Natalia Figueroa, the rock that shapes Raphael

The Count of Romanones, his grandfather, gave shape to that prominent nose that once must have provided some evolutionary advantage for the family. But more than any facial feature, Natalia Figueroa inherited from this man, a minister in several cabinets and twice head of the Government in the times of Alfonso XIII, intelligence, intellectual restlessness, its strength and the idea that life cannot be reduced to a Manichean or simplistic vision. The noise was already made by the grandfather and then by her husband, Raphael. She, who is not a fan of performances, limits herself to executing her own ambitions. In his way.

The introduction serves to introduce a woman who, they say, She stayed in the shadows to allow her husband to shine, leaving behind a successful career as a writer and journalist. Why is it difficult to understand that your most personal ambition was to achieve excellence in what you set as your goal? And he did it. As a professional, in his youth; as a mother, wife and grandmother, as the years went by.

Raphael and Natalia FigueroaGtres

Family is the driving force of his life. This settles any other speculation. In 2016, journalist Susanna Griso asked Raphael to describe Natalia. TOIn addition to being “the ideal companion for everything, a tireless traveler, a wonderful mother and a sensational wife,” he anointed her with one phrase: “Natalia is a way of life.” Much earlier, in 1991, she was the one who confessed to Nieves Herrero the privilege of her life. «If I said otherwise, God would punish me. I am aware of what life gives me and what I have. Since I was born, by my parents; since I got married, for Raphael and my children… All of this makes me feel that my life is a true wonder.

Paco Gordillo with Raphael and Natalia Figueroa, at their wedding
Paco Gordillo with Raphael and Natalia Figueroa, at their weddingthe reason

She was a pioneer woman. Before turning 20, when the rest of the women around her and of her time used to wait for the call of the best husband candidate, she started working in radio, television, press… He defied any mandate and prejudice of the time, always with the blessing of his father, an aristocrat with his charming bohemian touch. At 18 he published his first book of three, a collection of prose poems that he had written when he was barely 16 years old.

She met Raphael at an awards ceremony for a radio station where she was working at the time. They started as a joke and ended up missing each other so much that they decided they had to go down the aisle. Was it a slow-cooked love? This question was also asked by Griso and the artist mused: “That’s a good thing, a good phrase… Yes, but the cooking is not finished and you still have to add water to keep it boiling. If not, there is no way.

The singer Raphael and Natalia Figueroa
The singer Raphael and Natalia Figueroathe reason

The question for Natalia is recurring, almost inquisitorial. Why did you abandon a career that promised to be brilliant? «Life is stages. Since I got married, I cared a lot more about Raphael’s career. It happened normally. I had already had my moment, my years, my successes, my popularity… I was so happy with my house, my husband, my children… I gave so much value to that…”, she responded to Herrero very serenely and with a sweet but firm voice.

Natalia is a rock, with all the biblical weight that this concept has. It represents stability, solidity, permanence and a fidelity that transcends the sexual. He inoculated into that whirlwind, of which they said in his aristocratic surroundings “it doesn’t suit you, it doesn’t work…”, happiness and his own serenity. And, err or error, more than 50 years have passed since their wedding in the San Zacarias church in Venice, almost in secret. The boy from Linares and the aristocrat from San Sebastián formed one of the most solid marriages in Spanish society from which their three children were born. With it, the singer, who has now started treatment to treat brain lymphoma with two nodules, has learned the urgency of living the moment with a smile. Natalia is his victory. The other, his tour, can wait.