‘It shaped his identity’: did Éamon de Valera’s ‘Spanish father’ ever exist?

Éamon de Valera, who fought in Ireland’s 1916 rebellion and became taoiseach and then president, was the subject of whispers and speculation. Photograph: Hulton Getty

Éamon de Valera fought in Ireland’s 1916 rebellion and, as taoiseach and president, stamped his identity on the newly independent country. Modern Ireland has since rejected much of his conservative Catholic ethos, but De Valera remains a founding father.

There is enduring mystery, however, over his paternity – gaps in the record fuelled whispers and speculation about the Spanish artist, Vivion de Valera, said to be his father. As taoiseach, Dev, as he was known, instructed Ireland’s ambassador in Madrid to investigate the Spanish side of his family tree, but the ambassador drew a blank.