Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Prince Alfonso Maximiliano Victorio Eugenio Alexandro Maria Pablo de la Santisima Trinidad y todos los Santos zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (May 28, 1924 - December 21, 2003) was a playboy and businessman known for his promotion of the Spanish resorts of Marbella and the Costa del Sol. He also founded the Marbella Club Hotel.

Background

He was born in Madrid, the eldest son of Prince Max Egon zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1897-1968) and his wife, Maria de la Piedad de Yturbe y von Scholtz-Hersmendorff, Marquesa de Belvis de las Navas (1892-1990) daughter of His Excellency Manuel de Yturbe y del Villar, Mexican ambassador to St. Petersbourg, Vienna, Paris and Madrid, and Trinidad von Scholtz-Hersmendorff y Caravaca, Marchioness of Belvis de las Navas. Hohenlohe came, on his father's side, from a family who traced their history back to the sixth century and were princes of Württemberg in Germany until Napoleon's invasion. His mother Piedad was Marchioness of Belvis de las Navas, granddaughter of Francisco-María de Yturbe, Mexican minister of Finance of Basque origins. King Alfonso XIII of Spain was his godfather at a christening in the Royal Palace. Prince Hohenlohe, however, lived in a century in which the hereditary wealth of his family was depleted. His mother lost a few estates in the Mexican Revolution; and after the fall of the Third Reich, property in Germany and Czechoslovakia disappeared behind the iron curtain. Alfonso grew up with private tutors in Bohemia and Spain, learning fluent German, Spanish, French and English. Family fortunes seemed well and truly restored by Alfonso's marriage in 1955 to the 15-year-old Ira von Fürstenberg, the Fiat heiress. This sent a frisson of scandal through high society, but did not stop 400 attending a 16-day wedding party. After all, the devout Catholic Alfonso had obtained a papal dispensation for the marriage. Five years later, he needed a further dispensation for divorce, as Ira left him for another notorious 1950s playboy, "Baby" Pignatari.

Marriages

#He married, as his first wife, Princess Ira von Fürstenberg on September 17, 1955 (civil) and September 21, 1955 (religious) in Venice, Italy; the marriage was annulled in 1960. They had two sons: Prince Christoph "Kiko" von Hohenlohe (1956-2006) and Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe (1959-).

#He married, as his second wife, Jocelyn Lane, a British actress, on May 3 1973 (divorced 1985) in Las Vegas, Nevada. They had one daughter Princess Arriana Theresa Mara von Hohenlohe (1975-).

#He married, as his third wife, Marilys Healing (1941-2000) on February 15, 1991.

He also had a daughter, Princess Désirée von Hohenlohe (1980), by a relationship with Heidi Balzer.

Death

He died in Marbella on December 21 2003.