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- BIOGRAPHY
Charles d'Arenberg, prince d'Arenberg, duc d'Aerschot, was born at Vollenhove on 22 February 1550, the son of Jean de Ligne, baron de Barbançon and Gräfin Margarethe von der Marck, princesse d'Arenberg.
On 4 January 1587 in Beaumont Charles married Anne de Croÿ, 5.duchesse d'Aerschot et de Croÿ, daughter of Philippe III de Croÿ, 3.duc d'Aerschot, prince de Chimay, and Johanna Henrietta van Halewyn. They had eleven children of whom two sons and four daughters would have progeny.
Charles was a member of one of the most illustrious families of Dutch Spaniards; he was also a peer of Hainault, hereditary marshal of Holland and director of finances of the archduke of Austria in the Netherlands. Known as 'the Great Diplomat', in 1586 he became a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
In 1587 he was appointed by King Philip II of Spain as governor general of the Spanish Netherlands. He died at Enghien on 18 January 1616 aged sixty-six, and was buried in the monastery of the capuchin monks, which he had founded.
His eldest son Philippe Charles married three times and produced seven daughters and two sons, of whom the second, Charles Eugène, 2.duc d'Arenberg, carried on the line.
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