✈️ Une femme fatale : Belina de Valdeterrazo, duchesse de Montpensier

Née le 22 avril 1895 à Madrid, Doña María  Isabel  « Belina » Josefina Teodora Magdalena González de Olañeta y Ibarreta était la fille unique de Don Ulpiano González de Olañeta y González de Ocampo (1847-1928), II Marqués de Valdeterrazo, et de Doña Isabel. Eugenia de Ibarretea y Uhagon (1856-1930), qui s'est mariée en 1891. En Espagne, et particulièrement à Madrid, Isabel était connue sous le nom de « Belina  Valdeterrazo ».

 

Antonio González et González.

Les grands-parents paternels de Belina étaient Don Antonio González y González, I Marqués de Valdeterrazo et Doña María Josefa de Olañeta y Ocampo. Ses grands-parents maternels étaient Don Adolfo de Ibarretea et Doña Isabel de Uhagon y Vedia. 

 

Le mariage de Ferdinand et Belina, 1921.

Le duc et la duchesse de Montpensier à Paris, 1922.

Photo (c) Maurice-Louis Branger / Roger-Viollet / Granger.

Le 20 août 1921, à Randan, Doña Isabel « Belina » González de Olañeta y Ibarreta, vicomtesse de los Antrines, épouse le prince Ferdinand d'Orléans, duc de Montpensier. Le duc de Montpensier est le plus jeune enfant du prince Philippe d'Orléans, comte de Paris, et de l'infante Marie-Isabelle d'Espagne. Leur mariage est suivi par une forte participation de la famille de Ferdinand, en particulier de ses sœurs : la reine Marie-Amélie du Portugal, la princesse Hélène, duchesse d'Aoste, et la princesse Isabelle, duchesse de Guise, avec son mari (et cousin germain) le prince Jean, duc de Guise, et leurs enfants le prince Henri et les princesses Isabelle, Françoise et Anne. Les parents de Belina sont également présents au mariage de leur unique enfant. Peu de temps après leur mariage, Belina semble avoir isolé Ferdinand de sa famille.

Prince Ferdinand.

Slightly after more than two years of marriage, the Duchess of Montpensier was left a widow. Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Montpensier, died at the age of thirty-nine at the Château de Randan on 30 January 1924. The cause of his passing was a drug overdose. The duke had long struggled with substance abuse. It has been alleged by some that Belina knew of his drug issue and that she weaponised this to her advantage. The Duchess of Montpensier is believed, by some family members of the duke, to have withheld drugs from her husband until Ferdinand made a will leaving his fortune to her. Ferdinand’s previous heir had been his brother, the Duke d’Orléans and Head of the Royal House of France at the time. Whether or not this is true, upon the Duke of Montpensier’s death, it was discovered that he had left all of his worldly possessions, including the Château de Randan, to Belina. Prince Ferdinand was buried at Dreux.

 

The ruins of Randan.

On 25 July 1925, the Château de Randan caught fire and the treasures it contained inside were consumed by the flames. Madame Adélaïde, a sister of King Louis-Philippe, had overseen the restoration of the ancient castle. The Dowager Duchess of Montpensier had only recently decided to reopen the château after having left it following the death of her husband. Belina had been in residence at Randan for only two days before a fire broke out at 5am in the Chinese room of the château. The duchess, along with a friend, were able to easily leave Randan. Belina even directed firefighters once they arrived on the scene; it took them nearly fifteen hours to put out the blaze. 

 

José María de Huarte.

On 12 October 1948 at Vitoria, the Dowager Duchess of Montpensier secretly married José María de Huarte y Jáuregui (1898-1969). In 1949, the duchess changed her will and left half of the inheritance she had received from the Duke of Montpensier to her second husband, Huarte, and the other half to one Socorro Uhagon y Mazas; three executors were named: José María de Huarte y Jáuregui, his brother Angel de Huarte y Jáuregui and the Marqués de Goicorrotea.

 

Belina in 1952, Madrid.

Doña Isabel González de Olañeta y Ibarreta, III Marquésa de Valdeterrazo, died of a heart attack on 11 July 1958 at her home in Madrid. She was sixty-three years-old. Prince Michael of Greece recalls being with his grandmother the Duchess of Guise (who had been Belina’s sister-in-law) when the duchess received news of Belina’s death. The Duchess of Guise quipped: “Well, Bellina has died due to her heart. I did not know she had one.” 

To read Prince Michael of Greece’s recollections, please check out his post: Tante Bellina