Amedeo Guillet Italy’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ his 109 Land Rover and County Meath Connections | Season 4 – Episode 21
Wheels Mar 29, 2024
How did the 1972 Land Rover Series 3 LWB Station Wagon, once belonging to Amedeo Guillet (1909 – 2010), an Olympian horse rider, cavalry officer in three wars, a guerrilla fighter, Italy’s most decorated soldier and a secret agent, find its way to County Waterford via County Meath?
Our story begins in Piacenza, Italy, in 1909, with the birth of Amedeo Guillet into a noble family steeped in military legacy. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the Royal Italian Army. In his youth, he secured numerous victories in show jumping, racing and eventing. He even earned a spot on the 1936 Italian Olympics team. However, his Olympic dreams were deferred as he was summoned to serve in the Italian army during their conflict in Ethiopia.
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After Mussolini’s capture of Ethiopia in 1936, Guillet fought in the Spanish Civil War, where Mussolini backed Franco’s forces. On the eve of the second World War he was posted to the new empire of Italian East Africa.
In 1940, he was tasked to form a large “Gruppo” force of Eritrean native cavalry, commanded by Italian officers with 800 horseman, 400 Yemeni infantrymen and 200 camel corps. He is quoted when speaking about his Gruppo; “The “Gruppo Bande Amahara” has suffered 826 deaths and more than 600 injured from the beginning of WW2; it had no deserters and received the gold medal in the memory of the heroic Togni (Lieutenant Renato Togni), and high praise from our enemies, written in the official reports of the British High Command”.
During this campaign Guillet is famed as having led the final cavalry charge against British troops in the Horn of Africa in 1941, earning the moniker “Comandante Diavolo” or the Devil Commander.
After the Italian army surrendered to the British, Guillet and his Gruppo Bande continued as guerrillas, sabotaging trains and raiding convoys. After his surrender and following a stint in prison, he worked as a veterinarian and farrier in Yemen before returning to Italy and marrying his childhood sweetheart, Beatrice Gandolfo.
Following his illustrious military service, Guillet was awarded with diplomatic roles as the Italian ambassador to Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, India and the United Nations in New York.
In 1974, having spent nineteen years as Italian ambassador on a number of postings, Guillet and his wife Beatrice arrived at the Old Rectory in Kentstown Glebe, County Meath. It was his love of hunting that brought him to Ireland and he subsequently hunted with the Tara Harriers and the Meath Hounds and was known locally as “The Ambassador”.
When asked why he chose Ireland, he said he would have had no peace in retirement in Italy. “I’d be invited here and have to go there, and be sent on official business – we would have had no time to ourselves”.
And now our story brings us to his trusty Land Rover Series 3 LWB (Long Wheel Base) Station Wagon.
It is believed that the Land Rover Station Wagon was purchased by the Italian embassy in New Delhi in 1972, where it was fitted with corps diplomatique (CD) plates and used by Ambassador Guillet on official diplomatic business.
When the Guillet’s retired from India to County Meath in 1974 they brought the Series 3 Station Wagon with them where it was reregistered, given a brown log-book and despite the official retirement of Amedeo Guillet as an Ambassador, he managed to retain the corps diplomatique (CD) plates, reserved for foreign diplomatic vehicles.
The current owners are Eddie and Elaine Power from County Waterford and they bought the Land Rover two years ago from a car enthusiast who was retiring and emigrating. They were immediately fascinated by the story of the Series 3 and the interesting memorabilia they discovered inside, including embassy envelopes and a miniature Italian diplomatic flag and storage sheath for mounting to the front wing of the Station Wagon.
According to Eddie, “Amedeo Guillet must have loved the Land Rover as in his retirement he bought it back to Ireland with him when he settled here.”
When asked what the 1972 Station Wagon is like to live with, Eddie told us; “the Land Rover runs very well, starts every time and is used most weekends. It is great fun to drive and it is amazing to think one of the most highly decorated men in Italian history also sat in these very seats.”
On February 7th 2009 the Italian Officers’ club in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome hosted a 100th birthday celebration for Amedeo Guillet and in a nod back to his three decades in County Meath the ceremony included a commissioned piece by composer Tom Cullivan, “Cavalcade of Kentstown”.
Amedeo Guillet, Italian war hero, diplomat and Land Rover owner, died in Rome in 2010 aged 101.
Our thanks to Elaine and Eddie Power for their assistance with this story
If you have a story to share, please email Kevin Reid [email protected]
Sources of information and photo credits:
Amantidellastoria.wordpress. com
Amedeo Guillet website
Automobile Catalog
Comandosupremo com
Dancalia
Ilgiornale
Sabrina De Canio
The Irish Times
Vittorio Dan Segre, La Guerra privata del tenente Guillet (1993)
Bastian Matteo Scianna, Forging an Italian hero? The late commemoration of Amedeo Guillet (2019)
Wiki – Amedeo Guillet
