Royal sex club scandal: King of Sweden knew of gangster meetups

thelocal.se | Dec 3, 2011

King Carl XVI Gustaf was aware of friend Anders Lettström’s attempts to silence the scandals described in the book The Unwilling Monarch (Den motvillige monarken), Lettström claimed in tramscripts of tape recordings published by newspaper Aftonbladet.

On Lettström’s initiative, Daniel Webb, acting for well-known criminal Milan Sevo, tried to get sex club owner Mille Markovic to deny the information published in the scandalous book about the Swedish king.

As well as a denial from Markovic, Lettström wanted to buy the alleged scandalous pictures of the king at Markovic’s club, reported Aftonbladet.

Lettström’s silencing attempts are said to have gone on for some months, without a deal being struck with Markovic.

The king publically renounced Lettström’s actions in an interview with news agency TT in May. When asked if the king had known about Anders Lettström’s contacts with Stockholm’s criminal underworld, the king responded with a definite no.

In tape recordings made by Daniel Webb, however, Lettström claims to have informed the king of his ongoings.

“After our meeting on Kungsholmen I spoke with the king that evening, and told him that you’d said Mille was willing to deny, and that he wanted to be paid for it. You didn’t know how much, but thought it would be between one and two million,” Lettström said to Webb in the recording.

Lettström repeats that he has spoken to the king about contacting Markovic once more in the same conversation.

“If we paid Mille for his denial, he would make sure that some of his sources denied it too. That’s what our deal entailed, and I’ve mentioned it to the king,” said Lettström according to Aftonbladet.

The recordings of Lettström’s conversations with Webb haven’t previously been published.

However, Lettström maintains that the king was unaware of his contacts with Daniel Webb, and claims the sound material is manipulated.

“It’s like a photo montage, only with sound. It’s taken out of context,” said Lettström to Aftonbladet.

The company Voxanalys and British experts on sound analysis have, acting on Aftonbladet’s behalf, investigated the recordings. The Swedish and British experts both judged the recordings free from manipulation, modification or cuts from different recordings.

The court’s information officer Bertil Ternert was unwilling to comment further on the matter, stating that information about these recordings has already been published and commented.

Ternert added that an allegation made by Lettström on the recordings, namely that the king’s telephone was being tapped by the National Bureau of Investigation (Rikskriminalpolisen), was “remarkable”, according to Aftonbladet.

Swedish King told of £200,000 payment to end sex party scandal

King Carl Gustav and Queen Silvia of Sweden Photo: AFP

Telegraph | Dec 4, 2011

By Richard Orange, Malmö

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden discussed payments of almost £200,000 to get a Stockholm nightclub owner to retract a claim he had allegedly attended sex parties at the club, a newspaper reported.

Aftonbladet said Anders Lettström, a close friend of the King, tried to broker the deal through Daniel Webb, an associate of Mille Markovic, the nightclub owner.

A biography, ‘The Reluctant Monarch’ released last November, featured Mr Markovic’s claims to have organised a string of sex parties for the King.

The newspaper published a recording of a conversation with Mr Webb, in which Mr Lettström claims to have kept the King abreast of the negotiations.

“After our meeting on Kungsholmen, I talked to the King during the evening,” Mr Lettström said. “Then I told him that Mille had said that he could take back what he said, and that he wanted to be paid I thought it was between one and two million Kronor [£95,0000-£190,000].”

The recording is the first concrete evidence that the King himself may have been aware of the clean-up exercise Mr Lettström, a theatrical impressario and childhood friend, was making on his behalf.

“This time, he has used up all my trust,” the King said in a statement after Mr Lettström’s negotiations with Sweden’s ‘Balkan Mafia’ became public earlier this year.

The paper also alleged that Mr Markovic had also offered to sell compromising photographs of the King, although talks had broke down over the price.

It said that the King’s friends had already paid £60,000 to Mr Webb and Milan Sevo, the Balkan Mafia boss described as “Sweden’s Godfather”, for their efforts to silence Mr Markovic.

On Sunday, Aftonbladet published a receipt for 650,000 Swedish Kronor [£60,000], made out to a company called Procap Security.

“The commission of contractual activities have been performed and carried out by Milan Sevo and Daniel Webb,” the receipt reads.

