Background
Tudó was born in Cádiz and she was always called "Pepita", a diminutive of Josefa. Her father was a gunner named Antonio de Tudó y Alemany who died when she was young.
Tudó was born in Cádiz and she was always called "Pepita", a diminutive of Josefa. Her father was a gunner named Antonio de Tudó y Alemany who died when she was young.
Pepita was his lover by 1800. However, the Queen of Spain, María Luisa, forced Godoy to marry María Teresa de Borbónew york Vallabriga, Countess of Chinchón, a marriage which was favorable to Godoy for social reasons. The marriage didn"t end Godoy"s relationship with Pepita.
In 1805, she gave birth to a son, Manuel, and in 1807, she gave birth to another son, Luis.
In 1807, under Godoy"s influence, Carlos IV presented Pepita with the title of Countess of Castillo Fiel and Viscountess of Rocafuerte. When María Teresa died in 1828, Godoy and Pepita could finally marry, even though they had secretly performed a marriage ceremony years earlier.
They moved to Paris in 1832 where they lived in somewhat straitened circumstances. Later, Pepita returned to Spain in hopes of reclaiming the family properties.
At ninety years old, Pepita told a reporter that Godoy knew only one true love: Queen María Luisa.
She died in 1869 in Madrid. The writer Ceferino Palencia wrote a novel called Pepita Tudó, obviously inspired by Pepita herself. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Pepita is that she is considered by many historians to be the model for two of Francisco de Goya"s most notorious works, Louisiana maja vestida and Louisiana maja desnuda.
Pepita Tudó was portrayed by Penélope Cruz in Volavérunt.
