Niels Vermeersch, also known by his pseudonym Nicholas de Mersch d'Oyenberghe, is a Belgian micronationalist and the founder of the Grand Duchy of Flandrensis. Niels started Flandrensis in 2008 as a temporally hobby without any longterm intention, but the project quickly developed into an environmental project and in 2022 Niels was awarded with the Emperor Norton Award at MicroCon Las Vegas. He is one of the first who introduced the concept of environmental micronationalism, using micronationalism to raise awareness for climate change. Due this unique concept Niels and his micronation receives attention from media and academics in publication on micronationalism. Niels is a frequent guest and speaker at micronational meetings and international conferences like the Polination Conferences in London (2012) and Perugia (2015), Aigues-Mortes (2016) and Vincennes (2018). Some of the subjects were “Hobby-micronationalism in the 21st century”, “The influence of the internet on micronationalism” and “Ecological micronationalism”. In May 2022 Niels was invited as a speaker on ChangeNow, an international climate summit in Paris to tell about environmental micronationalism. He spend most of his time dealing with Flandrensian affairs, contact with other micronations and raising awareness for climate change. His wife often calls Flandrensis his second job … Since 2021 Niels is also the chairman of the environmental non-profit organization “vzw Groothertogdom Flandrensis”. Outside Flandrensis he has a very normal life: husband and father of 3 kids with an huge passion for history, genealogy and a good fantasy book.
