[1] Born in Maastricht, he was the second son of Charles-Guillaume-Ghislain de Merode, a mayor of Brussels during the period in which modern Belgium formed part of France.

From then until 1830 he habitually resided in France, with the Grammont family, making short stays with his father in Brussels or at the castle of Everberg, near Louvain.

[1] On 8 September he was appointed member of the Commission of public safety, and advanced a considerable sum to come to the assistance of the workmen left without work in consequence of the disturbances, hoping thus to contribute to the restoration of order.

But after the day of the 20th, during which the people disarmed the Bourgeois Guard and expelled the Commission of public security at the town hall, discouragement seized the Count, like many other defenders of the national cause.

The participation of members of such an illustrious family as the Merodes did much to lend credibility to the revolution as a bona fide movement and not just a display of civil disorder.

In 1848, he contributed in large part to the expenses of the erection of the statue of Godfrey of Bouillon by Eugène Simonis for the Place Royale, Brussels.