Born in
Lobith, he was member of the
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie). From 1994 to 2005 he was a member of the
Dutch House of Representatives. From 31 August 2005 to 23 January 2019 he has been
King's Commissioner (Queen's Commissioner until 2013) of the province of
Gelderland. Cornielje studied
biology and
mathematics at a
vocational university in
Nijmegen to become a teacher in secondary education. He was a member of the
Roman Catholic Church, and was openly gay. as mayor of
Oude IJsselstreek in 2016 At the beginning of 2010, Cornielje was diagnosed with a
malignant tumor, requiring him to resign. But he returned to work after several months. He was diagnosed with
cancer again in May 2015. In April 2017, a
brain tumor was discovered. On 11 April 2018, Cornielje announced his intention to resign as King's Commissioner on 1 February 2019. He justified this not because of his illness, but because it is time for his successor. By announcing his departure early, according to him, there will be enough space to find his successor in time. He told his political party that he wanted to be a member of the Dutch Senate. On 2 August 2018, it was announced that Cornielje had temporarily resigned from his duties as King's commissioner because of
meningitis. He came back to his duties, and bid farewell to the position on 23 January 2019. He was officially replaced by
John Berends on 6 February 2019. Clemens Cornielje was one of three openly gay politicians who served as
King's Commissioner, the other two are
Jan Franssen and
Arno Brok. He was in a relationship with his partner Bertil Niehoff. He died in Arnhem in March 2022. ==See also==