- Pierre Plantard was not of noble descent; his ancestors were ordinary laborers, and the first traceable Plantard was Jean Plantard in the 17th century.
- Plantard's father died in 1922, and he was raised by his mother, who supported his belief that he was destined for greatness despite their humble means.
- In the 1930s, Plantard expressed fascist and antisemitic views, writing pamphlets and letters advocating for Vichy collaboration and the Holocaust.
- After WWII, Plantard founded the Priory of Sion in 1956, initially as a small, fictitious organization, later evolving into a myth about a secret Merovingian bloodline.
- Plantard, along with Philippe de Chérisey and Gérard de Sède, forged documents and deposited them in the Bibliothèque Nationale, creating the basis for the Rennes-le-Château mystery.
- The hoax was exposed when Plantard's claims about financier Roger-Patrice Pelat led to a court case in 1993, where he admitted to fraud.
- The myth later influenced popular culture, including Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code' and various games, but the underlying truth is a simple tale of a corrupt priest and a fabricated legend.