Infanta Pilar, sister of King Juan Carlos, passed away at age of 83

On Wednesday, Infanta Pilar of Spain, Duchess of Badajoz, elder sister of former King Juan Carlos and aunt of King Felipe VI, passed away at the age of 83 at the Ruber International Clinic in Madrid after a year of fighting cancer. Like her brothers, Infanta Pilar also suffered from osteoarthritis, and was operated on both hips. So in recent years she had mobility problems that forced her to walk with some difficulty. Infanta Pilar has always been one of the most beloved Royal family members.

Infanta Pilar was born in exile, Cannes on July 30, 1936, while the Civil War broke out in Spain and grew up in Estoril (Portugal) where she settled with his parents and siblings. At the age of 21, she stepped on Spain for the first time to attend the funeral of his maternal grandmother Luisa de Orleans. She got married to 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.