Kirkcaldy-born Cora Blyth, mother of Tory politician Michael Portillo, has died at the age of 95.
A passionate linguist, she left the Fife town and her father’s linen business to study Spanish and French at Oxford.
During her studies she met Luis Gabriel Portillo a handsome Castilian who had fought with Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War while visiting a refugee camp in Aston.
She proposed to him in 1941 and the couple went on to have five children, the youngest being the Conservative politician turned writer-broadcaster.
During the war she worked reading letters to ensure they gave away no secrets, while Luis, as a registered alien, contented himself with menial jobs.
He would go on to be a BBC producer, lecturer and published poet.
Following Hitler’s defeat, the couple set up home in Stanmore, Middlesex, and Mrs Blyth de Portillo began to teach the two European languages she had studied, first at night classes, then at a number of secondary schools.
Lively parties, centred on exotic Spanish food, featured prominently among her extra-curricular activities.
Originally a passionate supporter of the Labour party her house was used as a committee room by her local party branch in the 1960s and 1970s she later switched to supporting the Liberal Democrats.
Despite her European surroundings, she never forgot her Scottish roots.
Her father, who owned a successful linen factory in Kirkcaldy, collected paintings by the Scottish colourists, many of which were later donated to the town.
She is survived by four sons.