A new Grand Prior for Bulgaria

The Grand Priory of Bulgaria has existed within the Order for some years, but for a long time it had no Grand Prior and no active work. On 12 October 2024 that changed.

At the 33rd Solemn Investiture of the Grand Priories of Malta and Gozo in St Julian's, the Supreme Grand Prior of the Order, HIRH Archduke Sandor Habsburg-Lothringen GCLJ GCMLJ, installed Chevalier Svetoslav Boyadzhiev as Grand Prior of Bulgaria. At the same ceremony Chevalier Radoy Koynov and Chevalier Veselin Stankov were invested as Knights of Grace.

The investiture brought together a record twenty delegations from the Order's Grand Priories. The investing officers included the Grand Chancellor, H.E. Massimo J. Ellul, and the then Grand Vicar, HIRH Margaret Herta Habsburg-Lothringen.

At the same ceremony the new Grand Priors of Nigeria, the United States and the Holy Land were consecrated, and the Grand Priory of the Holy Land was formally established. New members were received into the Order from Malta, Australia, Bulgaria, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Serbia and England.

The programme opened on 10 October with a meeting at the Noru Hotel, where Dr Christopher Otiko, Grand Prior-Elect of Nigeria, presented Tetracyte, his treatment for diabetic wounds, to medical specialists from Malta, Serbia, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria and the United States. Svetoslav Boyadzhiev took part, two days before his installation as Grand Prior.

On 13 October the Supreme Grand Prior and HIRH Margaret Herta Habsburg-Lothringen, with representatives of the Order from the United States, Germany and the Holy Land, visited the headquarters of the Malta Sea Cadets in Kalkara. The Saint Lazarus Foundation donated €3,500 to the Cadets' programmes, run by John Morgan.