Ignacio Romero Osborne, 5th Marquess of Marchelina (1903–1985) was a Spanish aristocrat, landowner, officer and Carlist politician. In the 1930s he conspired against the Republic and co-engineered the 1936 coup in Seville; during the Civil War he commanded company-type units in Nationalist ranks. He is best known as leader of the Requeté ex-combatant organisation, active in particular in the late 1960s. During internal struggle within Carlism he sided with the progressist faction against the traditionalist one and helped to tip the balance in favor of Prince Carlos Hugo. In 1968-1971 he was member of the Carlist executive, Junta Suprema; afterwards he presided over the provincial Seville branch of Partido Carlista. In the 1970s he conspired against the Franco regime and supported the radical left-wing socialist line of PC.
Family and youth
Romero descended from aristocratic Andalusian landholder families. The paternal line was traditionally related to military; his great-grandfather Ignacio Romero Cepeda owned large estates near Osuna,Ignacio Vicente Romero y Cepeda entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here held high posts in Spanish possessions in America, was made Marqués de Marchelina in 1858Título de Marqués de Marchelina, [in:] Senado de España official service, available here and served in the Senate in the early 1860s.Romero y Cepeda, Ignacio entry, [in:] Senado de España official service, available here His son and Romero grandfather Alejandro Romero Cepeda (1832–1895)Alejandro José Romero y Cepeda, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here married the later Marquesa del Arco Hermoso.some sources claim she inherited the title in 1915, following childless death of her two older brothers, see Revista de historia y de genealogia española 1928, p. 770, available here. However, other source claims that already in 1913 the title was with her son, Revista de historia y de genealogia española 1913, available here Their son and Romero's father, Ignacio Romero Ruíz de Arco (1858–1915), inherited both marquess titles.Ignacio Romero Ruiz del Arco, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here. He became IV Marqués de Marchelina and VII Marqués de Arco Hermoso after childless death of his older brother, respectivelu the III. and the VI. marquess, Alejandro Romero Ruiz del Arco (1855-1912), Alejandro Romero Ruiz del Arco entry [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here He was also a military, serving on various assignments across Andalusia; before his premature death he ascended to teniente coronel. In 1898Revista de historia y de genealogía española 1928, p. 771, available here he married Enriqueta Osborne Guezala (1862-after 1935)some genealogical sites claim she died in 1915, see Enriqueta Osborne Guezala, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here. However, the press noted she served as god-mother to her grandson in 1935, see Guadalete 23.05.35, available here from the well-known winegrowing Osborne family. She was granddaughter to the founder of the branch Thomas Osborne MannOsborne. 250 years of passion, [in:] Osborne commercial site, available here and daughter to Tomás Osborne Böhl de Faber, the man who turned the business into the Andalusian wine powerhouse; it was her brother who later launched the iconic Osborne bull symbol.Discover the history of a world-renowned brand, [in:] Osborne commercial site, available here
The couple shuttled between their house in Seville and rural estates in the provinces of Seville and Cádiz. They had 5 children, two of them boys;Elisa (1897-1975), Enriqueta (1899-1919), Cecilia (1900-?), Ignacio (1903-1985) and Alejandro (1904-1997) Ignacio was born as the fourth child and the first son. Their father decided to split the aristocratic titles; Marquesado de Marchelina went to Ignacio, while Marquesado del Arco Hermoso went to Alejandro.Alejandro Romero y Osborne entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here, also Correspondencia de España 02.02.16, available here Both boys assumed their titles upon death of their parent. It is not clear where Ignacio received his early education; both brothers decided to follow in the footsteps of their father and commence a military career. As an adolescent boy in 1919 Ignacio was admitted as aspirante aprobado to Academia de Infantería in Toledo,El Fígaro 08.06.19, available here but in 1921 he movedhe obtained rather poor grades at his entry exam, barely passing the threshold required, La Tierra de Segovia 16.06.21, available here to Academia de Artillería in Segovia.El Heraldo de Madrid 11.07.21, available here In 1924 Romero was promoted to alferéz alumno;La Voz 03.09.24, available here he graduated as teniente in 1927.El Debate 30.09.27, available here His first service assignment, also in 1927, was to Tenerife.La Correspondencia Militar 01.10.27, available here
