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James Debono
A former MP who has ascended to the throne of an ancient Russian dynasty, Alfred Baldacchino, has made his son a “prince” after proclaiming himself the Grand Master of the Ordo Byzantinus Sancti Sepulchri and Grand Duke of the Rjurik Dynasty.
Baldacchino, who had crossed the House over to the Labour party back in the 70s, is being contested in his authority as Grand Duke of the Rjurik Dynasty by another member of the Order – former Nationalist candidate “Count” Sandro Calleja.
Calleja claims he is the Order’s regent until a blood relative of the late Grand Duke Dimitrevich di Russia is found.
The feuding knights are in court where Baldacchino is trying to stop his rivals from conducting ceremonies in the order’s name. It also emerges from documents presented in court that Baldacchino has anointed his son Frederick and his partner Maria Teresa Fedele, prince and princess.
On January 2004, Baldacchino 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.
In July 2005, Baldacchino was exerting his full powers as Grand Master of the Order, presiding at an investiture of knights and dames at the Ambasciatori Palace Hotel in Rome, where he also conferred academic titles given by the Universitas Sancti Cyrilli.
Amongst the “high-ranking members” in his magisterial council is “His Excellency” Marquis Remigio Farrugia “of Sugdea”, an activist in the eurosceptic Campaign for National Indepedence.
Baldacchino claims he had been adopted by the late Grand Duke Dimitrevich, who was found dead on a bench in a public garden in 2001.
But supporters of Count Sandro Calleja claim Baldacchino is a usurper, and that Dimitrevich had dethroned him in July 2001. Calleja also insists that there are no legal documents proving that the Baldacchino was adopted. In a letter seen by MaltaToday, the Grand Duke had written that: “Having seen in person the sorrowful situation of HE Prince Alfred Josef Baldacchino di Gagri, in front of the Criminal Court of the Republic of Malta, we declare, ex tunc as from now, the suspension from his office of authorised Grand Master.”
Baldacchino has taken Calleja to court to stop him from holding ceremonies in the name of the order. He has presented in court a document signed by the late Grand Duke, back in August 2000, recognising him as his dynastic successor. Calleja, appointed by Dimitrevich as vicar general for life, claims he is the order’s regent until a successor is found, and that in an article the Grand Duke mentions his sister Pia Dimitrjevna as his legitimate successor.
Baldacchino has dismissed the letter as a fake. Calleja says the document Baldacchino has presented in court defies the rules of both the order and other dynastic orders: “The former Grand Duke cannot ever have agreed with to this.”
Dynastic orders, unlike magisterial orders like the Order of St John, whose Grand Master is elected by the knights themselves, can only be ruled by a hereditary prince belonging to a royal family by blood.
According to Calleja, back in 1965 Grand Duke Dimitrevic decided to separate the dynastic succession of the Order from the grandmastership, by appointing the Syrian Patriarch Joannes Maria I as authorised Grand Master. He retained control over the Order by virtue of his dynastic authority.
When Joannes Maria attempted to usurp the title of Grand Duke, Dimetrivich removed him from his role. Calleja claims that in 1986, Dimetrovich had accepted Alfred J. Baldacchino as authorised Grand Master with similar conditions, but suspended him in 2001, a few months before his death, for abusing his position.
“In these circumstances as Vicar as is customary, I assumed the duty of the Head of the Order as the seat was vacant,” Calleja told MaltaToday, who is claiming the symbolic Grand Collar in the hands of Baldacchino, which symbolises authority, should be in his possession as regent of the Order.
jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt
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