It is 300 years since Joseph O’Donnell left his native Co Mayo for Spain and founded a long Spanish dynasty that survives to this day.
Joseph O’Donnell was a direct descendant of Manus, the 21st chieftain of the O’Donnell clan and the grandfather of the most famous O’Donnell of all, Red Hugh, who died in Spain in 1602.
The man who unites both branches of the family is 74-year-old Hugo O’Donnell, the seventh Duke of Tetuán and Grandee of Spain.
The largest-ever gathering of Spanish-Irish associations met at the University of Valladolid in advance of the mock funeral of Red Hugh O’Donnell, an event commemorating the royal funeral given to the Irish chieftain by the King of Spain Phillip III.
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Red Hugh fled Ireland in early 1602 after the defeat of the Irish and their Spanish allies at the Battle of Kinsale. He hoped to persuade the Spanish king to send another army to Ireland but died after a serious illness at Simancas Castle in September of that year.
Phillip III granted him a royal funeral and he was buried in the grounds of the Franciscan Chapel of the Wonders. The dig for his remains four years ago, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, gained worldwide attention.
Though his remains were not positively identified, the city has embraced the memory of the Irish prince who was given a funeral fit for a king by the Spanish monarch.
The O’Donnells of Spain are a family that includes former Spanish prime minister Leopoldo O’Donnell, the first Duke of Tetuán, ministers of the Spanish crown and dozens of generals and admirals. There is a street and a metro stop in Madrid named after Leopoldo O’Donnell and also one in the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco.
Hugo O’Donnell became the head of the O’Donnell clan last year though there seems to be some confusion as to whether he can carry the honorary title, The O’Donnell.
He was presented with a statue of his most famous ancestor Red Hugh by chairman of the Hispano-Irish Association Carlos Burgos at an event attended by Irish Ambassador to Spain Frank Smyth, Valladolid’s deputy mayor Irene Carvajal and a captain of the Spanish navy, Enrique Guardia.
Hugo O’Donnell is a former Spanish naval commander and renowned naval historian. Through the centuries the family never lost touch with Ireland.
Mr O’Donnell said he was part of a “proud tradition that stretches back to the 12th century. I have many benedictions. I come from a nation and a family which I wouldn’t change for anything. All the branches of my family are proud of coming from Ireland.”
His son, Carlos, who has the title of Marquess of Altamira, will carry on the family name. “I wish to continue the tradition of my families who have preceded me. I want to honour that name and keep the links between Ireland and Spain,” he said.
The Irish Ambassador to Spain said he had witnessed first-hand the commitment of the people of Valladolid to remember Red Hugh. “It ties in with their love for processions here. There is a deep attachment to it all over Spain,” said Mr Smyth.
He drew a parallel between Red Hugh and those fleeing persecution today.
The events in Valladolid come at a time of unprecedented interest in the historical links between Ireland and Spain. A three-day festival will be held next week in Grange, Co Sligo, remembering the 24 ships of the Spanish Armada that were wrecked off the coast of Ireland in 1588. The historian Michael Barry is about to publish a book on links between the armada and Ireland.
Chairman of the Red Hugh O’Donnell Association, Eddie Crawford, said plans are advanced to twin the Donegal town of Lifford, where Red Hugh was born, with the Spanish town of Simancas where he died in.
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