Ripa began his diplomatic career in 1937, serving in Helsinki, London, and The Hague, where he was cut off from Stockholm during the German invasion in 1940.
He later became chargé d'affaires in Tehran in 1941, playing a key role in a prisoner exchange between Germany and the United Kingdom.
[1] During his service in Tehran, he took part in a large-scale exchange of prisoners of war between Germany and the United Kingdom as Sweden's representative in its role as a protecting power.
The urgency of the situation meant that he had to carry out this difficult task without the possibility of receiving instructions from home.
[1][1] From 1950 to 1953, Ripa was first vice-consul in London, and from 1953 to 1954, he worked as a deputy mediator in the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission in Korea.
[1] One 21 May 1949, Ripa married to Margit Siwertz-Norling (1909–1990), the daughter of the author Sigfrid Siwertz and Elsa (née Ohlsson).