In 1850 the marriage took place between Marianne Catherine Richards, wealthy daughter of an English QC and Ramon Cabrera, Count of Morella. He was 43 and a Catholic and she was 29 and a Protestant. He had been a general and leader of the Carlist forces in Spain and had earned a reputation for being cruel and ruthless, having allegedly killed 1100 prisoners of war.

 

In 1855 they moved to the Wentworth Estate (now Wentworth Golf Club) from where he still supported the Carlist cause. He received frequent visits from Carlist emissaries ( his wife contributing some of her £25,000 a year to the cause). They enjoyed all the comforts of English country life and brought up 5 children.

 

The Count died in 1877 and is buried in Virginia Water. The Countess lived for a further thirty-eight years and is buried beside him. The local paper at the time of her death referred to her husband as 'The Carlist Desperado'. However, in her diaries (which she wrote in English, German and Spanish from 1832 to 1914) it is obvious that she was devoted to him. When he died she wrote 'Thus the dream of my youth and the love of my life passed away and left me desolate'

 

On display were:-

 

A portrait of Cabrera from a biography by Roy Chant, entitled 'The

Spanish Tiger; the life and times of Ramon Cabrera' 1983

 

A photograph of a miniature by W J Newton of Marianne Richards, dated 1844

 

Marianne's letter book, containing 40 letters dated between 1835 and 1892

 

Marianne's diary covering the years between 1820 and 1914

 

Letter from Don Carlos (Carlos Maria Isidore), Pretender to the Spanish throne, to Ramon Cabrera, dated 1838. Handwritten, signed 'Carlos'

 

Letter to Don Ramon Cabrera, Conde de Morella from Victor Gonzalez de Liana, dated 1875, re. the ratification by King Alfonso XI1 of his titles 

 

Joan Wintour

June 2008

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