by Jon Lackman | 12 March 2008 | Uncategorized
From the Daily Mail (London):
Thanks to the bestselling Da Vinci Code, Sotheby’s auctioneer Matthew Festing has his work cut out as the new Grand Master of the Knights of Malta.
Ampleforth and Cambridge-educated Festing, 59, finds himself thrust into the limelight as the new leader of the secretive Catholic organisation after a ballot in which the election papers were later burnt.
Like the Pope, the Grand Master is elected for life. Festing, whose portraitist brother Andrew is a Royal Family favourite, is tasked with combating the clandestine image of the KoM, which has been accused of using its humanitarian missions in Iraq as a cover for mercenaries.
