Carl Fredrik Ralph Alexander Enckell (13 May 1913, in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

– 18 May 2001, in Helsinki) was a Finnish diplomat. Enckell was employed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs since 1934. He was Secretary of State in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

from 1944 to 1945, in Paris from 1945 to 1950 and in Moscow from 1950 to 1954, and as Head of the Political Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1955 and 1959. Enckell served as Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations from 1959 to 1965, Ambassador to Stockholm 1965-1969,

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; , OCDE) is an international organization, intergovernmental organization with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and international trade, wor ...

Representation in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

1969-1976, continued at the Finnish Embassy in

, at the same time in

Unesco The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

1972-1976 and in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

from 1976 to 1980. Enckell's successor as Head of the Political Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of the United Nations and Ambassador to Stockholm was Max Jakobson. Ralph Enckell received the Special Envoy and Plenipotentiary title in 1957 and was honored as Honorary Professor of Political Science at the

University of Turku The University of Turku (, shortened ''UTU'') is a multidisciplinary public university with eight faculties located in the city of Turku in southwestern Finland. The university also has campuses in Rauma and Pori and research stations in Kevo ...

in 1970. His exceptional merit as a diplomat was awarded in 1978 by the

Order of the Lion of Finland Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

. Enckell was known in the diplomatic circles as a colorful person. When the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

was widely criticized by the Swedish Minister of Education, later Prime Minister

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until as ...

condemned the

occupation of Czechoslovakia Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

in 1968, Enckell categorically characterized the difference between the neutrality policy of Sweden and Finland: ”''Finland seeks to manage its relations both east and west as well, Sweden as badly''.” Enckell's words burst into Palme's ears in time, and he was deeply frustrated with his mind. According to Ilkka Pastinen, Enckell was temperamental and demanding, with an emphasized

patriotic Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

and many feared superior. Enckell starred under the pseudonym Ilmari Mänty in

Nyrki Tapiovaara Nyrki Tapiovaara, born 10 September 1911 in Pitäjänmäki, Helsinki, died 29 February 1940, was a Finnish film director. He belonged to the Tulenkantajat group which promoted modernism, modernist ideas in Finnish culture. Tapiovaara's film career ...

's film The Stolen Death in 1938. However, his remained the only movie which he acted. He was married twice: between 1936 and 1948, Marie-Christine Söderhjelm and 1949 until his death with Laura Virkkusen (Snellman until 1935). Academician Rabbe Enckell was the little brother of Ralph Enckell's father. In addition to his mother tongue Swedish, Enckell perfectly controlled Finnish, English, French and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. His language skills were largely already canceled by the childhood home: his father,

Carl Enckell Carl Johan Alexis Enckell (7 June 1876 – 26 March 1959) was a Finnish politician, diplomat, officer and businessman. Enckell followed his father's footsteps in the Russian military and rose to the Imperial Russian Guard. As he was not satisf ...

, was a Swedish-speaking diplomat and English-born mother Lucy Marie Frieda Agathe Margareta Ponsonby-Lyons. During his father's Envoy career in Paris in the 1920s, Ralph had attended a French school. While working in the 1950s at the

Embassy of Finland in Moscow A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes a ...

, Enckell thoroughly studied Russian.Ilkka Pastinen: ''Uusi maailmanjärjestys: kylmästä sodasta globalisaatioon'', s. 157–158. Helsinki: Otava, 2007. Ralph was Lieutenant General Oscar Enckell's nephew. In 2013, when one hundred years after the birth of Ralph Enckell, a biography of Markku Reimaa was published by the ''Magician of the Diplomacy''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enckell, Ralph Ambassadors of Finland to Sweden Ambassadors of Finland to France Ambassadors of Finland to Poland Permanent representatives of Finland to the United Nations 1913 births 2001 deaths Finnish people of English descent Swedish-speaking Finns