Spy story

US World War Two spy Aline Griffith who became grandee of Spanish high society as the Countess of Romanones, dies aged 94

American born Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones, former model, journalist, author, lecturer and wartime spy, has died in her beloved adopted Spain aged 94. 

Born in 1923 in Pearl River, New York, she studied literature, history and journalism before becoming a model in her late teens. 

After the United States entered World War 2 she volunteered to join the newly created Office of Strategic Studies (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA. 

Following in depth training in intelligence gathering she was sent to Madrid, the capital of so-called neutral Spain, to infiltrate the small but privileged social elite surrounding the Franco regime of whom many had close ties with German Nazis.

She arrived in 1944 aged just 21 and her cover was that she was a model and good time girl from a wealthy American family.

On arrival she booked into the Madrid Ritz Hotel and was soon a familiar figure about town in her latest New York outfits and mixing with aristocrats, bullfighters, singers and actors. Codenamed 'Tiger' her mission was to identify Nazis and their roles in the Spanish capital.