The three children of the Spanish aristocrat known as the "Red Duchess" are grappling with the revelation that she had married her lesbian lover on her deathbed - and made out her will to her. Doña Luisa Isabel Álvarez de Toledo, 71, lived an unconventional life as a defender of the poor, and opponent of the dictator General Franco, reports the UK's Telegraph newspaper. Her relationship with Liliana Maria Dahlmann, who is in her fifties and worked as the duchess's secretary for 20 years, had been kept secret until their marriage - a civil ceremony conducted by a council official just hours before she died on 7 March. Instead of the descendants of one of Spain's oldest aristocratic families inhabiting the family's palace and taking control of its precious collection of medieval documents and archives, their place has been taken by Dahlmann. The duchess's second son, Don Gabriel Gregorio y Álvarez de Toledo, 50, a civil engineer from Madrid, who last spoke to his mother 25 years ago, said: "My mother was a nightmare. She tried to deprive her three children of their inheritance." The story continues on the link below.