Esther Doña: “Carlos printed the messages of our courtship”

Carlos Falcó’s widow is in a serene, full and happy moment. With her new book on the life of the Marquis de Griñón already in bookstores she grants an interview to LA RAZÓN, where reels with care her love story, reveals who her great (and unknown) supporters have been in his grieving process and what projects she has in mind with her current partner, Judge Santiago Pedraz.

-Writing this book has been a necessity to keep in my memory of Carlos and say goodbye and pay homage to a great man, who has meant so much to me. It was also like one of the many and many conversations we had. The time that the book process lasted was like having Carlos with me for the last time.

-We know that you were very involved in the book that the Marquis de Griñón published, but what has it been like to see yours already published and in bookstores? What have you felt?

-That’s right, “The Good Life” was a book we wrote together. But seeing mine published has been a great pride. I know Carlos would be excited and tell me something that he repeated to me a lot. He sometimes rubbed his eyes and I asked him if he was okay. To which he replied: “I rub them because I don’t believe it, it seems like a dream.” It is a book written with more than love, with that we forge in our relationship.

-The death of your husband was very early in the pandemic when not much was known about the Covid, even you yourself were infected. The pages where she narrates this hard episode are very exciting, always thinking that her husband would return from the hospital. How much did it cost you to assume that you would not return? What helped you come to terms with it?

-The time, seeing the days and months go by, to accept what happened. The warmth of my family and my closest friends helped me a lot. They never left me alone, even though we were physically separated by confinement. He always felt a hand with me.

-Who have been your great supporters in that duel? In the book, do you talk about your close relationship with the Marquis’s cousin?

-When I talk about my family, Verónica, Carlos’s only first cousin, and only daughter, is included. She is like a sister to me and living both in Madrid is like having family close. We share everything, we see each other constantly and in everything that happens in my life she is always a participant. Other great supports that I have always had and continue to have are the friends that we forged together and of whom Carlos was so proud. He would say to me:

“Esther, these friends are ours, we have found them together.” Among them, whom we have always felt as part of us, are our dear Cándido Conde Pumpido and his wife, Clara Martínez de Careaga. They have always been by our side and I have to thank them very much. One of the things is to return to live in my house and not look for another place, because they told me: «Esther, you have to go to your house, we are close and we can see you more often». It was, thanks to them, one of the best decisions I have made in this time.

-Your book is a very brave story to share with readers your love story and courtship. A relationship that started with WhatsApp. Did he win her over with this nineteenth-century epistolary relationship?

It is our story and that’s how it began. Carlos, I am convinced, I would have liked to reflect it in our book. He would fill his mouth telling everyone who would stop to listen to him. It was fantastic to see, over and over again, the illusion on her face.

-Did the marquis keep this conversation by message and show it proudly to his friends?

I kept it. It was his illusion. He asked to print it and many nights, when he got into bed, he would reread them over and over again, as if it were his masterpiece. And, in addition, I always told all my friends: I have had our whatsapp printed and there are more than 200 pages!

Esther Doña and judge Santiago Pedraz in Madrid.

-The tribute you pay to your partner in these pages is very emotional. How would the Marquis reacted to your publication?

I would shout it from the rooftops! He would make me go to all the shops that have the book. I would say: Look is her, she is my wife! That was Carlos.

-Has anything been left in the inkwell?

Of course, if not, the book would be so long that … Our life was short, but very intense. There are many friends of the two of them who told me: “Esther seems to us that you have been with Carlos for about 15 years.”

-Did you like the experience of writing? Will he cheer himself up again, for example, to tell his new relationship with Santiago Pedraz?

-I was fascinated. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. And yes, I am considering it. For now it is only an idea that I talk a lot with Santiago, who also has a fascinating story. For now I’m just writing down things … we’ll see.

-What remains today of the Esther Doña who fell in love with the Marquis de Griñón?

Everything, I am still the same person, but more mature because the experiences that I have lived make you see things differently and value what perhaps before what you lived you did not stop to think. And now I know who I should be with and who not. Out with the toxic.

-How would Esther Doña describe Carlos Falcó?

-A unique and irreplaceable being. And, of course, a historical figure for our Spain.

Esther Dona

-If you had to choose, what moment of that magical relationship would you stay with?

-Don’t ask me to choose just one moment. He made every day special. I can’t tell you a specific time. Well yes, his presence. At all times with me and with everyone he was present.

-We are very struck by your anecdotes about the way of life as a Marchioness. Like not wearing jeans or always being perfectly dressed at any time, even at home. Was it difficult for you to adjust to such different new life changes?

-Well, I think that had more to do with the circle in which we moved in the beginning, before creating our own friendships.

-After telling your love story as a wonderful fairy tale with the marquis, did you think you were going to fall in love again so soon?

-Not at all, it was something that seemed very far away, but here we are. These are the surprises that life has in store for you without expecting them.