Saif Gaddafi arrest could prove embarrassing for Tony Blair, the Duke of York and Nat Rothschild

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is seen sitting in a plane in Zintan Photo: REUTERS

Telegraph | Nov 20, 2011

By Martin Evans

Any future trial of Saif Al Islam Gaddafi could prove embarrassing for a host of high profile British figures who struck up a relationship with the Gaddafi regime, including Tony Blair, Lord Mandelson and The Duke of York, analysts have suggested.

In 2004 Mr Blair brought Gaddafi in from the cold when the pair signed the so-called ‘deal in the desert’ during a highly symbolic meeting in Tripoli.

The former Prime Minister introduced a UN resolution to lift sanctions against Libya after Gaddafi agreed to compensate victims of the Lockerbie atrocity.

The rapprochement paved the way for a string of highly lucrative deals to be agreed between British companies and the oil rich state.

But many critics, particularly amongst the families of the Lockerbie victims, have questioned the wisdom and circumstances of the thaw in relations.

Any trial featuring Saif is likely to detail what compromises were reached by the UK government when the deals were signed.

Among those who enjoyed close relations with Saif was Lord Mandelson, who as former Business Secretary is understood to have met him on a number of occasions.

He has admitted discussing the fate of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi, who was released from prison in Scotland in August 2009.

The Duke of York was also a close associate of Colonel Gaddafi’s most trusted son and met him in Tripoli on a number of occasions in his capacity as the UK’s special representative for international trade and investment.

Other British figures whose relationship with the Libyan regime could come in for scrutiny include Nat Rothschild, the billionaire financier.

Saif is understood to have been a guest of Mr Rothschild at a number of functions he hosted including a party in New York, a shoot at his British estate and a gathering at the family villa in Corfu.

Saif forged strong links with Britain studying for his PhD at the London School of Economics.

Sir Howard Davies, resigned from his post as LSE director earlier this year, when it emerged that Saif’s charitable foundation had given the college a grant of £1.5 million.

Saif, who is now being held in the northern Libyan town of Zintan, is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for crimes against humanity.

However the ICC is unlikely to pursue the indictment if Saif is offered a fair trial in Libya.

The Queen’s hidden cousins: They were banished to an asylum in 1941 and left neglected now an intriguing documentary reveals all

Nerissa (pictured) was born in 1919, and Katherine in 1926 – their father was John Bowes-Lyon, one of the Queen Mother’s older brothers

Their shocking story came to light shortly after Nerissa’s death, when journalists discovered she was buried in a grave marked only by a plastic name-tag and a serial number.

Daily Mail | Nov 18, 2011

By Mary Greene

The date was 29 July, 1981, Prince Charles and Lady Di’s wedding day, and as the Queen arrived at St Paul’s Cathedral and waved to the crowds, two women in late middle-age, in shapeless, baggy dresses, shuffled with clumsy gait up to the television and waved and saluted back to her, unable to articulate speech but making excited noises.

It was a poignant moment, recalls Onelle Braithwaite, one of the nurses who cared for them. ‘I remember pondering with my colleague how, if things had been different, they would surely have been guests at the wedding.’

The two women were Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon – nieces of the Queen Mother and first cousins to the Queen – who had been incarcerated since 1941 in the Royal Earlswood Asylum for Mental Defectives, at Redhill in Surrey.

Their last reported visitors were in the 1960s, and although it was an open secret at the Royal Earlswood, and in the local community, that the asylum housed close relatives of the Royal Family, to the wider world their existence had been obliterated.

Burke’s Peerage had declared them both to be long dead, on misinformation supplied by the family. In fact, Nerissa did not die until 1986, aged 66, and Katherine is still alive; at 85, she is the same age as the Queen.

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Their shocking story came to light shortly after Nerissa’s death, when journalists discovered she was buried in a grave marked only by a plastic name-tag and a serial number.

The ensuing scandal, which prompted an anonymous source to provide a gravestone for Nerissa, made little difference to her sister’s life. Katherine received no visitors at the asylum, and as her aunt, the Queen Mother, lived on into cosseted old age, she did not possess even her own underwear – at least untilher final years there – and had to dress from a communal wardrobe.

Now a Channel 4 documentary tells the story of the Queen’s hidden cousins, born in an era when children with learning disabilities were a family’s shameful secret.

