Sex and other Mysteries
Naughty today, pay tomorrow
Case Study: Nobleman versus Musician
When José Antonio Larios Franco, the Fourth Marquis de Larios, died in 1954, he left behind a tidy fortune and - apparently - no natural children of his own.
His father was the founder of Larios gin, and his forefathers were major factory owners, industrialists and property developers.
Larios and his wife had no children of their own, but she was a widow with a young son from her previous husband. Larios adopted her son, and they were his main heirs.
This section was recently created and new stories will be added regularly. If you know of a case appropriate for this section, please let us know.
Coming soon:
Nina Wang, Hong Kong billionairess and her Kung Fu toyboy
Olive Watson and her lesbian ex-lover and beneficiary
If you can't wait, take a look at the entries for W Somerset Maugham and the Earl of Shaftesbury.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks...
Raised in an orphanage, Jose Collado is a trumpet player who does odd jobs when the musical opportunities dry up.
He may also be the illegitimate son of Larios.
The way in which Collado learned this stunning news, and the way it is being tested, are a story in itself.
Collado's mother, Emilia, had been a cook in Larios' employ and then his lover. Larios took care of her for a while, and when he stopped supporting her, she placed her son in an orphanage and disappeared from his life. Larios was nine months old.
The disappearance - the separation of mother and son - would have been permanent if not for a 1997 television programme which traced long-lost people. Mother and son were reunited, and it was then that Emilia told her 49-year-old the identity of his biological father.
"The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised."
Illegitimate children in Spain did not enjoy inheritance rights when Collado was born but they do so today.
After more than a decade of legal efforts, Collado's legal team finally persuaded a judge that Larios' remains should be exhumed for DNA testing to determine paternity. The exhumation, in the presence of both Collado and members of the Larios family, took place in May 2010.
If the tests prove that Larios is indeed the son of Larios, a court battle is not inevitable. People throughout Spain, and especially in the Malaga region, have been following the saga avidly. The Larios family may want to settle with Collado away from the glare of the courts and the media.
Emilia Collado will not learn the results. She died in 2002. But her name, which was on her son's birth certificate, triggered the entire discovery process.
Chess Great Bobby Fischer:Checking but no Mate
In mid-June 2010, just after the Larios exhumation, news broke that DNA testing would be performed on the body of Bobby Fischer (1943-2008).
The eccentric former World Chess Champion died intestate.
Since his death and burial in Iceland, the estate of the American-born Fischer has been mired in controversy and legal conflict. A Japanese woman, Miyoko Watai, claims that she and Fischer were married in 2004. A Filipino woman claims that Fischer is the father of her 9-year-old daughter, Jinky. His nephews and, for back taxes, the American government, also have claims on the estate, which may run into the low millions, pre-tax.
If Fischer had made a will, his remains may have rested in peace.
UPDATE AUGUST 2010 DNA testing revealed that Fischer was not Jinky's father.
