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While searching on the Hernani title, I came across what sems to be the "Perfect Scam".

On the other thread, Manuel referred to some dispute between the Infanta (and the RF) and the Duke's family.

Calling it a mere dispute is an understatement.

I found some articles that reveal the criminal involvement of the SRF (several members) in the process.

D.Manfredo died without direct successors.
He was very close to his nephew Francisco Javier Méndez de Vigo y del Arco and everybody expected Francisco would be his uncle's universal successor.

Manfredo also owned a priceless art collection of c. 680 paintings, including Rembrandt, Veronese, Caravaggio, Rubens, Rafael or Tiziano evaluated at c. 1 billion euros (at today's prices).

Enter the Royal Family who decided to take over the collection.

There were rumours of forgeing the duke's signature in a will in favour of Infanta Margarita, the non-publication in the BOE of the Royal Decree recognizing the title concession to the Infanta and backstages manoeuvres from the RF against the Duke's widow for whom the collection was totally indifferent.

Since then the Méndez de Vigo family repeatedly tried to bring the SRF to court, trying to recover what they consider theirs by right.
They never achieved their aim and they were even brought to justice for accusing the King.

The same sources claim the theft of the Hernani inheritance was architected by the King and the chief of the Household, Sabino Fernandez Campos.
JC signed the Royal Decree granting the title to his sister as if she was a close relative of Manfredo, and Sabino falsified the duke's will to adapt it to the Royal Decree.

Later the RF sold a great deal of the Duke's collection to foreign museums in America and even Brazil with the help of spanish antique dealer Manuel González and Sotheby's where Infanta Pilar worked, had connections and pulled the right ropes.

To allow the illegality of the export of such paintings, most of them of recognized cultural interest, the then director of the Prado Museum (where part of the collection was stored) falsified the museum inventory erasing the location of the paintings in Spain.

In the same line of conduct, the then director of the Spanish Historic Heritage also removed the archives of the Hernani collection with all the above mentioned Masters, that would make of the collection the second wealthier private of Spain after the Thyssen.

Enters a new actress.
When Sabino Fernandez was diagnosed with a terminal disease, the "above all suspition" Queen Sofia decided that the collection should be sent out of Spain with the utmost urgency, before it was too late.

In September 2009, it was announced that Infanta Cristina and Urdangarin would move to Washington for professional reasons.
The reason was another one. Q.Sofia decided that the collection should be stored at first in Cristina's new residence, being responsible for the greatest recent theft to the spanish artistic heritage.

The death of Sabino in 2010 was a relief to the RF.
With the death of their partner in crime, and Cristina and U. involved in the NOOS affair, the collection was safe in the States.

The SRF was also relieved that the spanish state could not claim the collection because it didnot belong to the national heritage and there were no documents that could link it to the RF.

The plot:
The plot began with the theft of all the documents from the duke's palace to avoid any possible links or property claims.
The theft was the work of 2 recently admitted valets, who decided to profit and, on 23.02.1977, stole 17 paintings, escaping to Portugal.

Nine days later, the Royal Household leaked the theft news to the press mentioning the theft of the paintings but nothing about the documents.
Two months later, the paintings were discovered in Portugal, the burglars were arrested but no words about the documents.

Two years later the Duke of Hernani's family discovered that no criminal process was started concerning the theft.
The scam was perfect and no one heard of the false valets again.

When the Duke died aged 91, the RF moved swiftly and took possession of the paintings (some of which were kept in the Prado Museum).
To avoid suspitions, a will was falsified, and the duke's widow appeared as sole heiress but acting as a figure-head who would later, discretely, pass the collection to the RF.

To justify the paintings in the King's heritage, JC issued a Royal Decree allowing the Dukedom of Hernani would pass to his sister Margarita, allegedly the poorer of his sisters, on the grounds that he received a letter from the Duke expressing the wish to change, by will, his successions.

Naturally this letter, if it ever existed, was fake.

The successive mistakes committed by the RF and Sabino during the theft and fraud led to the discovery of the scam.
First, they “forgot” to pay the inheritance taxes of the duke’s wife, who, in fact, did not inherite anything.
The Mendez de Vigo family presented a claim against her for tax fraud. That would mean exposing the theft and the royal scam.
In 1993 the Tax Authority tried to put an end to the process and forged an evaluation of the collection, according to the guidelines of Sotheby’s under the guidelines of Infanta Pilar.
The collection, with all the Rembrandt, Tizianos, Rafaels etc was modestly evaluated in 25 million pesetas , some € 110.000 !!!
The duke’s family appealed to the decision but, sadly, the file was lost !!!

The second error of the RF was to steal the property documents from the Duke’s house, unaware that they were mere copies of the originals, kept in the Archives of the Spanish Historic Heritage Institute.
When the original documents were compared with those “arranged” to support the sales abroad, the forgery was exposed again.

The RF, once again, used and abused of his prerrogatives and made sure the original archives would vanish from the Institute.

To remove all traces, the General Inventory of the Prado Museum was forged.
In spite of that, the cover-up was useless because the duke’s family was able to rebuilt the stolen archives, using the documents kept in the Institute that the RF forgot to make disappear.
When it was impossible to hide the theft and fraud committed by the RF, the only way out was to threaten every Spanish media against publishing any articles.
The threat still remains and was revealed by Antonio Herrero of Radio COPE late in 1994.
Later on, when the Duke’s widow died, she left a will revealing she did not inherit a “duro” from her husband.
The RF, who, by then had forgotten about her, trying to cover their steps, ordered the Director of the General Register another will had to be forgedl.
The tentacles of the RF then moved to the Supreme Court, who validated the forged wills of the Duke and his widow, and the passing of the title to Infanta Margarita.
The Supreme Court also suspended all investigations about the whereabouts of the collection and rejected all the related criminal complaints.

The scam provided the RF with a huge heritage abroad in tax-free paradises.

https://scandallos.wordpress.com/2018/11/05/el-robo-de-la-coleccion-duque-de-hernani-por-la-familia-real-espanola/

https://ondarea.hernani.eus/hernani/urtekariak/pdf/1329.pdf