almendares, which she received in April 2018, De Cárdenas is now awaiting the final decision of the Spanish Supreme Court regarding the Marquessate of Bellavista and Campo Florido, which have been won in first instance and on appeal.

"The title is an honor that the Crown granted to an ancestor of mine, whom I respect greatly and whose title I am honored to carry. I remain myself and these titles do not make me either better or worse," says De Cárdenas, who in 1964 promised her father that they would recover them.

That promise, however, had to wait, since during the long interval the family devoted itself to more urgent matters, such as putting down roots and building a business in Miami.

"At 14 years old, I used to cut grass and give the money to my house to help," recalls De Cárdenas' son, businessman Luis de la Vega, about the early days in Miami.

De la Vega decided to attend to his mother's request to recover the titles six years ago, because of the seriousness with which she expressed it, something unusual for her since she tends to be joking and always in a good mood.

"Like flowers in spring," is the answer that "Mañana," as her family calls her, gives when asked how she is doing.

María Elena de Cárdenas feels very proud of the recognition that the Spanish Crown gave to her ancestors. Her essence remains the same, she has only fulfilled a debt to her father by achieving the Marquessate of Almendares in the Spanish Courts.

The work of searching for the necessary documents in Cuba and Spain was almost an archaeological feat.

"Many of those documents are almost destroyed, since in Cuba, due to lack of air conditioning in the archives, the papers crumble," says Luis de la Vega, founder of ProTranslating, a translation and interpretation company based in Miami.

"Several trips to Cuba and Spain were required to find the necessary evidence to prove the lineage and 'the better right,'" added De la Vega, who will inherit the titles.

In the living room of his house in Coral Gables, surrounded by paintings by Amelia Peláez, Víctor Manuel and other greats of Cuban painting, De la Vega shares family memories with his mother.

"Mañana" sits at the piano and recites a poem by her great-grandfather Rafael de Cárdenas y Cárdenas, who composed several contradanzas and was a friend of two greats of the genre, Ignacio Cervantes and Manuel Saumell.

Rafaelillo, as they called him in the family, lost his sight due to a medical error, and left his law career to devote himself to writing and composing.

"Poor mortal who defies fortune (...) finding myself elevated / I too enjoyed the light of day," recites "Mañana" some of the verses, showing that she keeps her memory in good shape.

A few steps away, on the staircase to the second floor, are the portraits of the family's ancestors, such as the Marquess of Prado Ameno, Nicolás de Cárdenas y Castellón, who merited the title because he defended the Crown during the British Capture of Havana in 1763.

In the dining room, "Mañana" usually rests in an armchair in front of a large cabinet where the family displays other treasures they have kept from their ancestors, such as a dinner set from the Marquess of Almendares, which he had brought from China in 1840. They also have another dinner set from other ancestors, the Marquesses of Villalta, who were governors of Cartagena de Indias.

As for the Marquessate of Campo Florido, granted by King Ferdinand VII to Miguel de Cárdenas y Peñalver in 1826, it could return to the De Cárdenas if they win the legal battle they have waged with one of the most renowned families in Spain, the Koplowitz.

De Cárdenas y Peñalver founded the town of Campo Florido in the 1850s—in the province of Havana, five kilometers from Guanabano—and named it in honor of the Marquessate as a trading center between the two sugar mills he owned in the area, San José de Miraflores and San Francisco, De la Vega recounted.

Alicia Alcocer Koplowitz held the Marquessate of Campo Florido since 2003, and her aunt, multimillionaire businesswoman Alicia Koplowitz, held that of Bellavista, which is still fighting in Spanish courts.

In 2017, a First Instance jury in Alcobendas, Madrid, determined that the title of Bellavista had an heiress with "better and preferential right," María Elena de Cárdenas. A year later the ruling was ratified by the Madrid Provincial Court. Now only the Supreme Court's decision remains.

"It gives me great satisfaction that the titles are in the family," said De Cárdenas, who, like her son, is a member of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de La Habana, a noble organization founded in 1709 by another ancestor, the Marquess of Casa Torre, Laureano de Torres Ayala, who was Captain General of the island. This organization was resurrected in Spain four years ago.

On November 22nd they expect delegates and new members of the organization in Coral Gables, who will attend the induction ceremony from Spain and Puerto Rico.