Festing was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Northumberland in 1994[3] and in the 1998 Birthday Honours was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).[1] He also served as the County Cadet Commandant of the Northumbria Army Cadet Force and was Patron of the Sandhurst Foundation and a Trustee of Northumbria Historic Churches.
Order of Malta
Festing was admitted to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 1977. In 1991, he took perpetual vows, becoming a Knight of Justice. From 1993 to 2008, he served as Grand Prior of England, the first in this office since 1815.
On 11 March 2008, Festing was elected Grand Master following a conclave-style meeting at the order's villa on the Aventine Hill in Rome.[1] Only the third English Grand Master of the Order of Malta, he was the immediate successor to the second, Fra' Andrew Bertie, the first being Hugh de Revel from 1258 to 1277.
Boeselager appealed to Pope Francis, who appointed a five-member commission to look into perceived judicial irregularities in the circumstances of the dismissal. Festing refused to cooperate, describing the commission as an illegitimate intervention in the Order's sovereign affairs, accusing its members of a conflict of interest, and setting up his own internal commission. The Vatican, in turn, rejected what it said was an attempt to discredit members of the commission and ordered the leaders of the institution to cooperate with the inquiry.[6]
In January 2017, Pope Francis asked Festing to resign, with the latter submitting his resignation on January 24.[4][7][8] Cardinal Burke, the patron of the Order, tried to convince Festing to withdraw his resignation and keep fighting the Vatican.[citation needed] On 28 January 2017, the Order's Sovereign Council accepted Festing's resignation and re-instated Boeselager. Fra' Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein was chosen as Lieutenant ad interim and presided over the Sovereign Council that annulled the decrees establishing the disciplinary procedures against Boeselager as well as the suspension of his membership in the Order. Boeselager resumed his office as Grand Chancellor immediately.[9]
In April 2017, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, the temporary papal delegate to the Order, instructed Festing not to travel to Rome for the election of his successor. He wrote that many of the Order had "expressed their wish" that Festing not travel to Rome for the election as they felt his presence would "reopen wounds" and prevent a return to harmony.[10] As it appeared that Festing ignored this order and arrived in Rome just before the meeting to elect a new Grand Master, the Vatican reconsidered and annulled the order. According to sources within the Order, this was because his absence as a professed knight could have invalidated the ballot.[4]
Death
Festing suddenly collapsed after attending the profession of vows of Fra' Francis Vassallo, in Saint John's Co-Cathedral of Valletta on 4 November 2021. He died eight days later at hospital at the age of 71.[11] His funeral Mass took place on 3 December at Saint John's Co-Cathedral, presided over by cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi and then he was buried in the crypt of that church next to his predecessors.
Constantin Magnis: Gefallene Ritter. Malteserorden und Vatikan - Der Machtkampf zwischen zwei der ältesten Institutionen der Welt. HarperCollins 2020. ISBN978-3-95967-368-6.
.svg)
.png){kind=small}
_1class_Collar_BAR.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
