Rafael, Duque Fernández

The second Duke of Santo Mauro, Rafael Fernández’s father was the first Duke and was the head of the Queen of Spain’s household, and his mother was the Countess of Ofalia. Fernández never married and consequently the title passed to his sister Casilda, as Duchess, on his death. Rafael was a distinguished naval officer and held the post of Captain at the time of his death. During the Spanish Civil War he was Captain of the lookout boat “Jupiter”. Unfortunately, Fernández was executed by the Republican Army during that Spanish Civil War.

Fernández was a 6-handicap polo player and one of Spain’s finest players of the era. Most of his polo in the 1920s and 30s was played at his home club, the Biarritz Polo Club in France. For the 1924 Olympics he ventured further north to Saint-Cloud, Paris, the city of his birth. Having sat out Spain’s three big defeats by the United States, Argentina and Great Britain, he was in the side at #3 that beat the French 15-1. The Madrid hotel bearing the Santo Mauro name was at one time the neoclassical French-style mansion and family home of the first Duke and is now regarded as among the most exclusive hotels in the Spanish capital.