Count Edward Raczyński, Poland (1891-1993)
Polish diplomat born in Zakopane, Poland. He was a central figure in the Polish government-in-exile based in London during and after World War II and served one term as President-in-exile (1979-86). He joined the Polish foreign service in 1919 and was a delegate to the 1932-34 disarmament conference in Geneva. As ambassador to the court of St. James's (1934-45), he signed the Anglo-Polish pact that brought the UK into the war when Poland was invaded in 1939.
Raczyński served in the Polish government-in-exile as foreign minister (1941-43), but he refused to join the post-war communist government established in Warsaw as a consequence of the 1945 Yalta Conference. He remained active in émigré politics as an adviser to the British government and as chairman (1940-67) of the Polish Research Centre in London. Raczyński published his wartime diaries in English in 1963 and wrote several volumes of poetry and reminiscences in Polish.