Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince of Civitella-Cesi

Born in Rome on 7 December 1911, Torlonia was the son of Marino Torlonia, 4th Prince di Civitella-Cesi and his American wife, Mary Elsie Moore.[1][2] Don Alessandro's youngest sister was Donna Marina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi,[1] grandmother of the American actress Brooke Shields.[3] Thus he was Shields's grand-uncle. On the death of his father in 1933, he inherited large estates as well as his father's princely and other titles.[4][5]

In 1941, when his mother was dying in New York City, Torlonia took a high speed boat from Portugal and was arrested in error by FBI, thinking he was an enemy of the state and taken to Ellis Island.[6]

In the 1980s, Torlonia held the title as the "richest man in Rome", as he was the heir to a banking fortune.[7] He died in the Palazzo Torlonia, Rome, in 1986.

Arms of Don Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cesi.

On 14 January 1935, Don Alessandro morganatically[8][9][10] married in Rome the Infanta Beatriz of Spain (1909–2002), a daughter of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and of Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg.

Don Alessandro and Infanta Beatriz had four children:

• Donna Alessandra ("Sandra") Vittoria Torlonia (1936–2014),[11] married to Count Clemente Lecquio di Assaba (1925–1971); they have two children: Count Alessandro Lecquio di Assaba and Donna Desideria Lecquio di Assaba (Countess Oddone Tournon).
• Marco Torlonia, 6th Prince di Civitella-Cesi, (1937–2014) who married firstly Donna Orsetta Caracciolo dei principi di Castagneto, secondly Philippa Catherine McDonald and thirdly Blažena Anna Helena Svitáková.
• Don Marino Riccardo Francesco Giuseppe Torlonia (1939–1995)
• Donna Olimpia Emmanuela Enrichetta Maria Torlonia (born 1943), who married the French millionaire Paul-Annik Weiller, son of Paul-Louis Weiller. They have issue:
  • Sibilla Weiller (born 1968), wife of Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg.