Josefa de Tudó, 1st Countess of Castillo Fiel

Who was Josefa de Tudó, 1st Countess of Castillo Fiel?

Josefa de Tudó, 1st Countess of Castillo Fiel, also known as Pepita Tudó was the mistress of Spanish Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy, and likely the model for Goya's La maja desnuda.

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. Since the age of sixteen, Pepita and her mother, Catalina Cathalán y Luecia, and her sisters, Magdalena and Socorro, lived in the house of Manuel de Godoy, one of the most powerful men in Spain. Pepita was his lover by 1800.

However, the Queen of Spain, María Luisa, forced Godoy to marry María Teresa de Borbón y 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.