Ignacio Hernando de Larramendi y Montiano (1921–2001) was a Spanish militant, Carlist, businessman, and author. Larramendi was the longtime head of the Spanish multinational insurance company MAPFRE and was the sponsor and organiser of multiple initiatives related to Hispanic culture, mostly in Latin America. In politics he briefly rose to become a Carlist executive, but is better known for his promotion of Traditionalist heritage.
He and his wife Lourdes Martínez Gutiérrez (1924–2015) had nine children together.
Family and youth
Larramendi's ancestors on both sides of the family were members of Basque nobility.Also, both families have been on descendant trajectory for few generations already, Mecenazgo cultural de Ignacio Hernando de Larramendi y Montiano. Crónica y testimonios, Madrid 2002, , p. 20. His paternal grandfather Mariano Hernando was an art merchant,Ignacio Hernando de Larramendi, Así se hizo MAPFRE. Mi tiempo, Madrid 2000, , pp. 25–26 and Larramendi's father Luis Hernando de Larramendi (1882–1957) was a lawyer in Madrid.Jerónia Pons Pons, Ignacio Hernando de Larramendi, [in:] Los 100 empresarios españoles del siglo XX, Madrid 2000, , p. 493 A Carlist activist and unsuccessful candidate to the Cortes, Luis briefly grew to be a political leader of Jaimismo in 1919–1921, and in the mid-1930s he joined the party executive and remained on good terms with the Carlist claimant to the Spanish throne, Prince Jaime, Duke of Anjou and Madrid.He is considered heavily related to the January 1936 decree of the last indisputable Carlist king, Alfonso Carlos I, the document which set the regency, see Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [PhD thesis in Historia Contemporanea, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia], Valencia 2009 of Jan 1936, p. 160 ("inspirador"), p. 356 ("peso fundamental") and 361 ("principal inspirador"). During the Spanish Civil War he refused to comply with the Unification Decree and withdrew from politics, although he passed on his penchant for social issues to his sons.During the Carlist executive meeting of Insua in 1937 he was nominated jefe of gremios y corporaciones committee, Robert Vallverdú i Martí, La metamorfosi del carlisme català: del "Déu, Pàtria i Rei" a l'Assamblea de Catalunya (1936–1975), Barcelona 2014, , p. 46.
Larramendi's mother María de Montiano y Uriarte (1886–1976)for her generalogy see Montiano entry at euskalnet service, available here counted Manuel de Montiano and Agustin de Montiano among her ancestors.Pons Pons 2000, p. 493 But her father was an untitled Bilbao physician,Larramendi 2000, p. 38 and so her birth family partially lived by selling off family estates. Considered the most handsome girl in the city,Larramendi 2000, p. 37 she was also fanatically Basque.in pre-Nationalist Sabiñan terms, in her case also strongly flavored with racism; she could list 240 names of her Basque ancestors, Larramendi 2000, p. 37
Larramendi's parents lived in Madrid at Calle Velázqueznext to the house occupied by José Calvo Sotelo, Pablo Larraz Andía, Víctor Sierra-Sesúmaga Ariznabarreta, Requetés: de las trincheras al olvido, Madrid 2011, , p. 317 where they raised their nine children, all brought up in a fervently Catholic ambience.Except Ignacio, none of his siblings became recognized nationwide. One brother became Ministry of Justice official, another settled as a physician in Chicago and another was a publisher, Larramendi 2000, p. 40. As Larramendi was initially educated at home he only entered Colegio de Nuestra Señora de PilarPons Pons 2000, p. 493 in 1932,Larramendi 2000, p. 80, Andía, Sierra-Sesúmaga 2011, p. 315 and had not completed the curriculum when the Spanish Civil War broke out while the family was at their usual summer holiday location in San Sebastián. Larramendi's father Luis escaped to the Nationalist zone, only to return a few weeks later when the Carlist Requeté paramilitary seized the city.
