Becoming a Knight

I refer to Lorna Vassallo's article (June 23) entitled Knighthood Denied. Had Dr Vassallo really studied the history of the Knights of St John "in a lot of detail" as she says she has, I think she would be able to distinguish between the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jesusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (SMOM) and other soidisant orders unfortunately bearing more or less the same name but having no connection with it at all.

If, on the other hand, she has understood the difference between the one and the others, it would have been tactful to make it clear that she is not referring to the Sovereign Order, recognised as a sovereign entity with which Malta together with other nations and international organisations has an exchange of ambassadors, rather than mislead readers by making references to Rome, where the international seat of the Sovereign Order is based, and to the Order's Grand Master who is, I might add, not "honorary" at all.

If Ms Vassallo wants to know "what you need to become a knight in this day and age", she is cordially invited to contact me at Fort St Angelo and I shall be happy to explain to her, with reference only to the Sovereign Order to which I belong. If she is naïve enough to believe that an internet application is what it takes to be admitted into the Sovereign Order; if she thinks that a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church (which is what the Sovereign Order also is) recruits its members online or by phone, she had better be prepared to spend more than a couple of hours here at the fort.

We are informed in the same article that the "order" which contacted Dr Vassallo "kept away from Labour Party supporters". I wish to point out that as the Sovereign Order's Knight Resident at Fort St Angelo I have made it a point not to allow politics to interfere with my dealings with anyone, as is the common practice with the Order in general, and have dealt with and will continue to deal with all and sundry as long as I feel that the island and the people of Cottonera in particular can benefit in some way.

I leave to others, more erudite than myself, to discuss Dr Vassallo's sweeping statement about her ascendants, the de Navas, being "rulers of Malta".