In 1934 Romero married Micaela de Solís-Beaumont y Lasso de la Vega (1913–1969) from Seville.Micaela de Solis Beaumont y Lasso de la Vega entry, [in:] Geneaordonez genealogical service, available here She descended from a landholder family from Carmona; though her parents did not hold aristocratic titles, they were related to numerous well-born families, like these of Marqués de Tablantes (Solís) and Marqués de Torres de la Pressa (Lasso de Vega).El Debate 02.05.34, available here Ignacio and Micaela settled in Seville and had 14 children, born between the mid-1930sthe first child died shortly after birth in 1935, La Epoca 28.03.35, available here and the early 1950s.see e.g. Descendientes de Pedro Solis y Desmaissiers (2011), available here None of them became a widely recognized public figure.the children were Teresa (giving rise to the branch of Alarcón Romero), Ignacio (Romero Orleans), Pedro (Romero Solís-Beaumont), José (Romero Abaroa), Matilde (Ramos Romero), Micaela (Torres Romero), Diego (Romero Ramis), Angela (Franco Romero), Reyes (Robledo Romero), Cecillia (Cortines Romero), Luis (Romero Guijarro), Enrique (Romero Contreras), and Gracia (Buisan Romero) The best known one is Romero's oldest son, Ignacio Romero Solís. One of communist Seville leaders in the 1960s, he spent a year behind bars; in the 1980s and 1990s, he headed the Andalusian branch of RTVE.compare e.g. Palmagallarda, [in:] Amazon service, available here In 2015-2020 he published an epic novel trilogy focused on the disappearance of the world of old Andalusian aristocracy. Holder of the marquesado, Romero Solís later ceded it to his grandson, the current marqués.C. Villar, El marqués de Marchelina ‘renuncia’ a su título por amor, [in:] El Confidencial 07.07.20, available here Romero Osborne's grandson briefly gained attention of gossip media when, in 2012, he married the daughter to the then minister of defense.Elegante boda en la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla de la hija del ministro de Defensa, Pedro Morenés, [in:] Hola! 07.05.12, available here Romero's siblings married mostly into well-established Andalusian families; e.g., his sister Enriqueta married the Conde de San Clemente.Vida Aristocrática 31.01.20, available here
Army, conspiracy and war
In 1929 Romero was reassigned from the Canary Islands back to the peninsula and posted to Regimiento de Artillería de Costa in Cádiz.Anuario Militar de España 1929, p. 755, available Ignacio Romero Osborne.jpg Either in 1930 or in early 1931 he was transferred to Madrid, where as a teniente he served at an unspecified position in Fábrica Nacional de Productos Químicos,Anuario Militar de España 1931, p. 73, available here an army establishment engaged also in the development of chemical weapons."La Marañosa", un nombre simpático para una instalación perversa, [in:] Centre Delás d’Estudis per la Pau 18.12.13, available here None of the sources consulted provides information on Romero's fate during early years of the Republic. The government of Manuel Azaña embarked on major reform of the army. One of its objectives was to scale down what was perceived as an overgrown officer corps; the government deployed a scheme, partially forcing and partially encouraging officers to retire. It is not clear what mechanism worked for Romero; at least since late 1933 he remained beyond active service and was noted in the press as "teniente retirado".ABC 24.1.34
In terms of political preferences, the Romero family has been traditionally related to conservatism, the great-grandfather and paternal uncle serving as senators, respectively, in the 1860s and 1910s. None of the sources consulted provide any information on early political engagements of Ignacio, though as member of Maestranza de Sevilla he was linked to mainstream right-wing monarchism. However, at some point in the early 1930s Romero started to approach the Carlists and by late 1932 he was already a recognized figure in the Seville Traditionalist circles.in an interview of 1966 Romero claimed that he "has always been in Comunion Tradicionalista, following orders of the then Delegado Nacional, Manuel Fal Conde", Montejurra 21 (1966), p. 22. Fal became the Carlist political leader (as secretario general) in 1934, and ascended to Jefe Delegado in 1935 In early 1933 the Andalusian party leader Manuel Fal Conde nominated him vice-president of Centro Tradicionalista de Sevilla and treasurer – i.e. the third in line of command - of the Seville Junta Provincial.Leandro Alvarez Rey, La derecha en la II República: Sevilla, 1931-1936, Sevilla 1993, ISBN 9788447201525, p. 303 Following wedding Romero left Spain for a long honeymoon trip abroad,El Debate 24.05.34, available here but later resumed party activities and acted among leaders of the Seville requeté organisation.Julio Aróstegui, Combatientes Requetés en la Guerra Civil española, 1936–1939, Madrid 2013, ISBN 9788499709758, p. 709 He was heavily involved in preparations to the 1936 coup. It is known he was particularly active procuring and smuggling arms,Juan Ortíz Villalba, Sevilla 1936: del golpe militar a la guerra civil, Sevilla 1998, ISBN 9788488423054, s. 65 possibly at significant personal financial cost.in his novel Palmagallarda Romero’s son portrayed the protagonist aristocratic family as financing arms for the conspirators; the theme comes back in his public appearances also as a reference to history of Andalusian aristocracy. Romero Solis claims families who contributed financially have never been compensated later and their engagement contributed to decay of the aristocracy, replaced by new Francoist oligarchy, see Ignacio Romero de Solís, [in:] Canal Sur channel, YT service, available here