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Duchess of Alba, world's most titled person, dies at 88

By Aileen Graef

SEVILLE, Spain, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The Duchess of Alba, a member of Spain's nobility and the world's most titled person, died at the age of 88 Thursday at Dienas Palace in her native Seville.

The duchess was admitted to the hospital on Nov. 16 to be treated for pneumonia.

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She was the 18th holder of the Spanish dukedom that dates back to the 1400s. She was a 14-time Spanish grandee, five times a duchess, once a countess-duchess, 18 times a marchioness,18 times a countess and once a viscountess. She had 57 titles in total making it the most in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. She had "eight or nine" from her parents, making her full name Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva. She said in 2011 her favorite name was Cayetana.

Known for her eccentricity, the duchess once reportedly turned down a request to sit for a painting by Pablo Picasso.

"I think he would have worn me out," she said on the matter. "I never actually met Picasso. The message came to me via the bullfighter Dominguín."

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She also mentioned that being a model is "very dull." She made scandals with her marriages including to defrocked priest Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate in 1978 and Alfonso Diez who is 24 years her junior. She had plans to outlive them all though.

"I confess I am thinking of keeping on living," said the duchess in 2013, "although its only so I can enjoy the expression on people's faces when I point at them and say: 'I'm going to bury you all.'"

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