Don Rodrigo Moreno y de Borbón, a second cousin of King Felipe VI of Spain, is about to become a first-time daddy at 64. He is the eldest child of Iñigo Moreno y Artega, 1st Marqués de Laserna, and HRH Princess Teresa of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies, Duchess of Salerno.
On March 20, Rodrigo and his wife, Casilda Ghisla Guerrero Burgos y Fernández de Córdoba, 21st Duchess of Cardona, annouced they are expecting their first child.
The couple was married in a civil ceremony at the end of 2020. Friends and family learned about the marriage several weeks later. The Spanish magazine Vanitas reported in February 2021 that, despite a 20-year age difference, the couple "are both very much in love and happy to have taken the step to the latter."
The COVID-19 pandemic was the reason for the intimate wedding. They were obligated to marry in a civil ceremony because the duchess had not received an annulment from her first marriage to Emilio Prieto Reina, which took place in July 2008 at the Real Iglesia de San Pablo in Córdoba. Their marriage was dissolved by divorce several years after the birth of their daughter, Casilda, who was born in 2011.
The couple shares a passion for hunting. Often described as a confirmed bachelor, Rodrigo was the director of Cinegética, Spain's most important hunting fair.
Casilda's estate, El Patriarca, is in Córdoba. She is a granddaughter of Luis Jesús Fernández de Córdoba y Salabert, 17th Duke of Medinaceli, and his second wife, María de la Concepción (Concha) Rey de Pablo Blanco. The Duke died in 1956, with most of his titles inherited by his eldest daughter, Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba y Fernández de Henestrosa, including the Medinacelli dukedom. However, he ceded the dukedom of Cardona to his youngest daughter, Casilda, named for his mother.
Don Luis's two older daughters, Victoria Eugenia (Mimi) and Maria de la Paz (Paz), were not pleased when their father remarried in 1939, a year after the death of his first wife. His will gave millions to his second wife, his former mistress. After her death in 1971, her two children from a previous relationship claimed a part of her inheritance. Mimi and Paz challenged this claim as the two adult children were not members of the Medincelli family. This legal battle would also affect their half-sister, Casilda. Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdés, the wife of the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, encouraged Casilda to hire the respected lawyer Antonio Guerrero-Burgos to defend her siblings' interests. He won the case and married his client in 1978.
The newlyweds settled in Switzerland. Their daughter, Casilda Ghisla, was born in October 1981.
Less than two years later, in February 1984, Antonio died suddenly at the age of 59. The Duchess and her young daughter returned to La Patriarca. The young Casilda was left an orphan when her mother died in April 1998.
Casilda, who would succeed as the 21st Duchess of Cardona, was raised by family members. Until her second marriage, the duchess was an "opulent, somewhat plain, and discreet aristocrat." Now with her husband by her side, the 44-year-old expectant mother "shines in social gatherings."
The duchess has an "enormous fortune, which she has managed wisely," according to El Mundo. Her mother left her numerous works of art, including a Goya and a painting by Peter Brueghel the Elder, which Casilda sold to Madrid's Prado Museum.
The couple enjoys an "intense social life" in Madrid and Marbella, where they rent a house and host numerous dinners and parties.
Casilda's daughter, Casildita, is the heir to her mother's dukedom, but there will also be a future title for the new baby, as Rodrigo is heir to his father's marquessate of Laserna.
Rodrigo and King Felipe VI are close friends. His niece, Teresa, is married to Madrid's mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.
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Alfonso XII - Alfonso XIII - Juan, Count of Barcelona - Juan Carlos - Felipe VI
Alfonso XII - Alfonso XIII - María de las Mercedes - Alfonso - Teresa - Rodrigo
Prince Alfonso of Two Sicilies - Carlos - Alfonso - Teresa - Rodrigo
Prínce Alfonso of Two Sicilies - Carlos - María de las Mercedes - Juan Carlos - Felipe.
With the Bourbon-Two Sicilies line, Rodrigo is a descendant of Prince Carlos, Duke of Calabria, in his first marriage with Infanta Maria de las Mercedes of Spain, Alfonso XIII's older sister. King Felipe is a descendant through Carlos's second marriage to Princess Louise of Orléans.
The 21st Duchess of Córdoba and the 20th Duchess of Medinaceli are first cousins twice removed.
Luis, 17th Duke of Mediniceli - Victoria Eugenia, 18th Duchess - Ana de Medina - Marco, 19th Duke - Victoria Eugenia, 20th Duchess
Luis, 17th Duke of Mediniceli - Casilda, 20th Duchess of Córdoba - Casilda, 21st Duchess
Casilda and Rodrigo are said to be "very happy" about the pregnancy.
