He grew from a local merchant, transporting oil on his mules,[7] to "el rei de l'oli",[8] the owner of Aceites Bau S.A., a Tortosa-based company operating two factories,[9] selling on the national Spanish market and exporting to South America, especially to Argentina.

Following the commercial success, Bau Vergés built an imposing family residence in Tortosa; he was also honorary consul of Uruguay and Argentina,[10] member of local business organizations and a Catholic activist.

[20] The couple had 5 children;[21] the oldest son Joaquín as a 16-year-old volunteered to the Carlist requeté unit, survived the Civil War[22] and later became an engineer; José Luis served in the army as a lieutenant colonel and military judge, while Fernando practiced as a lawyer and a conservative politician.

Once Primo de Rivera replaced the liberal restauración with dictatorship, Bau enthusiastically engaged in the nascent primoderiverista structures; in 1924 he co-founded the Tortosa branch of Unión Patriótica and became its jefe provincial.

Bau decided not to follow suit and went on contributing to the regime; in literature he is usually listed along Victor Pradera and Esteban Bilbao as one of those Carlists who abandoned their king and joined the primoderiverista version of the Alfonsine monarchy.

[63] In October 1934 he was active mounting local opposition to the revolutionary sway;[64] his close collaborator, Jose Maria Sentis Simeon, co-ordinated action against the rebels in the province and was later appointed governors' delegate for Public Order.

This was due to his enthusiasm when engaging in alliance talks with the Alfonsinos[67] and personal friendship with their leader, José Calvo Sotelo;[68] though new Traditionalist jefe Manuel Fal approached Bloque Nacional as tactical option to be eventually abandoned, Bau was suspected of pushing for a dynastical compromise.

[77] Shortly after the Frente Popular triumph was declared Bau and Calvo visited the prime minister Portela Valladares urging him to call the military and rule by decree; this was probably the most charged moment in his entire career.

[78] Once Lorenzo Maria Alier resigned as Carlist Catalan jefe in February 1936 one of the options considered was a triumvirate including Bau,[79] but eventually it was Tomàs Caylà appointed the new regional leader.

[81] Following the death of Calvo Sotelo he travelled to Portugal[82] to negotiate details of the rebellion with José Sanjurjo, personally witnessing the crash of general's aircraft.

[83] Since Bau was originally scheduled to communicate uprising orders to requeté units in southern Catalonia, his departure impaired Carlist insurgent structures in Terres de l'Ebre.

Bau, considered by Franco one of the more collaborative Carlists,[86] was appointed one of its seven members;[87] his high nomination was allegedly related to ability to arrange finance through Catalan contacts who had fled abroad.

On the other hand, he is not known to have protested against Franco's measures against Manuel Fal;[103] even detailed studies dealing with amalgamation of Carlism within Francoism in 1936-7 do not mention Bau,[104] which suggests that at that time he was already hardly involved in Traditionalism.

[111] Together with many Catalan industry tycoons taking refuge in the Gipuzkoan capital, Bau engaged in plans to re-create regional economic institutions once Catalonia would be retaken by the Nationalist troops.

Personal acquaintance of officers commanding Campos de Concentración and Comisíon Clasificadora,[116] Bau did his best to release Catalan prisoners and enlist them either in the Carlist tercios or in the Falangist banderas.

In 1941–42, he managed the deal with Nazi Oberkommando der Marine, supervising construction of 20 wooden ships intended to supply German troops fighting the British in Africa.

[125] Bau led one of 3 competing Traditionalist Tarragona factions, namely the one opposing Carloctavistas[126] and javieristas and promoting rapprochement with the Alfonsist claimant, Don Juan.

[132] In mid-1950s, Franco shelved totalitarian plans and opted for a hybrid line of development, he started looking for loyal individuals not associated with Falangism; 1958 produced huge turnover of procuradores nominated to the quasi-parliament, Cortes Españolas.

In 1965 he was appointed president of Consejo de Estado,[145] a body adding to extreme complexity of Francoist power structures and being part of Franco's recipe for political balance.

[151] Bau's rise from political non-existence to president of Consejo de Estado in just 7 years was possible as he proved acceptable to most groupings competing for power within Francoism.

Deprived of own political background, he posed no threat and might have been considered as sympathetic to their cause by Carlists, monarchists, technocrats (by virtue of his business activities and friendship with López Rodó[152]), the Church and even the military (maintained friendly relations with many high-ranking generals); it was only the Falangist syndicalists that he remained at odds with.

[153] Bau, always impeccably elegant,[154] boosted his career by oratory skills and non-belligerent,[155] silky presiding style in numerous bodies of the regime,[156] excelling in conflict management and demonstrating sort of impartiality, combined with perfect loyalty to Franco.

[158] Following his return to great politics in 1958 he emerged as one of the most prominent monarchists, contributing to shaping of late Francoism in course of works on various key legal structures of the system.