Photographs of Katherine Bowes-Lyon show a distinct resemblance to the Queen, and Onelle Braithwaite says the sisters’ story was common knowledge when she arrived at the asylum as a 20-year-old nurse in the mid-1970s.

Katherine, 85, is still alive and is believed to be living in a care home in Surrey

‘If the Queen or Queen Mum were ever on television, they’d curtsey – very regal, very low. Obviously there was some sort of memory. It was so sad. Just think of the life they might have had. They were two lovely sisters. They didn’t have any speech but they’d point and make noises, and when you knew them, you could understand what they were trying to say. Today they’d probably be given speech therapy and they’d communicate much better. They understood more than you’d think.’

Former ward sister Dot Penfold, now retired from nursing, also has fond memories. ‘They were no problem to look after but they were mischievous, like naughty children. Katherine was a scallywag. You could scream at her and she’d turn a deaf ear.’

Nerissa was born in 1919, and Katherine in 1926. Their father was John Bowes-Lyon, one of the Queen Mother’s older brothers and a son of the Earl of Strathmore. John died in 1930 and was survived, until
1966, by the girls’ mother, Fenella.

The sisters were unfortunate to have been born in an era when mental disability was seen as a threat to society and linked to promiscuity, feckless breeding and petty crime, the characteristics of the underclass; associations encouraged by popular belief in the science of eugenics, soon to be embraced by the Nazis.

‘So the belief was if you had a child with a learning disability, there was something in your family that was suspect and wrong,’ explains Jan Walmsley, the Open University’s professor in the history of learning disabilities.

For the Bowes-Lyons, this was a stigma that could threaten their social standing and taint the marital prospects of their other children. (Nerissa and Katherine’s beautiful and healthy sister Anne became a princess of Denmark by her second marriage; by her first marriage, she was Viscountess Anson and mother of the society photographer, the late Lord Lichfield.)

The imposing Royal Earlswood was the country’s first purpose-built asylum for people with learning disabilities. Nerissa and Katherine were 15 and 22 respectively when they were admitted. Nerissa’s medical records categorise her as ‘imbecile’. ‘She makes unintelligible noises all the time,’ stated a doctor. ‘Very affectionate… can say a few babyish words.’

Judy Wilkinson, 67, from Godalming, Surrey, recalls her apprehension when visiting the Royal Earlswood as a young girl in the 1950s, when her elder sister Nicola, who was brain-damaged at birth, was consigned there. ‘I’d get that gripping feeling of dread,’ Judy explains, and she remembers feeling puzzled that her sister was always wearing the same green coat, which never seemed to wear out.

Now she realises that the inmates wore their own clothes only if they had visitors. But for Nerissa and Katherine, there were few if any visitors. ‘I never saw anybody come,’ says Dot Penfold. ‘The impression I had was that they’d been forgotten.’

From the late 1960s, a wave of scandals exposed conditions in institutions that were severely understaffed and overcrowded. The Royal Earlswood was closed in 1997; at least one former nurse has alleged patients were abused. The grandiose building has since been converted into luxury apartments, while Katherine is believed to be living in a care home in Surrey. Her relationship with her family remains unchanged.

The Order of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star unveiling new relic of the Princess Nun St Agnes of Bohemia

The emblem of the Military Order of Crusaders of the Red Star (Knights of the Cross with the Red Star). Image by: Life of Riley, Wikimedia Commons

Newly uncovered relic of St Agnes to be displayed in Prague

praguemonitor.com | Nov 18, 2011

Prague, Nov 16 (CTK) – The Knights of the Cross with the Red Star order has uncovered a new relic of St Agnes of Bohemia (1211-1282), a part of her hand’s bone, which will be displayed at a large exhibition on her life in Prague, Marek Pucalik, a co-author of the display, told reporters Wednesday.

The Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, the only religious order originating in the Czech lands, was established by Agnes of Bohemia, a princess of the House of Premyslids who opted for a life of charity and piety, in the 13th century.

Pucalik said the Clarisses, nuns of the Order of Saint Clare (whose first convent in Prague was founded by Agnes of Bohemia) had held the relic.

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Then it was moved to Vienna where it stayed until the 1990s and later it was transported to the Czech Republic, he added.

