His Royal Highness the Grand Master is united in grief at the death of His Most Eminent Highness, Fra’ Matthew Festing, Prince and Grand Master Emeritus of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, on November 12.
The 79th Prince and Grand Master, Fra’ Matthew Festing had a long collaboration with the Constantinian Order: having been named a Knight of Justice in 1991, he was then promoted to the rank of Knight Grand Cross in 1994, and was later an active member of the Council of the Order’s Great Britain and Ireland Delegation from 2002-2009.
In 2009, H.R.H. the Duke of Castro further honored him by conferring the greatest honor of the Order, the Constantinian Collar, also naming him a Knight of the Royal Order of Saint Januarius, the most important Order of the Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.