27 Facts About Hubert Pierlot

Hubert Pierlot considered Leopold's subsequent surrender a breach of the Constitution and encouraged the parliament to declare Leopold unfit to reign.

Hubert Pierlot retired from politics in 1946 amid the crisis of the Royal Question, surrounding whether Leopold could return to the Belgian throne, and died peacefully in 1963.

Hubert Pierlot was born in Cugnon, a small village between Bertrix and Bouillon, in the Belgian Province of Luxembourg on 23 December 1883.

Hubert Pierlot's parents belonged to an eminent and wealthy Catholic family which was part of the Belgian conservative establishment.

Hubert Pierlot was educated in religious schools in Maredsous and later attended the prestigious Jesuit College Saint-Michel secondary school in Brussels.

Hubert Pierlot studied at the Catholic University of Louvain where he received a licence in Political Science and a doctorate in Law.

Hubert Pierlot later married Marie-Louise and had seven children.

Hubert Pierlot served at the Battle of the Yser and on the Yser Front where he was decorated for valour.

On 23 December 1925, Hubert Pierlot entered parliament as a member of the Chamber of Deputies representing Neufchateau-Virton but left just a week later to become a senator.

Hubert Pierlot served as provincial senator for Luxembourg from 1926 to 1936 and as directly elected senator for the same province between 1936 and 1946.

Hubert Pierlot received a reputation for his oratorical abilities and for personal sincerity during the late 1920s.

Hubert Pierlot first led a coalition of Catholics and Socialists, and then one of Catholics and Liberals.

Hubert Pierlot believed that, by leaving for France, the Belgian government would surrender its neutrality and become a puppet government.

Hubert Pierlot believed that, as a neutral power with no formal treaty of alliance with France or Britain, the Belgian army was not obliged to hold out as long as it possibly could if it incurred huge casualties and had no chance of defending its own territory.

Hubert Pierlot supported retreating to London, but was keen to preserve the unity of his government, most of which supported remaining in France.

Shortly after his arrived in London, during the middle of the Blitz, Hubert Pierlot narrowly avoided being killed when the Carlton Hotel, where he was staying, was destroyed in bombing in November 1940.

The Foreign Minister, Anthony Eden, is said to have remarked that "Hubert Pierlot is not impressive, but he is legitimate".

Hubert Pierlot was one of the chief supporters of the Benelux Customs Union negotiated with both the Dutch and Luxembourgish governments in exile and signed in September 1944.

Unlike Spaak, who was a staunch supporter of greater cooperation between states in Western Europe, Hubert Pierlot supported a transatlantic alliance with the United States to guarantee Belgian independence after the end of the war.

In October 1942, Hubert Pierlot dismissed Rolin who he accused of involving himself in factional internal politics of the army, parts of which had begun to behave mutinously about their perceived inaction.

Hubert Pierlot began a major restructuring of the command structure of the infantry in an ultimately successful attempt to resolve the situation.

In 1944, Hubert Pierlot began drawing up plans for the reorganization of the Belgian Army after the liberation, known as the Hubert Pierlot Plan.

Parliament met for the first time since 1940 on 19 September 1944 in which Hubert Pierlot presented a summary of the government's actions in Britain during the occupation.

On 7 February 1945, Hubert Pierlot publicly defended the actions of the government in parliament, but failed to make a significant impression.

In September 1945, Hubert Pierlot was appointed to the honorary role of Minister of State by Charles and, shortly after the 1946 election, was awarded the title of Count.

Hubert Pierlot died in Uccle, a wealthy suburb of Brussels, on 13 December 1963, ten days before his 80th birthday.

Hubert Pierlot was notably praised by his colleague, Paul-Henri Spaak who later became first President of the United Nations General Assembly, Secretary General of NATO, and one of the founding fathers of the European Union.