Brief History of the British and Irish Delegation

Great Britain      or go to Ireland

The first known British subject to be invested into the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George was Captain William D'Arley, who received the decoration from King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (right) in 1801.

In the same year, he obtained a Royal Licence from King George III of Great Britain (left) which permitted him to be styled as "Sir William" and to wear the Order's decoration at Court.

In 1810, Sir John Carr (below) was invested into the Order's ranks. Several members of the Winspeare and Acton families, who had close ties to the Royal Neapolitan Court, were also invested in the middle of the nineteenth century.

In 1883, the industrialist and inventor, Sir Edward Thomason, (left) was invested into the Order's ranks.

In the first 75 years of the 20th century theAnglo-Neapolitan families of Acton and Winspeare were againthe mainstay of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order in Great Britain.

Sir Harold Acton, (right) famous for his two-volume history of the Bourbons of Naples, became a Constantinian knight.

In 1975, Major-General Viscount Monckton of Brenchley (right), (President of the British Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 1974 to 1983), Viscount Furness, John Brooke-Little and Sir Conrad Swan (left), who later served as Garter King of Arms, were among others invested into the Order. A national association was formed with the premier baron of England, Lord Mowbray, Segrave and Stourton, as its president.

In 1988 Dr Colin Smythe was appointed Chargé d'Affaires of the Delegation and remained in office until 1992. The Rt Rev Mgr Adrian Arrowsmith, Canon of Westminster Cathedral, became the new Prior of the delegation and placed a special Chapel of the Pro-Cathedral of London, his Parish Church, at the disposal of the knights.

HE Archbishop Luigi Barbarito, (above right) Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, was invested into the Constantinian Order in 1986 at the start of his eleven year term as Apostolic Nuncio to the Court of St James's.

Members of the Recusant aristocracy were also invested including  HMEH Frà Andrew Bertie,  Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta until his death in 2008. (above left)

The late Lord High Chancellor, Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone was also appointed a medallist of the Constantinian Order. (right)

In recent years, the delegation's membership has increased considerably to  include Peers of the Realm, bankers, lawyers, Members of Parliament, authors, diplomats, businessmen, ministers, military leaders, and senior clergy.

They include HMEH Frà Matthew Festing, Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, (left), as well as The Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury (medalist), acclaimed author the Dr Peter Bander-van Duren, ), Her Grace The Duchess of Norfolk, the Chief Minister of Gilbraltar Peter Caruana, QC,  Professor The Lord Alton of Liverpool, Captain Peregrine Bertie, President of the British Association of the Order of Malta (1996-2001), the Lord High Constable of Scotland, the Earl of Erroll (medalist), former Chief of the Defence Staff General The Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, Attorney General Baroness Scotland of Asthal, QC, and Count and Countess Michel de Liedekerke.

The senior dame of the Delegation in Britain is Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent (left) who was invested into the Sacred Military Constantinian Order in 1996.

His Eminence Cormac, Cardinal Murphy- O'Connor (right), Archbishop of Westminster, is currently the Order's Prior of the British and Irish Delegation. The Right RevGeorge Stack, (below left) Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, was appointed Sub-Prior of the British and Irish Delegation in 2001. The current Archbishop of Birmingham, His Grace The Most Reverend Monsignor Vincent Nichols is also a longstanding chaplain of the British and Irish Delegation.

Within the Royal Order of Francis I, which is not exclusively Roman Catholic in nature, are foreign royalty, a former Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, barristers, academics, inter-faith leaders, businessmen and Members of Parliament.Among them are the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, (right), HisGrace The Duke of Westminster, Lord Lamont of Lerwick, HRH Princess Katarina of Yugoslavia, Lord Denman, inter-faith leaders Sir Sigmund Sternberg and the late Sheikh Zaki Badawi, Baroness Thatcher (left), Greek Orthodox Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain, as well as the current and former Ambassadors of HM The King of Morocco, Andorra, Panama, Yemen, Peru, and Costa Rica to the Court of St James's.

The British and Irish delegate for the period 2006-2009 is the current President of the Catholic Union, HE The Rt Hon Lord Brennan of Bibury, QC, (below right) who succeeded HE MrAnthony Bailey (left) in April 2006 following his appointment by the Grand Master as the Order’s worldwide Delegate for Inter-Church and Inter-Faith Relations  The Lord Belhaven and Stenton  served as Delegate for 2000-2003.

HE Signor Luigi Amaduzzi, former Ambassador of the Italian Republic to the Court of St James's (below left) is a member of the Council of the Delegation.

The Delegation of Great Britain and Ireland supports numerous worthy Roman Catholic charities and organisations and observes the Order's feast days, particularly the Feast of Saint George (23 April), and the Glorification of the Cross (14 September).

Among the charitable causes supported in Britain are The Passage Homeless Centre, St Thomas Fund, Westminster Cathedral, Tyburn Convent and Shrine, the Apostolic Nunciature in Serbia the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group within the British Parliament, and many of the international charitable and humanitarian initiatives of the Grand Magistry in Rome.

Ireland

Over the last century there have been numerous knights and dames invested into the Constantinian Order from across the island of Ireland including members of the old Gaelic nobility, the Order of Malta, the clergy as well as parliamentarians and leading businessmen. The first known Irishman to be invested into the Order was Benedotto Harvey who was appointed a Knight of Grace in 1728.

The late Denis O'Conor Don, Head of the House of Connaught, and descendant of the dynasty that ruled as High Kings of Ireland until the Anglo-Norman conquest at the end of the twelfth century, was a member.

In 2004, President Mary McAleese of Ireland (left) was awarded the Collar of the Constantinian Order at a ceremony at ÀrasanUachtaràin, and Taoiseach (Prime Minister)Bertie Ahern, TD, (right) , then President of the European Council,was also honoured.

Other knights include the current Vice-Delegate of the Delegation, Judge Patrick Clyne (right), the Order's former Vice-Delegate and Chancellor (2003-2006) and current President of the Association of Papal Orders in Ireland, Donal Lydon (left), Michael Joseph McDonnell, former Lieutenant of the papal Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, HE Mr Dáithi O'Ceallaígh, Ambassador of Ireland to the UN in Geneva, The Rt Hon Paul Murphy, MP, (below right),Secrertary of State for Wales and former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the former Lord Mayor of Dublin Mr Royston Brady, the former Ambassador of Poland to Ireland HE Mr Witold Sobkow, the former Vice President of the Irish Association of the Order of Malta, Mr Patrick White, and the Association's former Chancellor Mr Sean Kevin Cunnane and his successor John Igoe.

The Order's Chief Chaplain for Ireland is the Archbishop Emeritus of Dublin, His Eminence Desmond, Cardinal Connell, (left), who was invested into the Sacred Military Constantinian Order in November 2002. The Most Rev Dr Raymond Field, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, is also a chaplain of the Delegation.

Current Irish knights of the Royal Order of Francis I include leading businessman, Sir Michael Smurfit, the Independent Assessor of Military Complaints Procedures and Chairman of The Prince’s Trust in Northern Ireland James McDonald, and the former Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Lord Alderdice (right).

Across the island of Ireland, numerous charitable initiatives have been adopted and supported.

In Northern Ireland, the Forthspring Inter-Community Group in Belfast, which works to bridge the divided communities in the province, has been significantly supported by the Delegation.