Luis Carrero Blanco

Don Luis Carrero Blanco, 1st Duke of Carrero Blanco, Grandee of Spain (4 March 1904 – 20 December 1973) was a Spanish admiral and long-time confidant of dictator Francisco Franco. He was assassinated by members of the group ETA.

Biography

Luis Carrero Blanco entered the Escuela Naval Militar, the Spanish naval academy, in 1918 and participated in the Rif War of 1924–1926.

In 1929 he married María del Carmen Pichot y Villa (d.1984), with whom he had five children.

In July 1936, when the Spanish Civil War erupted, Carrero Blanco found himself behind the coalescing Republican line. Taking refuge in the embassy of Mexico and later that of France, he was able to sneak across the front and reach the Nationalist side in June 1937. Carrero Blanco then served in the Nationalist navy. After the Nationalist victory and subsequent installation of Generalísimo Francisco Franco as military dictator (Caudillo) of Spain, Carrero Blanco became one of his closest collaborators as well as chief of naval operations. He was said to be in opposition to Spain entering World War II on the side of the Axis powers, a notably different political position compared to some other Falangists. Carrero Blanco himself was a monarchist. Devoted to the Roman Catholic Church, he was close to Opus Dei. In 1951 he was closely involved in the production of the film Dawn of America, a patriotic work portraying Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas. Blanco worked on the screenplay of the film which received strong support from the Francoist regime because of its nationalist theme.