1639) Juana Alfonsa Milán y Quiñones de León

 Juana Alfonsa Milán y Quiñones de León (1916-2005). Illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, who had her from the Irish nanny Beatrice Noon (but some claim she was Scottish).
After her birth, she was sent to Paris to be educated by José María Quiñones de León, ambassador of Spain in France, great friend of the King and later his executor. The child was registered with the name Jeanne-Alphonsine Milán and her birth was placed in the capital of France. The surname has an uncertain origin. Some believe that it is a memory of the duque de Milán, one of the titles that Alfonso XIII used in his sentimental escapades.
She was endowed with great intelligence and a prodigious memory, so she acquired an extensive culture, learned to speak five languages ​​without an accent and to play the piano. Later, when she reached the appropriate age, she was sent to a very strict school in Grenoble where young girls belonging to the great French families were educated.
Juana Alfonsa always thought that the ambassador was her grandfather, although she also professed a certain affection for a very special friend, Alfonso XIII, who visited the faithful Quiñones de León a couple of times a year.
In 1936, when she was 21 years old, she found out that she was the daughter of the King of Spain. During the occupation of Paris she settled in Geneva and when Alfonso XIII died in 1941 she received one million pesetas, a fortune at that time.
She began to behave erratically and squander the money bequeathed by her father. However, happiness, like money, seemed to slip through her fingers. And so did love. Lovers followed one another. She had four children - from different fathers - whom she barely cared for. One of the children died in a French hospice.
In 1972 she was in Spain, where she was sentenced to six years of prison for falsification of commercial documents. In 1993, Juana Alfonsa was living in Madrid. Her father's fortune had long since been lost in the excesses of a life without direction. She barely received 50,000 pesetas a month (300 euros) from the administrators of her father's estate.
One day in 1994 she suffered a fall. The social workers and the people who looked after her managed to admit her to the Hospital de la Fuenfría in Cercedilla. There, given her condition as a patient with a long recovery period, she shares a corridor with terminally ill patients. She faces the human drama although she is happy there because she discovers that the centre was inaugurated by her father. She was never able to take care of herself again. In 2001 she got a place in a nursing home in Mirasierra. She did not go unnoticed: she frequented the cafeteria and even wrote some articles in Ecos de Mirasierra, the center's magazine.

 

- "Debió de ser un bebé robusto, rubensino, de piel blanquísima y pelusilla pelirroja como lo era el cabello de su madre Beatriz Noon... Según el historiador Ramón de Franch, el exilio especuló con que aquella joven de abundante cabello pelirrojo y ademanes refinados era la nueva amante del Rey." [She must have been a robust bay, ruddy, with white skin and red hair like her mother Beatrice Noon... According to the historian Ramón de Franch, the exiles speculated that this young woman with abundant red hair and refined manners was the King's new lover.] https://www.elmundo.es/loc/famosos/2023/05/02/6450c4ade4d4d8eb0f8b4576.html 

 

1638) Marie Thérèse Antoinette Raphaëlle, Dauphine of France

Marie Thérèse Antoinette Raphaëlle, Dauphine of France (1726 – 1746). Daughter of King Philip V of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese and wife of Louis, Dauphin of France, son of King Louis XV. The Dauphine died aged 20, three days after giving birth to a daughter who died in 1748.

 

- "Although the Dauphine was described as beautiful, dignified, pious and well educated, negative remarks were made because of her red hair." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Teresa_Rafaela_of_Spain

 

1637) José Ruiz y Blasco

José Ruiz y Blasco (1838 – 1913). Spanish painter, art teacher, and father of artist Pablo Picasso.

He was born in Málaga, Spain and grew up in a middle-class family. At 42 years of age, he married María Picasso López (1855-1938), who was 17 years younger than him. The couple had three children; Pablo, Dolores and Concepción.

From 1875 to 1890, José Ruiz y Blasco worked as an art teacher at the Escuela Provincial de Bellas Artes San Telmo. He specialised in still lifes, landscapes, and images of doves and pigeons. He also worked as curator and restorer at the Museo Municipal in Málaga. In 1891 he moved his family to A Coruña and taught at the Escuela de Bellas Artes.

Ruiz y Blasco attempted to achieve an income from his paintings, but was unsuccessful. He exhibited his work twice in A Coruña but received lukewarm reviews. As a result, he decided to give up these aspirations. In 1895 he moved to Barcelona and taught at the Escuela de Bellas Artes ("La Lonja").

Early in his son's life, Ruiz y Blasco recognised the artistic talent of Pablo. He began to teach him art at the age of seven. In Barcelona, Ruiz y Blasco was a model for his son's artwork and Pablo made numerous portraits of his father. Ruiz y Blasco also helped his son to create some of his artworks, including Science and Charity. He also rented a studio to help Picasso to work.

Later in life, Picasso admitted to the photographer Brassaï the reason why he painted so many bearded men: "Yes, they are all bearded, do you know why? Every time I draw a man, I accidentally think of my father. For me, the man is Don José and he will be like that all my life..."

 

- "José Ruiz Blasco (Málaga, 1838-Barcelona, 1913), padre de Picasso, era muy alto y delgado, pelirrojo, pálido, pecoso; estas características hicieron que fuera apodado “el inglés”. [José Ruiz Blasco, father of Picasso, was very tall and thin, red-haired, pale and freckled. These features earned him the nickname of "the Englishman"] https://www.diariosur.es/.../vidas-obras-sombra-genio...