Carmen Polo was the wife of which 20th century dictator?
Carmen Polo, 1st Lady of Meirás Carmen Polo, 1st Lady of Meirás María del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdés, 1st Lady of Meirás, Grandee of Spain (11 June 1900 – 6 February 1988) was the wife of General and "caudillo" Francisco Franco. She played an important role in Francoist Spain, playing an especially major role in the election of Carlos Arias Navarro (when her husband was already ill) and in censoring the press. She was, undoubtedly, the most influential woman in Francoist Spain. She was nicknamed as "la Collares" ('the one with the necklaces') in Spain. She was the daughter of Felipe Polo y Flórez de Vereterra
Carmen Polo, 1st Lady of Meirás to her father. María del Carmen separated from her husband and moved to Paris, where she lived with the antiquarian Jean-Marie Rossi. On 7 February 1984, Polo's great-grandson Francisco ("Fran") was killed at age eleven in a car accident. In her final years, Polo rarely left her house, hearing Mass at home. She isolated herself completely, ignoring (and being ignored by) the press and refusing to read anything about politics or about her husband. She explained "It is necessary to have much Christian resignation, in light of the turmoils of my life." Carmen Polo, 1st Lady of Meirás María del