Matthew Festing

Fra' Matthew Festing
Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta (more)
Fra' Matthew reads the prayer for the Order in the Merton College Chapel (Oxford, UK)
Reign	11th March 2008 -
Full name	Robert Matthew Festing, OBE TD DL
Born	30 November 1949 (1949-11-30) (age 61)
Birthplace	Northumberland, England
Predecessor	Fra' Andrew Bertie, 78th Prince and Grand Master
Royal House	Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (SMOM)
Royal anthem	Ave Crux Alba (Hail, White Cross)
Father	Field Marshal Sir Francis Festing
Mother	Mary Cecilia Riddell

Fra' Matthew Festing, OBE, TD, DL (born 30 November 1949) is the 79th Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. He is the second Englishman to be elected Grand Master since 1258 following his predecessor Andrew Bertie.

Family

Robert Matthew Festing is the youngest of four sons born to Field Marshal Sir Francis Festing (Chief of the Imperial General Staff),^[1] a Roman Catholic convert and also a Knight of Malta, and Mary Cecilia, née Riddell (elder daughter of Cuthbert David Giffard Riddell, of Swinburne Castle, Northumberland). His mother's family are an old recusant family, descended from the Blessed Sir Adrian Fortescue, who was martyred in 1539.^[1] His three brothers are John Festing (former High Sheriff of Northumberland), Major Michael Festing, and Andrew Festing (current President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters).

Education and career

Fra' Matthew received his early education at Ampleforth College. He graduated in Modern History from St John's College, Cambridge.^[1] He served in the Grenadier Guards and holds the rank of colonel in the Territorial Army.^[1] He was Acting Colonel of the Northumbria Army Cadet Force.

In June 1998 he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth, for whom he has served as a Deputy Lieutenant in the county of Northumberland.^[1]

Fra' Matthew is a patron of the Sandhurst Foundation and a trustee of the Northumbria Historic Churches Trust. Until 2008 he was the Northumberland representative for the auction house Sotheby's.

Order of Malta

Fra' Matthew was admitted to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1977. In 1991 he took Perpetual Vows and became a Knight of Justice. Between 1993 and 2008 he was elected Grand Prior of England, and the first since 1815.

On March 11, 2008, Fra' Matthew was elected Grand Master during a conclave-style meeting at the Order's villa on Aventine Hill in Rome.^[1] He is the third British Grand Master of the Order, immediately succeeding the second, Fra' Andrew Bertie. (The first was Hugh Revel in 1258).

Titles, styles and honours

Styles of Prince and Grand Master Fra' Matthew Festing
Reference style	His Most Eminent Highness
Spoken style	Your Most Eminent Highness
Alternative style	Sir

Titles and style

The full title of Fra' Matthew is: His Most Eminent Highness Fra' Matthew Festing, Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, Most Humble Guardian of the Poor of Jesus Christ.

The Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta was the sovereign ruler of Malta 1530–1798, and asserts sovereign status to this day. The holder of the office received, ex officio, the title of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire from the Holy Roman Emperor in 1607 (as an honorary title, as the Prince and Grand Master was already a sovereign in his own right outside the Empire), and the style of His Most Eminent Highness from the Pope in 1630, recognizing his status as a Prince of the Church. In the order of precedence of the Catholic Church, Fra' Matthew ranks as the highest official after the cardinals, and is the only modern leader of an entity within the Catholic Church, in addition to the Pope, to be considered a sovereign monarch (historically, many (arch)bishops also had sovereign princely status).

Honours and decorations

•  SMOM: Sovereign Order of Malta
  • Grand Master (2008)
  • Knight of Justice (1991)
  • Member (1977)
• Commonwealth realms: Bailiff Grand Cross of Justice of the Venerable Order of Saint John (14 December 2010)
•  Croatia: Knight Grand Cross of the Grand Order of King Tomislav (12 October 2006)
•  Monaco: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Charles (2009)
•  Portugal: Grand Collar of the Order of St. James of the Sword (2010)
•  Romania: Grand Cross with Sash of the Order of the Star of Romania (2008)
•  United Kingdom: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (June 1998)
•  United Kingdom: Territorial Decoration
•  United Kingdom: Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Northumberland

Honorary citizenship

• Honorary citizen of the city Rapallo (Italy, since 2008)

Honorary degrees

• Honorary D.H.L. degree from the Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C., October 2009)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Owen, Richard (2008-03-11). "Knights of Malta elect Englishman as new leader". The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3531729.ece. Retrieved 2008-03-11. 

External links

• The Prince and Grand Master Fra’ Matthew Festing - Official website of the Sovereign Order of Malta

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Andrew Bertie	Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller 2008 — present	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Festing, Matthew
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1949-11-30
Place of birth	Northumberland, England
Date of death
Place of death