Pucalik noted that the authentic character of the relic was confirmed by the church administration and not by researchers.

The exhibition entitled “St Agnes of Bohemia – Princess and Nun” will be opened at St Agnes Convent in the Old Town of Prague next week, as a culmination of the St Agnes Year celebrating the 800th anniversary of her birth.

The exhibition will offer about 300 exhibits, including some items loaned from abroad.

The unsuccessful search for St Agnes’s bodily remains in Prague’s Hastal Church last February drew attention of the public and the media.

A relic is the remains of a saint as well as other items associated with his/her life, such as a piece of clothes or other personal belongings.

So far the only known relic of St Agnes of Bohemia has been a lower jaw preserved in the collections of the Escorial royal chateau near Madrid.

Spanish King Juan Carlos donated the last tooth from the jaw to the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star in Vienna in the 1990s. The St Vitus Chapter in Prague received a part of the bone after a request by Czech Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek.

However, the origin and genuine character of the relic is being questioned.

Pope John Paul II canonised Blessed Agnes in November 1989, a few days before the Velvet Revolution that prompted the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Catholic believers therefore connect St Agnes with the restoration of freedom and democracy in the country.

Freedom of City of London for Constantinian Grand Master

indcatholicnews.com | Oct 28, 2011

HRH Princess Camilla of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duchess of Castro and HRH Prince Carlo of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro, with their new Freedom of the City of London documents.

HRH Prince Carlo of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro, and HRH Princess Camilla of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duchess of Castro, have been granted the Freedom of the City of London by order of the Court of Common Council of the City of London. The ceremony took place as part of a wider four-day visit to London at the invitation of the Delegation of Great Britain and Ireland of the Roman Catholic Constantinian Order of St George.

The Duke and Duchess signed the Freemen’s ledger during a ceremony held at Stationers’ Hall after reciting the ‘Declaration of a Freeman’.

Afterwards, the Duke and Duchess were greeted as a ‘Citizen of London’ by Murray Craig, the Clerk of the Chamberlain’s Court, and presented Prince Carlo and Princess Camilla with their framed parchment certificates.

Mr Craig explained to the Duke and Duchess the meaning of the Freedom and invited them to look at a small display of high-level Italian and British statesmen who had received the freedom during the past 200 years.

The Duke of Castro is Grand Master of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George – an internationally recognised Roman Catholic Order of Knighthood. Among the 250 guests attending the ceremony were the Order’s Rome based Grand Prior, Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, the Order’s Prior in Great Britain and Ireland, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster and the Apostolic Nuncio to the Court of St James’s, Archbishop Antonio Meninni.

Sir Gavyn Arthur, former Lord Mayor of London, and HE Mr Anthony Bailey, Delegate for Great Britain and Ireland of the Constantinian Order nominated the Duke and Duchess of Castro for the Freedom.

The Freedom of the City of London is believed to have begun in 1237 and enabled recipients to carry out their trade; and today, people are nominated for the Freedom, because it offers them a link with the historic City of London and one of its ancient traditions. It is also offered to individuals by the City of London Corporation to pay tribute to their outstanding contribution to London life or helps celebrate a significant achievement.

Grand Master of the Constantinian Order of St George, HRH Prince Carlo of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro, presided over Royal Investiture of new knights, dames at Westminster Cathedral

Constantinian Order Investiture Mass at Westminster Cathedral

indcatholicnews.com | Oct 30, 2011

The Grand Master of the Constantinian Order of St George, HRH Prince Carlo of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro, presided over a Royal Investiture of new knights, dames and medalists of the British and Irish Delegation of the Constantinian Order of Saint George and the Royal Order of Francis I at Westminster Cathedral on 21 October.

Before the investiture ceremony commenced, Mass was celebrated in Latin by the Grand Prior of the Constantinian Order, His Eminence Renato Raffaele, Cardinal Martino, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Councils of Justice and Peace and for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants. The Delegation Sub-Prior, His Grace The Most Reverend George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff con-celebrated with the Cardinal.

Knights and Dames of the Order entered in formal procession headed the Grand Master and his wife, HRH Princess Camilla, Duchess of Castro, who were followed by the Delegate for Great Britain and Ireland, HE Mr Anthony Bailey and the Vice-Delegate for Ireland, Professor Richard Conroy.

