Antonio Garrigues Walker, noted lawyer, liberal politician and contributor to numerous international organisations, is in many ways a Sotogrande classic. Although not a fulltime resident here, the luminary recently celebrated in Fuera de Serie – the luxury publication of the Expansión newspaper – has owned a holiday home in this privileged corner of Southern Spain since the earliest days, belonging to a small group of people who believed in the vision of Sotogrande’s founder, Joseph McMicking.
Enchanted with the area, he has owned a home here ever since, even when his many activities and responsibilities made time his rarest possession and both national and international commitments made it hard to spend significant amounts of time here. Sotogrande has become a part of him and in turn, Antonio Garrigues Walker is the kind of person upon which it’s unique enchantment is built.
A high achieving humanist
Although born into a family of prominent lawyers, Don Antonio has always had a liberal and humanistic outlook on life. After graduating in law from the University of Madrid he joined the prestigious legal firm founded by his father and uncle, assuming the role of leadership in 1961 at the relatively tender age of 27. Many of the firm’s clients were large multinational corporations, yet he never lost his liberal principles, and in 1982 founded the Partido Demócrata Liberal.
At a time when Spain’s fledgling democracy was still precious and vulnerable, he contributed to a popular desire to cement a stable, plural and thriving parliamentary system through which Spanish political life could flow free of restriction and the dangers of polarisation. It was this desire to strengthen the truly democratic centrist position that motivated his party’s fusion into the Partido Reformista Democrático.
In addition to such political commitments Antonio Garrigues was also very active on the international front, becoming Honorary President of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNCHR) as well as an active member in a series of cross-continent associations designed to foster greater interaction in fields of trade, investment, culture and the promotion of peace and protection of human rights.
Connected to Sotogrande
You would think that when this truly prolific community figure is not dedicating his time to his professional or public responsibilities he quite deservedly enjoys some quiet time, yet even at 77 years of age this active and gregarious man prefers to socialise with friends or spend time working at his other great passion: writing and directing plays. It seems the only thing he doesn’t find enough time for is his beloved fishing, but this year sees his involvement in another play, ‘The Silence and Beauty’, written by an amateur dramatist for amateur actors.
A great fan of Jo McMicking and Alfonso Zobel de Ayala, the co-founder of Sotogrande, Antonio Garrigues continues his lifelong love affair with Sotogrande, a place he describes as “beautifully open, spacious and well-built in a world of too many crowded, claustrophobic and commercialised resort areas.” Two of the best golf courses in Europe, a stylish yet unpretentious social scene and beaches that look out onto the mysterious contours of Gibraltar and North Africa add to the attraction.
Asked if Sotogrande has changed a lot in the 40 years that he has been coming here, he says: “Of course it has got bigger and there are more people, but the infrastructure and spaces are such that it copes beautifully with this. Sotogrande is no longer in that heady pioneering phase, but it retains the spirit of old – a gentle and elegant way of being that clashes with the bright commercialism and summer crowds of other resort areas.”
Having seen his share of crises and booms, Antonio Garrigues acknowledges the intensity of the current crisis, and the fact that it hasn’t left Sotogrande untouched, but he is also particularly optimistic about the region’s future. “Like everywhere else Sotogrande has been affected by the crisis, but this is the last year of recession and the beginning of a new period of recovery for which Sotogrande is particularly well equipped, thanks to a fantastic infrastructure and characteristics that maintain its unique desirability.”
To read the full article: Cincuenta años de ‘dolce vita’ en Sotogrande published in the Fuera de Serie magazine of Expansión click here.
By Jackie Cruz - Manifesto ·