The sudden dismissal of Alessandro Lequio from the Mediaset television channel once again brought public attention to his family, particularly his wife Maria Palacios. Despite more than a quarter-century together with one of Spain’s most prominent media figures, Maria has always managed to stay out of the spotlight, maintaining a reserved and private lifestyle. She met Alessandro in Mallorca back in 1999, they married in 2008, and later welcomed their daughter Ginevra. Upon marriage, Maria became a countess, but she herself also comes from high society through her father’s lineage.
Maria Palacios is related by blood to one of Spain’s most reclusive aristocratic clans—the House of Montarco. Her father, Julio Palacios, was the nephew of Rosario Palacios, the Dowager Countess of Montarco. Rosario was not just a titleholder, but a true style icon and muse for haute couture in the 1950s and 1960s. Her marriage to Eduardo de Rojas y Ordóñez, the 5th Count of Montarco and an aristocrat with a rich and complex history, firmly cemented the Palacios name in the annals of Spanish nobility.
After the count’s death in 2005, the matter of succession sparked certain complications. Ultimately, the title passed to his grandson, Joaquín del Suazo Rojas, but only after his elder brother Rodrigo officially renounced his rights. Yet inheritance disputes are not the only cloud over the family’s reputation. The Montarco household has been shrouded for years in scandal and family secrets, which periodically make their way into the press, disrupting their usual reclusive life.
The most high-profile and painful issue has been rumors surrounding the origins of Alejandra de Rojas, the daughter of the count and Rosario Palacios. For a long time, speculation circulated in society about her true paternity, casting doubt on the purity of the aristocratic lineage. Alejandra herself has always categorically and publicly denied these insinuations, yet the family has never been able to completely rid itself of this scandalous reputation. These debates and rumors continue to draw attention to the Montarco clan—attention they have always tried hard to avoid.
Alessandro Lequio is one of the most well-known and controversial personalities on Spanish television and in the social pages. An Italian aristocrat by birth, he is the son of Clemente Lequio di Assaba and Sandra Torlonia, Princess di Civitella-Cesi. His maternal grandmother was Infanta Beatriz of Spain, aunt to King Juan Carlos I, making Lequio a direct relative of the Spanish royal family. He rose to fame in Spain thanks to numerous romances, scandalous statements, and years of work as a television host and commentator.
