page_title: Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa
section_title: Family and youth
hierarchical_section_title: Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa / Family and youth
caption_attribution_description: Español: Retrato del aristócrata y coleccionista español José de Aguilera y Contreras (1787-1872), XVI marqués de Cerralbo.
context_page_description: Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, 17th Marquis of Cerralbo, was a Spanish archaeologist and a Carlist politician.
context_section_description: Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa came from the aristocratic family for centuries residing in the Salamanca province; his ancestors can be traced back to the 14th century, and it was in 1533 when his forefather was named marquis by Carlos I. His father, Francisco de Asís de Aguilera y Becerril, was the founder and director of the Gimnasio Real de Madrid (Casón del Buen Retiro) and became known as a promoter of physical exercises, supported with a number of machines he invented himself. Married to María Luisa de Gamboa y López de León, the couple had 13 children.
  Enrique was first educated at the Madrid Colegio de las Escuelas Pías de San Fernando, later on to study Philosophy and Letters and Law at the Universidad Central. With the death of his father in 1867, Enrique as the oldest living son acquired the conde de Villalobos title, which ensured his place in the middle-range aristocracy and a comfortable financial status. His position changed dramatically in the early 1870s, when, following the childless death of his two paternal uncles and death of his paternal grandfather, José de Aguilera y Contreras, Enrique became the most senior male in line. He inherited the marquesado de Cerralbo, along with many other aristocratic titles, some of them ceded to his brothers. By virtue of the marquesado de Cerralbo and condado de Alcudia, he became a double grandee of Spain. Enrique inherited part of his grandfather's enormous wealth, including a number of estates in southern Leon, villa de Cerralbo and the San Boal palace in Salamanca. The heritage elevated Enrique into the highest ranks of the Spanish nobility and ensured lifetime opulence. He later multiplied his wealth by marriage, cautious investments on the stock exchange and in the railway business, and by inheriting part of the fortune of the marqués de Monroy, which allowed him to purchase new estates in Madrid, Santa María de Huerta and in Monroy.
  In 1871, Enrique married the mother of his university colleague, Manuela Inocencia Serrano y Cerver from Valencia, thirty years his senior and widow of the military and senator Antonio del Valle y Angelín; she brought into the family the children from her previous marriage. Immediately afterwards, the couple travelled extensively and started construction of the family residence in Madrid. In 1893, the family moved into the freshly-completed building at calle Ventura Rodríguez, designed in eclectic style by renowned architects and from the outset intended to be also an art gallery, very much like the private pinacotecas seen across Europe. The building – usually referred to as a palace – served later also as a prestigious venue of social meetings, reported the day after by the Madrid press, and a location for political assemblies. The couple had no issue.
caption: paternal grandfather
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