Baron di Vituso Raffaele Guariglia | |
|---|---|
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| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 25 July 1943 – 11 February 1944 | |
| Prime Minister | Pietro Badoglio |
| Preceded by | Benito Mussolini |
| Succeeded by | Pietro Badoglio |
| Member of theSenate of the Republic | |
| In office 8 May 1948 – 24 June 1953 | |
| Constituency | Salerno |
| Italian Ambassador toSpain | |
| In office 1932–1935 | |
| Prime Minister | Benito Mussolini |
| Preceded by | Ercole Durini di Monza |
| Succeeded by | Orazio Pedrazzi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1889-02-19)February 19, 1889 Naples, Italy |
| Died | 25 April 1970(1970-04-25) (aged 81) Rome, Italy |
| Political party | Italian Monarchist Union |
| Other political affiliations | Independent |
| Alma mater | University of Naples |
Raffaele Guariglia, Baron di Vituso (19 February 1889 – 25 April 1970) was an Italian diplomat. He is best known for his brief service asMinister of Foreign Affairs in the short-lived 1943 World War II-era Italian government headed byPietro Badoglio.
Born in 1889 as heir to the noble Neapolitan family of di Vituso, Guariglia graduated in law in 1908 at theUniversity of Naples and had the connections necessary to make a career in the Italian Foreign Service, which he joined in 1909.[1]
During his first 23 years in the service, he occupied a series of diplomatic posts of sub-ambassadorial rank, serving in Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Brussels, and other capitals.[2] Meanwhile the Italian government fell under the domination ofBenito Mussolini.
Guariglia attained ambassadorial rank in 1932 when he was named Italy's ambassador to Spain. In 1935 he was translated to Buenos Aires and in 1937 to France. In Paris, he achieved close friendship with a person with insider status in the French government, the CountessHélène de Portes. De Portes had separated from her noble husband and developed a tie as the long-term romantic partner of a rising French politician,Paul Reynaud. In 1938 Reynaud becameMinister of Finance. Although Reynaud's own position was that of staunch opposition toNazi Germany, his partner's growing liaison withItaly, together with Italy'sdeepening ties to Germany, compromised this opposition. Guariglia's work was complicit in this power shift.[3]
In May–June 1940 Reynaud, who had becomePrime Minister of France, was leading his country as it fell underblitzkrieg attack. When Italydeclared war on a defeated France on 10 June 1940, Guariglia's services as ambassador were no longer appropriate.
Guariglia was serving as Italy's ambassador to neutralTurkey in 1943 when Mussolini's government fell. As an Italian patriot who had loyally served the Fascist regime without developing close personal ties to Mussolini, the career diplomat was Badoglio's choice to be the Foreign Minister of what Rome hoped would be a successful neutralist government. Guariglia returned to the Ministry, took on his new responsibilities on 30 July 1943, and almost at once opened indirect negotiations with theWestern Allies.
Nazi Germany was not interested in a neutral Italy, and its army actually possessed physical control over most of the peninsula. Furthermore, Guariglia soon found that the Allies were demanding the unconditional surrender of Italy. The result of these counter-pressures was such that six days after the hapless foreign minister and his Cabinet colleagues oversaw the signing of an armistice with the Allies on 3 September, the German army physically occupied the peninsula and carried on the war. On 9 September, the Badoglio government disintegrated. The prime minister and many of the members of his government fled to Allied-occupiedBrindisi; Guariglia and other members of the government attempted to remain in Rome, but soon found they were not safe and had no power in a capital city under German occupation. The foreign minister, who had earlier served as ambassador to Spain, found himself taking refuge in the Spanish Embassy in Rome, under the protection of theFrancisco Franco government. Guariglia had by now ceased to serve as Foreign Ministerde facto, but remained in this postde jure until dismissed on a long-distance basis by the fugitive Badoglio on 11 February 1944.
Guariglia, an Italian baron and supporter of theHouse of Savoy, was not eligible to serve in cabinet after the abdication ofUmberto II in 1946. He did not lose hope for the restoration of the monarchy, and served as national president of theItalian Monarchist Union and as a monarchist member of theSenate of the Republic fromSalerno between 1948 and 1953.[2]
Age 81, he died in Rome in 1970.
Grand officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus – January 19, 1935
Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of the Crown of Italy
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