Duchess marrying man 24 yrs younger

She is the poshest woman in Spain, a grandee with such extensive estates that she can reputedly cross the country without once leaving the lands accumulated by her aristocratic family over five centuries.

Now the flamboyant Duchess of Alba has, at 82, found herself at the centre of a row involving a younger lover, wedding plans, her disapproving children and claims that she may be losing her mind.

Her six children have publicly denied asking a court to declare the love-struck octogenarian mentally incompetent in order to prevent her marrying a suave antique collector called Alfonso Dez, who is 24 years her junior.