Infanta Pilar of Spain, Duchess of Badajoz has died. She was 83. The infanta, sister of King Juan Carlos and aunt of King Felipe VI, passed away in Madrid on Wednesday.

Infanta Pilar had been admitted to hospital in the Spanish capital earlier this week. Although details of her condition weren’t confirmed, she had been receiving treatment for cancer for several months.

Maria del Pilar Alfonsa Juana Victoria Luisa Ignacia y Todos los Santos de Borbon y Borbon-Dos Sicilias was born on July 30th 1936 in Cannes, France, the first child of Juan, Count of Barcelona and his wife, Maria de las Mercedes. She lived most of her early years in exile from Spain – her grandfather, King Alfonso XIII, had been forced to flee with his family before she was born.

She married Luis Gomez-Acebo in May 1967, renouncing all her rights to the then still defunct Spanish throne to do so. They had five children together.

Her brother succeeded as King Juan Carlos in November 1975, on the death of the Fascist dictator Francisco Franco and later made her an Infanta with the title of HRH.

In May 2019, she confirmed that she was being treated for colon cancer. She was admitted to the Ruber Clinic on Madrid on January 5th 2020, King Juan Carlos’ 82nd birthday.

She leaves five children.

This is a breaking news story – Royal Central will have more details shortly.