Camille de Briey

Camille de Briey (June 27, 1799 - June 3, 1877) was a Belgian industrialist, politician and diplomat.

Camille was born in Ruette, Virton in Belgium on June 27, 1799 to Louis Briey and Anne de Pouilly. He received his secondary education at the Imperial College of Metz (now the Lycée Fabert). Afterwards he spent time at the court of Saxe-Coburg with his cousin Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly. On September 29, 1829 he was married to Caroline Beauffort. After the July Revolution and the fall of the House of Bourbon in 1830, Camille moved to Austria but returned to Belgium in 1832 after Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was proclaimed king.

Camille attempted to revive the field of metallurgy, buying the Pierrard institutions in Virton in 1835.

In 1838 Camille delegated the management of his business to a Frenchman and entered politics. In 1839 he was elected as senator and held the position until 1848. In 1841 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Finance in the cabinet of Jean-Baptiste Nothomb.

He then embarked on a diplomatic career and became Minister of Belgium in Russia (from 1853 he was the first Belgian minister plenipotentiary in Russia) and Germany, spending ten years at the Diet of Frankfurt.

He was instrumental in the construction of the present Château de Laclaireau.

1919 : Commander in the Order of Leopold.