Larramendi continued his schooling in the Marianist Colegio de Santa María, obtaining his bachillerato in 1937Larramendi 2000, p. 84-85 and then enlisting in an auxiliary Requeté formation in Fuenterrabía, serving as a prison guard.Andía, Sierra-Sesúmaga 2011, p. 320 Together with his brother, and with the hesitant consent of their parents,Earlier the 15-year-old brother of Ignacio (the one who has finally settled in Chicago) escaped from home and enlisted to Requete providing false birth details; 16-year-old Ignacio travelled to the frontline in Aragon in vain trying to find him until Manuel revealed his whereabouts in a letter and was soon brought back home. in July 1938 he was accepted into 2. Compaña de Radio Requeté.Andía, Sierra-Sesúmaga 2011, p. 323 But following a conflict with the commander of the unit in early 1939 he moved to Compañia de Tolosa in the Gipuzkoan Tercio San Miguel.Larramendi 2000, p. 87 Experiencing no major combat, the battalion advanced through Catalonia to the French frontier, shuttled to Extremadura in late winter, and after low-intensity skirmishes reached the province of Toledo at the moment of final Nationalist victory.Andía, Sierra-Sesúmaga 2011, p. 324-5
In 1939 Larramendi commenced studying law in Madrid, graduating in 1941.Pons Pons 2000, p. 493 Though initially intending to be a lawyer,Larramedni 2000, p. 91 in 1944 he was employed at Dirección General de Seguros, a state insurance regulatory body. He had been dating Lourdes Martínez Gutiérrez (1924–2015) since 1940. The granddaughter of general Alfredo Gutiérrez Chaume,Pons Pons 2000, p. 493 her father, a "funcionario de Hacienda" (treasury official),Larramendi 2000, p. 41 died early. The couple married in 1950Larramendi 2000, pp. 40–41 and had nine children between 1951 and 1965.named Carmen, Luis, Coro, Ignacio, Lourdes, Carlos, Margarita, Miguel and Ramón, Pons Pons 2000, p. 493 The best known of them is Ramón Hernando de Larramendi, widely recognised in Spain as a polar explorer.see e.g. his own webpage here Larramendi's son Luis succeeded his father in businesscompare Hernando de Larramendi Martínez, Luis, 1952– entry, [in:] Fundacion Ignacio Larramendi service, available here, also the corporative MAPFRE service, available here and in politics, rising to high positions within Carlist structuresAndía, Sierra-Sesúmaga 2011, p. 25, Jordi Canal, El carlismo, Madrid 2000, , p. 417 and supporting a number of Traditionalist activities.e.g. Aportes, Canal 2000, p. 421 Larramendi's son Miguel is known as a professor of Arabic studies in Madrid,see his entry here and his daughter Margarita is a poet and scholar in linguistics.see Hernando de Larramendi Martínez, Margarita, 1960– entry, [in:] Fundacion Ignacio Larramendi service, available here. Among other children, Carlos is a physician and Tachi is manager of Digibis
Early politics
Larramendi was involved in politics from as young as the age of ten, distributing Carlist electoral leaflets for his father in 1931.Andía, Sierra-Sesúmaga 2011, p. 315 In addition to his participation in Requeté during the Civil War, he engaged in a Carlist student organization called Agrupación Escolar Tradicionalista (AET), mocking himself by claiming to be the president of its Madrid branch in exile.Andía, Sierra-Sesúmaga 2011, p. 321 Having returned to the capital he engaged in local AET organisation and emerged as one of its most active leaders. Together with a group of similarly minded peers, including Rafael Gambra and Francisco Elías de Tejada,also Francisco Diez Tejada, Pueyo Alvarez, Fernando Polo, Zabala brothers, González Quevedo, Amancio Portabales, Luis Ortiz y Estrada, Luis Alonso and Rafael Lluys, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 205 he staged minor and semi-private anti-Francoist demonstrations,called "saltos", e.g. prowling parks and streets with anti-Francoist cries, dropping leaflets, painting graffiti, refusing to raise arms in Falangist salute during public events like football matches etc., some graffiti Larramendi 2000, p. 89-90, Andía, Sierra-Sesúmaga 2011andia, sesumaga 328 at one point in 1942 being detained and placed under security supervision.In 1942 Ignacio and his brother were detained for 3 days and interrogated by in Dirección General de Seguridad; there was no major follow-up, apart that they had to show up at security every 15 days during the following year, Andía, Sierra-Sesúmaga 2011, p. 328. In case of his brother Alfonso Carlos the confrontation proved more dramatic, as following 1944 celebration of Martires de Tradición he was detained and sent to concentration camp, where he landed among war refugees from the war and former Intebrigadistas, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 246. At that time Ignacio was engaged in anti-German conspiracy prepared in anticipation of a would-be Nazi invasion of Spain, Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 286. The AET's most notable activity was the Academia Vázquez de Mella, a Carlist-flavoured private educational initiative of Maximo Palomar, with Larramendi's experience there reinforcing his penchant for social issues, and for the cultural rather than the political dimension of Traditionalism.
Following the demise of the Academia in the mid-1940s, internal political and dynastical fragmentation contributed to the dissolution of the Carlist movement, resulting in there being no official or semi-official Carlist structure in Madrid. Influenced by Elías de Tejada and own father,Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, El naufragio de las ortodoxias. El carlismo, 1962–1977, Pamplona 1997; , p. 13 Larramendi tended to favor Dom Duarte and the Braganzas as the most legitimate candidates to the throne during this period.Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 13 But following the moderately successful launch of his own publishing house in 1951 – the Traditionalist-leaning Editorial CálamoPons Pons 2000, p. 497 – in the early 1950s he converted to supporting the Borbón-Parmas and became known in the movement as a young, vehement anti-Francoist and a dynastically loyal militant.Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 395 As such, he was counted among the intransigent followers of the official Carlist leader Manuel Fal Conde – the so-called FalcondistasManuel de Santa Cruz (ed.), Apuntes y documentos para la historia del tradicionalismo español (1939–1979), vol. 4, Sevilla 1979, p. 109 – although he did not rise to the top layers of the movement, as demonstrated by him not being listed among those attending the first royal presentation of the claimant Don Javier in Barcelona in 1952.César Alcalá, D. Mauricio de Sivatte. Una biografía política (1901–1980), Barcelona 2001, , p. 99