Antonio María Oriol Urquijo

Antonio María de Oriol y Urquijo (1913–1996) was a Spanish politician and businessman. Politically he supported the Traditionalist cause, first as a Carlist militant and then as a Francoist official. In 1955–1977 he was a member of Cortes Españolas; in 1957–1965 he headed the welfare department in the Ministry of Interior; in 1965–1973 he served as the Minister of Justice; in 1973–1978 he was a member of the Council of the Realm and in 1973–1979 he presided over the Council of State. As businessman he was active in companies controlled by the Oriol family, holding executive positions in Iberdrola, Patentes Talgo and other entities.

Family and youth

Antonio Oriol was born to a family of Catalan origins, its first members noted in the history of Spain in the 17th century. Buenaventura Oriol Salvador sided with the legitimists during the First Carlist War. In recognition of his merits the claimant awarded him with Marquesado de Oriol in 1870; he was elected to the Cortes in 1872. The son of his brother and Antonio's paternal grandfather, José María Oriol Gordo (1845–1899), a native of Tortosa, joined Carlos VII during the Third Carlist War and served as Jefe de Ayudantes of general Dorregaray. Following the amnesty he settled in Bilbao and married descendant to a local high bourgeoisie Urigüen family. His son and Antonio's father, José Luis Oriol Urigüen (1877–1972), in the mid-1930s emerged as a Carlist political mogul in Álava. He wed Catalina de Urquijo y Vitórica, descendant to an oligarchic family which controlled much of the Biscay finance. In the early 20th century Oriol Urigüen replaced his father-in-law as CEO of Hidroeléctrica Española and later developed a number of other businesses; he is considered one of the most important Spanish entrepreneurs of the 20th century.

José Luis and Catalina initially lived in a family estate in Getxo, the affluent suburb of Bilbao and hub of the oligarchic Basque bourgeoisie; however, they soon moved to Madrid. The couple had 8 children, all brought up in great wealth but also in a fervently religious ambience; Antonio was born as the fourth son; he had also a younger brother. It is not clear whether like at least one of his older brothers, he frequented a Jesuit high school in the capital. At unspecified time though probably in the early 1930s he enrolled at Department of Law at the Madrid university and graduated in juridical sciences in 1935. He prepared to join the family business but did so no sooner that after the Civil War.

In 1940 Antonio Oriol married María de la Soledad Díaz de Bustamante y Quijano (died 1990). She descended from a wealthy Cantabrian family of entrepreneurs, though her father – who married into another industrial fortune – lived already in Madrid. The couple settled at the grand Oriol family estate near Majadahonda; it was shared with Antonio's brothers, two of them – Lucas and especially José María – growing to high Francoist officials and business tycoons. Antonio and Soledad had seven children; all the sons became high corporate executives, but they did not engage in politics. The daughter María married Miguel Primo de Rivera y Urquijo, grandson of the dictator and later one of key people behind the Spanish transition to democracy. Among 39 of Oriol's grandchildren the best known is Rocio Primo de Rivera Oriol, author of few fiction and history books; her brother Fernando gained attention in 2019 when claiming ducado de Primo de Rivera. Most of the grandchildren are well set in the world of Spanish societé and business; in 2020 the Oriol family clan was listed as the 180. richest family in Spain.

Early public engagements and civil war (before 1940)

Antonio's mother descended from a well known Basque family of liberal convictions, but four generations of his paternal ancestors were related to Traditionalism, even though his father adhered to a generic conservative monarchism and politically engaged in Carlism only in his 50s. Like his three older brothers, Antonio inherited legitimist preferences from forefathers and during his student years in Madrid he was active in the Carlist academic organisation, Agrupación Escolar Tradicionalista; none of the sources consulted provides information on any roles he might have performed. According to one author already in his teens he enlisted to the paramilitary Requeté organisation and remained involved in its ranks throughout all of the Republic years. Officially he was noted in the press as donating to Catholic charity and in secondary roles during some Carlist rallies in Madrid.

Oriol was engaged in Carlist anti-republican conspiracy of the spring of 1936. He was assigned to join the coup in Álava; on July 18 he hid in Palacio Verástegui in Vitoria. He planned to join the military, supposed to rise the following day. Indeed, the Vitoria-based sub-units of the 5th Mountain Regiment “Flandes” did rise and the city was swiftly seized by the rebels. Early Oriol's military assignment is not clear; it is known that in mid-September he served in requeté troops which took San Sebastián. Since later this month he was seconded to the 2nd Requeté Company, incorporated into the 3rd Battalion of the Flandes Regiment; it was deployed North to Vitoria, in the mountain range which separated Alava from Western parts of Gipuzkoa, controlled by the loyalists. In October 1936 the unit took part in heavy fightings on the Isusquiza hill. Antonio was hit and taken to the rear; few days later on the same section his brother Fernando was mortally wounded.

Following recovery in November Oriol was seconded to the alferéz provisional course in Burgos; already as provisional lieutenant he joined the 2nd Company, deployed to unblock encircled Villarreal de Álava, in December. In the first half of 1937 the unit engaged in the Biscay campaign; shuttled to the central front it took part in the battle of Brunete in July. In September, renamed to 8th Requeté Company of Álava, it was deployed in Cantabria; during later combat in Asturias Oriol was already commanding the 1st Section. Following the Northern campaign the company took part in victory parade in Vitoria, to be shuttled to Teruel by the end of 1937. Oriol was wounded for the second time near Mata de los Olmos in March 1938; treated in the hospital, he re-joined his unit in June at the Castellón front. He commanded the section during heavy fightings in Sierra de Pandols during the Battle of Ebro; the campaign earned him an individual Military Medal. In December 1938 the company was deployed in Huesca, to take part in the Catalonia offensive in early 1939. In March promoted to capitán de infantería, Oriol finished the war commanding his unit near Cartagena.

Businessman (1940–1955)

There is very little information on Oriol's engagements of the 1940s. It is known that unlike his older brother José María, who assumed major party and administrative posts of early Francoism, he did not engage in politics. Throughout most of the decade he stayed away from public sight and except family events, he was not noted in the press. He did not resume his pre-war Carlist engagements and is not mentioned by historiographic works dealing with Traditionalism of the so-called ''primer franquismo''. According to few available sources he dedicated himself to family business and remained active in “various companies”, controlled by the Oriol oligarchy. It is not clear whether he lived in Madrid or elsewhere. In the mid-1940s he was noted as resident of the Cantabrian Santander; this was probably because of his role in executive board of VALCA, the Santander-based chemical company Sociedad Española de los Productos Fotográficos, founded by the Oriols and 3 other Basque families.

It seems that the key Oriol's business focus was on Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol (TALGO), the new manufacturing and transportation railway company launched by his father jointly with Alejandro Goicoechea in 1942. Since the mid-1940 it was already an exclusive family enterprise, but due to cash shortages and technological problems the company was struggling to launch large scale high-speed train services. As TALGO was unable to address production problems domestically, manufacturing was contracted in the United States. Oriol is known to have spent some time in New York, where he signed a contract with American Car and Foundry and supervised production of locomotives and the rolling stock for the train known as Talgo II.

In 1950 Oriol ascended to chief executive officer of TALGO; the company figured prominently in the official propaganda, expected to demonstrate robustness of the industry and modernizing capacity of the regime. Apart from developing production, his other major task was closing negotiations with RENFE over usage of the state railway network; in 1950 the first commercial service was launched between Madrid and Hendaye