THE COUNT AND COUNTESS OF
MORELLA
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