The Procession was preceded by the Mace Bearer of Westminster Cathedral Mr Albert Denehan and the flags of Great Britain and Ireland, the banner of the Delegation and the Royal Standard.

More than 500 guests attended the ceremony including over sixty knights, dames and medalists. Among them were Rory More O’Ferrall, Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC, Sir David and Lady Durie, Mr John Kennedy, Kevin Grant, Dr Daniel McCartney, Dr Colin Smythe, Mr Norman Gooding (Master of Ceremonies), Sir Michael Craig-Cooper, Jim Dobbin, MP, Cyril and Lorna Woods of Slane, The Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury, Brigadier Tom Ogilvie-Graham, Don Riccardo Tomacelli Filomarino, the Hon Alexander Brennan, HE Donal Lydon, Don Cristoforo Rocco di Torrepadula, Lady Sternberg, Lord and Lady Brennan of Bibury, Mr Timothy George, Gerard Lawler, The Hon Patrick Brennan, Dr Sorca Conroy, Professor John Ryan and Cllr John Turley.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Nigel Evans, MP, attended as part of a wider group of members of the House of Commons and House of Lords.

Among the Order’s dignitaries were: HE Count Andrzej Ciechanowiecki – Delegate for the Republic of Poland, HE Dr Paulus van Hanswijck de Jonge – Delegate for the Kingdom of The Netherlands, Dr Gunnar Riebs – Vice Delegate for the Kingdom of Belgium, Nobile Doctor Antonio di Janni – Vice Delegate for Sicily and Professor Giovanni Bonanno of the Delegation of Sicily.

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The Delegation was also attended by the Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Charge d’affaires of over forty nations including Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ecuador, Japan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro,
Paraguay, Peru, Romania, the United States of America and Zambia.

A Royal Gala Dinner was held that evening, at the historic Stationers’ Hall in London. The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols was the guest speaker.  Over 250 people attended, including the Prior of the British and Irish Delegation, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Court of St James’s, Archbishop Antonio Mennini and Lord and Lady Carey of Clifton.

The following message from Buckingham Palace was read out at the Mass and Royal Gala Dinner:

“The Queen was pleased to receive your kind message of loyal greetings, sent on behalf of the members and chaplains of the Delegation Council in Great Britain and Ireland of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George on the occasion of your Annual Mass in Westminster Cathedral and your Royal Gala Dinner in Stationers’ Hall.

“Her Majesty much appreciates your thoughtfulness in writing as you did and, in return, sends her warm good wishes to all concerned for a most memorable day.”

The President of Ireland, Her Excellency Mrs Mary McAleese sent the following message:

“I would like to convey my warmest greetings to the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George Delegation of Great Britain and Ireland on the occasion of your annual investiture Mass and Gala Dinner.

“I am very honoured to be included among the members of the prestigious Order which so loyally and devotedly defends the Catholic faith.

“Our two Islands know, all too well, the terribly destructive power of religious intolerance. We know that, underpinning the work of peace and prosperity building is the gospel challenge to love one another, to forgive one another and to be charitable to one another. I thank you for your quiet and often courageous work in promoting a true understanding of the Catholic faith, and engendering respect and tolerance for those who practice and uphold that doctrine.

“May God Bless you in your important work. I wish you an enjoyable and successful evening. Mary McAleese, President of Ireland.”

The Grand Master decreed, invested or promoted into the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George:

Bailiff Grand Cross of Justice

His Highness Duke Georg von Hohenberg, GCPO, KM, (Promotion), Head of the Ducal House of Hohenberg and former Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to the Holy See,

Dame Grand Cross of Justice

Her Highness Duchess Eleonore von Hohenberg, (Promotion)

Knight Grand Cross of Justice

His Serene Highness Prince Peter von Hohenberg, KCSG, KM,

Dame Grand Cross of Justice

Her Serene Highness Princess Marie-Therese von Hohenberg, Mrs Anthony Bailey,

Knight Grand Cross of Merit with Gold Star

His Excellency Mr John Bruton, former Taoiseach of Ireland,

Ecclesiastical Knight Grand Cross of Grace

His Grace The Most Reverend George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff, (promotion)

Ecclesiastical Knight of Grace

The Reverend Canon Christopher Tuckwell, Administrator of Westminster Cathedral,

Knight Commander of Merit with Star

His Honour Judge Patrick Clyne, KM, (promotion),

HE Mr Alexander Nixon,

Knight Commander of Merit

His Excellency Mr Donal Downes, KC*SG, (Promotion), Dr Daniel McCarthy, TD, (Promotion), Colonel Alan Roberts, OBE, TD, JP, DL,

Knight of Merit with Star

Mr Niranjan de Silva Deva-Aditya, DL, MEP, Mr John Graeme Igoe, KM, Chancellor of the Irish Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, (Promotion) and Professor Vincent McBrierty, KC*SG.

