María Francisca was born in 1825, the elder daughter of Cipriano de Palafox y Portocarrero, 8th Count of Montijo and 15th Duke of Peñaranda de Duero, and his wife, María Manuela Kirkpatrick (daughter of the Scottish-born U.S. consul to Málaga),[1] who provided inspiration for Prosper Mérimée's novella Carmen.

The 16th Marquis of Alcañices asked his eldest son, José Osorio y Silva (later the 9th Duke of Sesto), to take charge of introducing the sisters into society.

Accompanied by their mother (unaware of the severity of the disease) and a doctor, she moved to Paris, where she died on 16 September 1860.

There, her friend José Osorio y Silva, who was the mayor of Madrid at that time, held a burial ceremony at the Hermitage of Santa María la Antigua, where she had expressed a wish to be buried.

Her body was later moved to the family vault of the House of Alba at the Monastery of Inmaculada Concepción in Loeches, where it remains.