The law courts have turned down a request by former Labour MP Alfred Baldacchino to stop his rival from organising ceremonies of the chivalric order to which title both lay claim.
The former MP, known for crossing the floor to the Labour Party in the 1970s, is claiming dynastic succession to a Russian chivalric order. But his title of Grand Master of the Ordo Byzantinus Sancti Sepulchri is contested by the present ‘regent’ of the order, Count Sandro Calleja, a former Nationalist candidate.
The court said that no public authority can recognise any title of nobility, concluding it had no jurisdiction over the order.
Baldacchino claims he became Grand Duke of the Rjurik Dynasty after being adopted by his predecessor, Grand Duke Dimitrevic.
But “Count” Sandro Calleja claims that only a person of royal blood can claim these titles, so in the absence of a legitimate successor to the Russian duke, he (Calleja) will continue serving as regent until a successor is found.
Baldacchino had abrogated all previous statutes of the order and enacted a new statute proclaiming himself “the hereditary Prince Grand Master” and “Head of the Name and Arms of the Rjurik Dynasty”, with his son as successor. He even proceeded to anoint his son Frederick and his partner Maria Teresa Fedele, as prince and princess of the defunct Russian dynasty.