INDITEX empire founder Amancio Ortega's daughter Marta has just given birth to her second child, a little girl called Matilda.
She underwent a Caesarean section at A Coruña's Hospital Quirón, and both mother and baby are said to be doing well.
The operation had been scheduled ahead of Marta's due date, and baby Matilda was a healthy birth weight of nearly four kilos (8lb 13oz).
Marta is also said to have frozen stem cells from the umbilical cord using the 'VidaCord' kit, a practice that is more and more recommended these days in case the baby or any siblings need specific medical treatment that requires a complete DNA match in later life.
This is Marta's first child with her new husband, PR guru and model scout Carlos Torretta – son of Argentinian fashion designer Roberto Torretta – although she has another child, Amancio, seven, with her ex-husband, international showjumper Sergio Álvarez Moya.
Whilst in 2013, at the same hospital, crowds of family members and friends were waiting outside during the birth and flocked in to visit Marta and her new little boy Amancio, this time, with the Covid-19 lockdown, visits were not permitted, and it is unlikely any press photographs will appear in the first few weeks after Matilda's birth.
Marta, 36, married Carlos, 35, in a civil ceremony at the family home in A Coruña's up-market seafront O Parrote neighbourhood in November 2018.
The last time the Inditex heiress was seen in public was at the end of January during Paris Fashion Week, heavily pregnant and watching her friend, designer Pier Paolo Piccioli's catwalk show.
Piccioli is creative director for Valentino, and designed the one-off dress Marta wore at her wedding 16 months ago, as well as the other three dresses she wore during the reception which spread over several days, with separate slots for friends and family.
With Matilda, Marta's father Amancio Ortega, 84, now has five grandchildren – as well as Marta's two, his elder daughter Sandra Ortega and her husband Pablo Gómez have three, Martiño, who is at university, and Antía and Uxía, who are both in high school.
Marta and Carlos are now living in A Coruña, having previously shared a flat in Madrid's exclusive Salamanca neighbourhood, where Carlos had set up a PR agency after years working in New York and Madrid as a model scout following his graduation from the former's Pace University with a fine arts degree.
Since September 2019, Carlos has been working in PR for Zara, Inditex's most international brand.
Although Marta was guaranteed a job with the family firm practically since babyhood, her dad – who started Inditex with his late first wife Rosalía Mera as a small, modest boutique in Ourense - was not prepared to make it easy for her or let her walk into a privileged lifestyle through accident of birth.
After starting her International Business Economics degree at her nearest university, she was sent to London's European Business School in her final year to finish it, and then took a job in a branch of Bershka – Zara's 'younger sister' – in the UK capital, stacking shelves, stock-taking and attending to customers.
From here, she worked at all levels of the business from store-room, till and tidying up, through to management and design, at branches of Inditex's various brands worldwide, although mostly in Paris and Hong Kong.
She has worked for the past few years in product design and development for Zara Woman, and when she is out in public, is usually seen wearing Zara clothes.
Marta met her first husband, Sergio, 35, when they were children, and she worked as his groom for a while, but they did not start dating until 2009 and their marriage, three years later, only lasted two-and-a-half years.
Sergio returned to his native Gijón (Asturias) with the few horses he owned – the others he rode belonged to Marta, who is a top international showjumper in her own right, although more as a hobby as her main profession is with Zara Woman.
