Nothomb earned a doctorate in law from the
Université catholique de Louvain in 1957. He served as a Belgian diplomat from 1960 to 2001. Patrick was the grandson of writer
Pierre Nothomb, nephew of
Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, and the grandnephew of
Jean-Baptiste Nothomb. He was the father of André Nothomb, writer
Juliette Nothomb and novelist
Amélie Nothomb (pseudonym of Fabienne-Claire Nothomb). Amélie covered the life of her father and their diplomatic family in her novel
The Life of Hunger. On 14 October 1953, Nothomb was granted the hereditary title of
Baron for him and his family by
King Baudouin. In 2012, he earned Luxembourgian nationality due to his family lineage prior to the division of
Luxembourg in 1839. In his free time, Nothomb was a singer of the Japanese style
Noh, and was a director of the
Europalia festival in 2004 in
Italy. Nothomb died on 17 March 2020 from a heart attack and also
COVID-19 during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium. ==Diplomatic career==