Dame of Merit with Star

Mrs Teresa Downes, (Promotion)

Knight of Merit

Mr Michael Barry, KM, Professor Trond Beravale, The Honourable Daniel Brennan, Mr Joseph Byllam-Barnes, Mr Adrian de Redman, KM, Mr John McIntosh, OBE, Mr D’Arcy Myers, Dr David O’Connell, KM, Mr Joseph O’Connor, KM, Mr Bernard O’Reilly, Dr Nicola Pedroni, Mr Andrew Rogers, Professor John Ryan, (Promotion)

Dame of Merit

Miss Anne Hodson-Pressinger, Mrs Maureen Jones, Dr Jordan Lancaster, Professor Sarah Rogers,

Silver Benemerenti Medal

His Excellency Ambassador Lachezar Matev, (Promotion), Captain Paul Champness, TD, Mr Murray Craig.

Bronze Benemerenti Medal

Mr Michael Clarke, Mr Noam Tamir.

The Grand Master decreed, invested or promoted into the Royal Order of Francis I:

Knight Grand Cross

His Eminence Archbishop Athanasius Toma Dawod of the Syrian Orthodox Church, His Honour Sir Gavyn Arthur, former Lord Mayor of London (Promotion),

Dame Grand Cross

Her Royal Highness The Princess Elena of Romania Mrs Alexander Nixon,

Knight Commander

The Lord Brennan of Bibury, KCSG, QC, Delegate Emeritus (Promotion), Sir Ewan Harper, CBE, The Lord Lingfield, Kt, KStJ, DL, Knight Principal of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor.

Dame Commander

The Baroness Cox of Queensbury

Knight First Class

Mr Joseph Gaggero, CBE, Mr John-Barry Noble, The Reverend Deacon Meliton Richard Oakes, Mr Albert Roux, OBE, Professor Michael Sternberg, QC, (Promotion), Mr Vivian Wineman, President of the Board of British Jews.

Dame First Class

Mrs Joyce Parsons.

Aristocratic Order of St John to Hold Knighthood Investiture in San Francisco

The Order’s Grand Prior, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, KG, GCVO, acting on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, will dub two Members as knights, and invest new and recently promoted Members with their insignia of grade.

Over the years, Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Gandhi, President Nelson Mandela, the late King Hussein of Jordan and his wife Queen Noor, Edwina Mountbatten, Florence Nightingale, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. have been active in the Order, as have many members of the British Royal Family.

Historic Order of St John to Hold Investiture in San Francisco

PRNewswire-iReach | Oct 28, 2011

HRH, Duke of Gloucester to Preside over Services

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-iReach/ — At 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 5, the fifty-first annual Investiture Service of the Priory in the USA of The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem will be held in San Francisco at Grace Cathedral.  The Order’s Grand Prior, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, KG, GCVO, acting on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, will dub two Members as knights, and invest new and recently promoted Members with their insignia of grade.

The Order of St John, with its roots in the 11th century, is an international order of chivalry led by  Her Majesty The Queen as Sovereign Head of the Order.  The Investiture Service is rich in pageantry and tradition and is part of the Priory’s annual Investiture weekend, which is held in a different city each year.  The last time the Investiture was held in San Francisco was in 2004.

At the Investiture Service, three Members of the Order from California will be promoted, including one at the high level of Knight, and 11 new Members from California will be invested into the Order.  In all, there are 126 Members in California and over 1100 Members in the United States. The highly traditional, colorful Service is open to the public and the media.

The medieval Order of St John began as a monastic hospital in Jerusalem in the 11th century and evolved into a chivalric order known as the Knights Hospitallers, offering medical care and security to pilgrims.  The Order’s present-day mission continues to focus on its roots of caring for poor and sick people of all races and creeds in over 40 countries.

