[3] The son of his brother and Antonio's paternal grandfather, José María Oriol Gordo (1845–1899),[4] a native of Tortosa, joined Carlos VII during the Third Carlist War and served as Jefe de Ayudantes of general Dorregaray.

[10] 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.

[18] The couple settled at the grand Oriol family estate near Majadahonda;[19] it was shared with Antonio's brothers, two of them – Lucas and especially José María – growing to high Francoist officials and business tycoons.

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.

[28] 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.

[35] 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.

Oriol was wounded for the second time near Mata de los Olmos in March 1938;[42] treated in the hospital,[43] he re-joined his unit in June at the Castellón front.

In the mid-1940s he was noted as resident of the Cantabrian Santander;[53] this was probably because of his role in executive board of VALCA, the Santander-based chemical company Sociedad Española de los Productos Fotográficos,[54] founded by the Oriols and 3 other Basque families.

[56] Since the mid-1940 it was already an exclusive family enterprise,[57] but due to cash shortages and technological problems the company was struggling to launch large scale high-speed train services.

Oriol is known to have spent some time in New York,[58] where he signed a contract with American Car and Foundry[59] and supervised production of locomotives and the rolling stock for the train known as Talgo II.

[60] 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.

[61] 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.

[64] Exact mechanism of his elevation is not clear, though it was part of a wider political change; it came simultaneously with rise of his two brothers, since Lucas took his Cortes ticket as representative of syndicates and José María as personal Franco's appointee.

[81] In the press of the era Oriol was noted during typical official ceremonies, e.g. opening of hospitals or child care centers,[82] inspecting local welfare administration[83] or commencing various specific campaigns – e.g. the 1963 one against illiteracy – of the Spanish Red Cross.

[84] Though he did not take part in big politics, in 1957 together with numerous offshoot Carlists[85] he visited the Alfonsist claimant in his Estoril residence and declared him the legitimate Traditionalist heir;[86] since then he cautiously promoted the Juanista case.

[89] Oriol's appointment was part of Franco's balancing game; in this case, ministers related to ACNDP and Carlism provided counter-weight to these associated with Opus Dei.

[90] His first main project was work on the 1966-adopted Ley Orgánica del Estado, major legislation which produced systematization and clarification of existing arrangements with minor reforms introduced;[91] Oriol endorsed it claiming that the regime was in constant evolution.

[94] The draft generated great tension especially among the Traditionalists; Oriol claimed the project complied with key civil rights but did not dismantle Catholic unity; the law was eventually passed in 1967.

In his capacity of minister he denied Spanish citizenship to Don Javier[115] and tried to marginalize independent Carlism,[116] claiming that all Traditionalists sided with the regime;[117] he earned virulent hostility of the Carlist youth in return.

[122] It is neither clear whether Oriol's move should be associated with death of another Carlist Joaquín Bau, whose passing away in May vacated both seats, or rather was related to Carrero Blanco forming his own, the first non-Franco-led government in June.

[125] They carried little of political substance; when speaking, Oriol declared faith in resilience of the Francoist system and seemed not to have noticed the apparent dramatic decline in Franco's health.

[130] Himself he tried to build a pro-regime Traditionalist grouping; as early as in 1972 he participated in buildup of Hermandad de Maestrazgo, originally an ex-requeté society designed as pro-Juan-Carlos “primera organización monárquica” and intended to attract a broader spectrum of politicians.

[135] It grouped either Carlists who had amalgamated into Francoism during earlier decades or other regime politicians who hoped that the monarchy of Juan Carlos would ensure continuity of the system, possibly with some minor rectifications.

[146] In May 1976 Oriol jointly with hardline Traditionalists[147] and possibly in collusion with security services[148] co-engineered[149] an operation aimed at blocking the Hugocarlista rally at Montejurra;[150] it left 2 progressist militants dead.

[155] However, in November 1976 and unlike his brother José María, Oriol voted in favor of Ley para la Reforma Política, dubbed “suicide of the Francoist Cortes”.

[168] He lost his seat in Council of the Realm when the institution was abolished by the new constitution in 1978; having reached the regular retirement age[169] Oriol ceased as president and member of Consejo de Estado in 1979.

[170] Against the rising tide he kept demonstrating reverence to Franco and attended numerous commemorative and homage post-Francoist rallies,[171] as prestigious guest taking part also in religious,[172] local,[173] or other ceremonies.

[183] In 1987 Oriol seemed supportive of Blas Piñar's idea of building a political right-wing “acción organizada”,[184] but in the late 1980s he was not reported as adhering to the Piñar-led Frente Nacional.

[193] His death was noted in most nationwide press titles; some adhered to respectful tone and e.g. listed his numerous decorations,[194] some repeated speculations about his alleged involvement in the 1981 plot[195] and some merely re-printed standard news agency messages.