Lamoral, Count of Egmont

His family's stature increased further in 1544 when, at Spires, in the presence of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and of the Archduke Ferdinand I, he married the Countess Sabina of Palatinate-Simmern, whose brother became the Elector Palatine Frederick III.

As a leading Netherlandic nobleman, Egmont was a member of King Philip II of Spain's official Council of State for Flanders and Artois.

Together with William, Prince of Orange and the Count of Horn, he protested against the introduction of the inquisition in Flanders by the cardinal Antoine Perrenot Granvelle, bishop of Arras.

In 1565, running short of funds as he had continued the representation of the Low Countries entirely from his own pocket, Egmont went to Madrid to beseech Philip II, the king of Spain, for a change of policy in the Netherlands, but met with little more than courtesy.

Having always declined to do anything that smacked of lèse majesté, Egmont refused to heed Orange's warning; thus he and Horn decided to stay in the city.

On 5 June 1568, both men were beheaded before the Town Hall on the Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brussels's main square), Egmont's uncomplaining dignity on the occasion being widely noted.

A statue erected on the Square du Petit Sablon/Kleine Zavelsquare in Brussels commemorates the Counts of Egmont and Horn, in historical overview usually mentioned together as "Egmond en Hoorne" and hailed as the first leaders of the Dutch revolt, as the predecessors of William of Orange, who grew to importance and obtained the leadership after their execution, and who was assassinated in 1584 in Delft, having succeeded in liberating parts of The Netherlands in the early years of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648).

The duke of Alba arrests Egmont and Hoorne after an invitation for a meal, September 1567 (from Pieter Christiaanszoon Bor : Oorsprongh, begin en vervolgh der Nederlandsche oorlogen , 1621
Coat of Arms of Lamoraal van Egmont
Egmont and Hoorne, from Pieter Christiaanszoon Bor: Oorsprongh, begin en vervolgh der Nederlandsche oorlogen , 1621