The Order of St John is headquartered in London and has over 25,000 Members worldwide.  Membership in the Order of St John is open to men and women, is highly selective and is based on a record of dedicated commitment to local, national and/or international charitable work.  Over the years, Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Gandhi, President Nelson Mandela, the late King Hussein of Jordan and his wife Queen Noor, Edwina Mountbatten, Florence Nightingale, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. have been active in the Order, as have many members of the British Royal Family.

The Priory in the USA is one of eight Priories of the Order internationally.  It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.  The primary mission of the U.S. Priory is to support The St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital in East Jerusalem.  For 129 years, the Hospital has provided screening, treatment, and health programs for patients of all ages without regard to creed or ability to pay.  For decades, American Members have raised funds, donated medical supplies, recruited volunteer doctors, specialist surgeons and nurses, and volunteered their own time and expertise to the Hospital.

The St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group is the only charitable provider of eye care in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where rates of blindness are ten times higher than in the West, 80% of which is preventable.  In 2010, the Hospital Group treated 102, 382 outpatients and performed 4,184 operations in East Jerusalem and Hebron, and its clinics in Gaza and Anabta with additional outreach provided by mobile vans which reach thousands in remote villages.

Diabetes, corneal opacity, glaucoma, cataracts and severe allergic eye diseases that cause vision loss are widespread, as are congenital eye conditions such as strabismus (crossed eyes), amblyopia (lazy eye), binocular vision and diplopia (double vision).  St John Eye Hospital advocates strong interfaith relationships and its supporters include Jewish, Christian and Muslim individuals and institutions.

Prince Charles descended from the original Dracula

“The genealogy shows I am descended from Vlad the Impaler, so I do have a bit of a stake in the country,” he said.

Prince of Wales campaigning to save Count Dracula forests
The Prince of Wales has joined a campaign to save the ‘fairytale forests’ of Romania, because his Transylvanian ancestors can be traced back to to Vlad the Impaler.

Telegraph | Oct 27, 2011

By Louise Gray

The dark forests of the Carpathian Mountains, that once inspired the vampire legend, are some of the last untouched wilderness areas in Europe.

Many of the tiny Saxon villages have not changed for centuries and bears and wolves can still be found in the woods.

However rapid economic growth in the new EU country of Romania means that both the forests and the ancient way of life is under threat from building and demand for timber.

The Prince, who recently brought a home in a small village in the area, is calling for protection for the forests before they are lost forever like the woodland that once covered much of Britain.

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Queen Mary, consort to George V, was related to the infamous Transylvanian prince Vlad the Impaler. The land he says “is in his blood”.

He even claims to have a family connection to Transylvania through Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, better known as Vlad the Impaler, who was distantly related to his great grandmother Queen Mary.

The 15th Century nobleman, famous for his bloodthirsty killing, is said to have inspired Bram Stoker’s dracula that started the whole vampire legend.

Speaking in a new documentary about the Carpathian Mountains, that will be aired on the Travel Channel just before Halloween, he jokes about his family links to “Count Dracula”.

“The genealogy shows I am descended from Vlad the Impaler, so I do have a bit of a stake in the country,” he said.

Following a trend for buying houses in rural Romania while it is still cheap, the Prince has bought a 150-year-old five bedroom house in the village of Zalapanpatak, which is said to have been founded by one of his Transylvanian ancestors.

He said it was vital to protect the “timeless” quality in the area that is like “the stories one was read as a child”.

The house is currently being restored as a holiday home for the Royal Family and a guest house that helps maintain jobs and rural skills in the area.

“It seems to me in Transylvania there is a combination of the natural ecosystem with a human cultural system,” he said. “This extraordinarily unique integrated relationship is so hugely important. People are yearning for that sense of belonging and identity and meaning.”

The Prince warned that if the forests are chopped down, Romania will end up barren like areas of the Highlands of Scotland or Canada that were once covered by virgin forest.

“If we carry on the same way we end up with destruction occurring and people saying later on want this back,” he said.

Magor Csibi, Country Manager of WWF’s Danube-Carpathian Programme in Romania, said 250,000 hectares of virgin forests in Romania are in urgent need of protection. The area represents up to 65 per cent of the virgin forests still remaining in Europe, outside of Russia, and is home to brown bears, lynx and 13,000 other speices.

