• Operation Postmaster (1942)

Date of birth:

October 17th, 1878 (Madrid, Spanish Empire)

Date of death:

September 24th, 1953 (Lausanne/Vaud, Switzerland)

Nationality:

Spanish

Jacobo Fitz‑James Stuart y Falcó, known as Jimmy Alba, was heir to the House of Alba and born in Madrid’s Liria Palace. Educated in England and Madrid, he studied law before entering politics, serving as deputy, senator, and later minister under General Berenguer. A close ally of Alfonso XIII, he also built the Alba pantheon at Loeches and won a silver medal in polo at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. In 1920 he married María del Rosario de Silva, heiress of the House of Híjar, with whom he had a daughter, Cayetana, the future 18th Duchess of Alba.

He served in Primo de Rivera’s assembly, then as Franco’s ambassador in London from 1939 until resigning in 1945 after Juan de Borbón’s Lausanne Manifesto. Director of the Royal Academy of History and Knight of the Golden Fleece, he rebuilt the war‑damaged Liria Palace and enriched the Alba collections. He died in Switzerland in 1953 and was buried at Loeches.

Do you have more information about this person? Inform us!

• Photo 1: National Portrait Gallery (Public Domain)
• - LETT, B.G., Ian Fleming and SOE's Operation POSTMASTER, Pen & Sword Military, 2012.
  - "Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE) - 28 May 1926"
  - Royal Decree of 1925/-Mémorial du centenaire de l'Ordre de Léopold. 1832-1932. Bruxelles, J. Rozez, 1933.
  - The Edinburgh Gazette 10-6-1902

Helaas geen map gevonden.