From Gilded Cage to Global Change
Albina du Boisrouvray grew up surrounded by unimaginable wealth but starved of affection. The 86-year-old heiress, speaking from her Paris home, describes her childhood as "a tropical environment in terms of affluence, but the North Pole when it came to affection." Born into extreme privilege as the granddaughter of Bolivian tin magnate Simón Patiño and daughter of Count Guy du Boisrouvray, Albina's early years were marked by luxury but devoid of emotional connection.
As an only child in what she calls "a family of opulent nomads," she lived across Egypt, Morocco, France, Switzerland, England and the USA. Her Christmases were spent at the Palace Hotel in Saint-Moritz, where she observed women whose sole purpose appeared to be looking pretty and wearing the latest fashions. She felt like a bird in a gilded cage, never fitting into the world where she'd landed.
Her relationship with her mother was particularly distant. "From the age of seven onwards, I was put in various different places with various different people," Albina remembers. Even a childhood accident revealed the emotional chasm - when she fell down a lift shaft, her mother's primary concern was protecting the chintz upholstery from bloodstains.
A Life Transformed by Love and Loss
Everything changed when Albina gave birth to her only child, François-Xavier, in 1961. His arrival brought profound calm and happiness that had been missing from her life. "My world finally made sense," she recalls.
François-Xavier, affectionately known as FX, followed his pilot father into aviation, joining Swiss rescue company Air-Glaciers. "He risked his life many, many times," Albina remembers with pride. "François was very courageous and very, very devoted to rescuing."
Tragedy struck in January 1986 when FX, aged just 24, died in a helicopter crash. Albina's world shattered completely. "My life ended then, on January 14. I was completely destroyed. François was my priority all my life, and my priority was gone." She fell into a deep depression that lasted nearly a decade.
Turning Grief into Global Impact
Having inherited millions when her father died six years earlier - a fortune she'd left untouched for her son - Albina now found she couldn't bear to keep it. She sold everything: paintings, jewellery, furniture, her home, even her film company, raising approximately £100 million.
This represented three-quarters of her assets, which she used to establish the FXB Foundation in her son's memory. The decision felt natural rather than difficult. "No longer having a son, I wanted to continue François' rescue mission, but in a larger sense," she explains. "Selling it all felt very relieving. I was in harmony with my beliefs."
The Foundation initially focused on tackling the AIDS epidemic, which was disproportionately affecting the poor in the 1980s and 1990s. Albina launched NGOs and university centres across America, and established homes of "tender loving care" for AIDS orphans in Washington, Thailand, Brazil, and Colombia.
Her work expanded to bring healthcare and education to India and Africa, helping millions escape extreme poverty. The innovative FXB Village programme helps families achieve financial independence by providing basics like food, schooling and healthcare while teaching money management and providing seed capital for small businesses.
A Life of Purpose and Contentment
Now living between Paris, Switzerland and Portugal, Albina leads a modest life that reflects her values. "I own nothing of material value, besides one Suzuki car in Portugal," she says. "I live comfortably. I already feel I've got too much."
Her wardrobe consists largely of clothes she's owned for fifty years, and she avoids shopping, considering it boring compared to more productive uses of time. She's even planning to sell her silver photo frames to raise more money for the foundation. "What matters is the photograph in them. Stuff doesn't matter. What does is relationships, and love."
Looking back at 86 years filled with both privilege and pain, Albina remains full of energy and passion for tackling inequality. She believes billionaires should be taxed a percentage of their profits with money directed to NGOs, arguing that governments do a terrible job of running countries.
Through her work, Albina feels she has fulfilled her "contract with life" alongside her son. "I've done what I was supposed to do," she says. "I feel content now, and very much that I can die at peace."
Her memoir, Phoenix Rising: A Woman's Story of Love, Loss & the Will To Change the World, published by Nomad Publishing, tells her remarkable story of transformation from lonely heiress to global humanitarian.