“Saving all our forests and their unrivalled biodiversity is our mission, but the pinnacle of this mission is the protection of our virgin forests”, he said. “We will never be able to rebuild this part of nature. Once lost, it is lost forever. Considering that we are among the last European nations fortunate enough to have such a treasure, it is our moral obligation to preserve this piece of nature intact and to leave a small piece of wilderness to our children”.

WWF seeking protection for over 80 per cent of Romania’s virgin forests, which are currently under threat.

Prince Andrew meets with the Bin Laden family

express.co.uk | Sep 21, 2011

By Richard Palmer

Prince Andrew has met with members of Bin Laden's family

PRINCE Andrew has met the family of slain Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden on a £40,000 taxpayer-funded trip to Saudi Arabia.

Two months after officially stepping down from his role as UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, Andrew is back fronting a trade mission despite controversy over his links with shady businessmen and a convicted paedophile.

The Duke of York is on a five-day trip to Saudi Arabia aimed at opening doors for British exporters in the kingdom. Last month Andrew, 51, a frequent visitor to the Arabian peninsula, was photographed frolicking in the sea and kissing a woman who looked at least 20 years his junior while enjoying a Mediterranean holiday on a superyacht owned by Saudi billionaire Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel.

UK Trade and Investment, the Government body that helps British exporters, has refused to say which companies stand to benefit from the trade trip, which Andrew has undertaken with Lord Stephen Green, Britain’s trade and investment minister.

Britain sends up to 75 per cent of its arms exports to Saudi Arabia, which earlier this year stamped down on pro-democracy activists eager to spread the Arab Spring revolutions to the kingdom. The Saudi military also went to the aid of the beleaguered King of Bahrain and brutally repressed pro-democracy protesters in the country, reportedly using UK-manufactured armoured vehicles.

Buckingham Palace and UKTI both insisted that the Prince was not taking part in any meetings involving arms deals but did not rule out the possibility that others on the trip could be discussing exporting weapons to the kingdom.

The palace and UKTI were at loggerheads over who was paying for the trip. A spokeswoman for UKTI insisted that the trade body was not paying for any of the Prince’s visit. She said, as far as she knew, Andrew was paying for it out of his own pocket.

However, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said the cost of Andrew’s return flight in an executive jet from Farnborough to Saudi Arabia would be met by taxpayers via the Department of Transport’s royal travel grant-in-aid to the palace. “His in-country costs (ie hotel bills and expenses) will be picked up by UKTI,” he added.

The palace refused to disclose Andrew’s itinerary, citing security reasons, but his offical meetings have been recorded in the Court Circular.

It shows that Andrew enjoyed lunch in Jeddah on Tuesday at the offices of Saudi Binladen Group, the firm created by Osama Bin Laden’s father Mohammed, who spread his wealth among more than 50 of his children including the Al Qaeda leader.

Since the early 1990s, however, the firm has sought to distance itself from Osama Bin Laden. It fought off legal attempts by survivors, relatives and insurers to make it financially liable for the devastation caused by the September 11 attacks after persuading US courts that it had deprived Osama of his two per cent stake in the firm as early as 1993.

Andrew stepped down from his trade envoy role amid controversy over his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy America who helped his ex-wife the Duchess of York to pay off her spiralling debts, and other figures, including deposed Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif.

However, aides insisted that he, like other members of the Royal Family, would continue to support British businesses at home and abroad.

UKTI said the Saudi trip was partly a re-hash of a trade mission postponed in March amid security concerns after widespread political unrest in the region. A spokeswoman added: “The Duke of York is attending part of the trade mission to the Middle East.  He continues to work closely with UKTI to promote international trade and investment and British businesses continue to benefit from his support.

“The Duke and Lord Green are undertaking a joint visit.  This enables them to meet with a larger number of contacts than would otherwise be the case, in a country that is one of our major trading partners.

“The Duke is undertaking some visits which were in planning stages when he announced that he was stepping down from the role.  The Royal Visits Committee has agreed that he should honour these commitments.”

Later, UKTI claimed it had been confused about the funding for the trip and admitted that taxpayers were footing the bill for Andrew.