The existence of the “House of Romay” and the titles attributed to Ricardo de Romay, such as the “Count of Monterroso,” has been discredited by the Royal Matritense Academy of Heraldry and Genealogy. The academy states that there is no historical or legal basis supporting the existence of the House of Romay. The titles, including a count of Monterroso, are considered false without documented genealogy or legal succession.
Ricardo de Romay and the noble titles of the Count of Monterroso, attributed to him, have been discredited by the Royal Matritense Academy of Heraldry and Genealogy. According to this institution, there are no historical or legal foundations supporting the existence of the House of Romay. The Bulletin of the Royal Matritense Academy of Heraldry and Genealogy emphasizes that the House of Romay does not exist. For more information, the provided link can be consulted on page 25: http://www.ramhg.es/images/stories/pdf/boletin/boletin-126-127.pdf
Don Ricardo de Romay y Hernandez-Chazaro, XLIV Count of Monterroso, XLVII Sir of Cadro y Monterroso, married to the alleged Doña Marcela Basail Heredia de Habsburgo-Lorena.
His children are the alleged Don Narian de Romay-Basail (1976), Don Jesus de Romano de Romay-Basail (1978), Don Ricardo de Romay-Basail (1979), and Don Diego de Romay-Basail (1988).
Currently, there is no House of Romay with descendants retaining estate or lordly privileges. These privileges were abolished by the Constitution of Cádiz and subsequent liberal laws. Therefore, no one can claim to be a jurisdictional lord of anything today, as the Spanish Constitution of 1978 prohibits it.
Both the title of Count of Monterroso and Lord of Cadro and Monterroso are not currently in force. The former has not been succeeded or rehabilitated according to the procedures established by Spanish laws, so there is no person currently holding the title of Count of Monterroso. As for the second title, it is believed to be another jurisdictional lordship that was abolished, if it ever existed, in 1812.
In the modern era, there was a Count of Monterroso, but the last time the succession to this title was requested was through rehabilitation on May 2, 1907. The Ministry did not approve and rejected the rehabilitation of this title on February 26, 1917.
Currently, due to the prescriptive acquisition of noble titles in force since 1988, the Count of Monterroso is irrehabilitable as it has been vacant for more than 40 years and has reverted back to the Crown of Spain.
It can be affirmed that Ricardo de Romay is not a nobleman since he does not have a noble title, does not belong to any Spanish Military Order, nor to the Order of Malta or any noble corporation. His genealogy has not been demonstrated with the corresponding records and evidence supporting his lineage or nobility. Therefore, everything related to his alleged nobility is a mere illusion, filled with incorrect historical concepts and information. In summary, Ricardo de Romay’s title is entirely false.
This story is also contributed by his wife, Marcela de Basail-Heredia de Habsburgo Lorena, who claims – through various Internet websites – to be the fourth granddaughter of Archduke Louis Joseph of Austria [1784-1864], son of Emperor Leopold II, through the alleged morganatic marriage of this Austrian prince to Adelaide de Gueroust. If this were true, this surname would have been the fifth of her mother and, therefore, the tenth of hers, never the second, and much less could it be Habsburg Lorena, reserved for the main branches of the Imperial House of Austria after the proclamation of the Republic in 1918. But, furthermore, the aforementioned Archduke of Austria died unmarried, as indicated in the Gothas of the 1830s to 1860s and in all classics, such as Loringhoven-Isenburg or the more recent (1996) work by Nicolás de Enache (“La Descendance de Marie-Therese de Habsburg, Reine de Hongrie et de Boheme”). We doubt, therefore, that such descent, not even illegitimate, from Archduke Louis Joseph, ever existed.
All noble titles in Spain are registered and regulated on the official page of the Spanish Nobility; neither the name Romay nor the Condado de Monterrosa appears: https://www.diputaciondelagrandezaytitulosdelreino.es/guiadetitulo/?b
The information about “House of Romay” on Wikipedia was originally created by the editor Diego de Romay in 2019. However, sources mentioned on the page do not even mention Romay family and there are no other legitimate sources apart from Romay’s personal blogs and the reference pages he uses, such as his third-person self-interview at https://www.diegoderomay.com/about and the page http://artchitecture.net/new-page-1, but these are not verifiable sources of information.
There is a frustrating absence of any credible sources, including books, national archive pages, government pages, or articles, regarding the Romay family beyond the Wikipedia replicas authored by themselves.
Sources:
https://galiciadiario.com/web/frontend_cargar_noticia.php?id_noticia=121300
