Is Friedrich Wilhelm von Lippe the head of the Princely House of Lippe?
No he is not. His father claimed the position but without the recognition of the
rest of the family. The last reigning Prince, Leopold IV, was married
twice equally. The eldest son of his first marriage married twice, unequally,
without paternal authorization, and the eldest son of his marriage, Prince
Ernst Leopold, did not succeed despite being the primogeniture heir. The 2nd
son, Chlodwig, likewise married without his father's approval.
The eldest son of Leopold IV's 2nd marriage, Prince Armin, was declared by his
father to be the latter's successor as Head of the House. He succeeded in
1949 but also married unequally in 1953. He however declared his own amrriage
valid and his eldest son, Prince Stephan Leopold, married equally to Countess
Maria Gfin zu Solms Laubach and are the parents of 2 sons.
In 1953, a cousin, Prince Prince Ernst August, whose mother was a Mecklenburg,
declared himself head of the House - although his wife was nobler, a von Arnim,
this family no more qualified as "equal" than any of the excluded cousins
marriages to commoners. Nonetheless, his assumption of the headship of the
House was welcomed by the afficionados of dubious chivalric honors as he
soon joined upo with St Lazarus (of which, udner the tutleage of Col Gayre, he
became a high officer), got involved with the Augustan Society and converted
the modest Lippe Merit order into the House Order of the Rose, which he
liberally distributed to a multitude of Americans and others with no known
connection to Lippe, or even Germany. Ecentually his cousins protested to the
German Federal Government which informally asked that he desist - at which point
this became the "Noble Company of the Rose." When he died, his 3rd son, Prince
Ernst August continued his pretensions as E-A Srs elder brother married a
commoner. This Prince E-A ius married to a Countess v. Magnis but his
pretensions are ignored by the rest of the family.
However, whatever his position, he has no more authority to grant any worthwhile
recognition or whatever to the Maltese Nobility than you, or me, or Kublai
Khan.
The Lippe Principality had two Orders, the House Order of Lippe, and
the Order of Leopold, and furthermore an arts award called the Rose
of Lippe which was not an Order. The late Prince Ernst August fell
under the influence of Lt Col (Education Corps) Robert Gayre, a
cornish born British army officer who, with the help of Sir Thomas
Innes of Learney transformed himself into Chief of Clan Gayre, with
the wonderful suffixes "of Gayre and Nigg" and acquired by purchase
the feudal Barony of Lochoreshyre. Gayre became "Grand Referendary"
of the self-styled "Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem" and, as a
result of his machinations this Order underwent a schism which still
exists today. Prince Ernst August, whose claim to be head of the
House was without any merit and was not acknowledged by other members
of the House of Lippe, nor by other heads of German former reigning
Houses, joined St Lazarus in a high position and was then persuaded
to start awarding the Order (of which he was not in any case legitimate
Head). He decided to reform it as the Order of the Rose of Lippe
and under this guise it was widely distributed, particularly on
the west coast of the US. This occasioned protests by other Princes
of Lippe and the Federal German government who, until then, had
tolerate the award of the dynastic Orders of the former reigning
houses (and a law of the BRD actually states that Orders founded
by "the Emperor, Kings, Princes etc may be worn") intervened and
told Prince Ernst August to desist. Since he was also a Knight of
Honor of the Johanniter Order some pressure was put upon him form
that quarter also. The Order of the Rose now became the "Noble
Company of the Rose" under which name it still flourishes.
If this gentleman is indeed a Kt Commander of the Order of Lippe
as he states, then was he appointed before the cessation of the
award by Prince E-A, or has the latter's son started giving it
out also? I do not imagine that other German royal houses would
look at this kind of abuse with much favor.
The completely spurious means by which certain Italians have "won" cases
in the Italian courts that purport to recvoignize their rights to confer
titles have no merit at all. Courts in Italy do not have any jurisdiction
in such matters.
Please understand that in Italy you could state that you were in fact
the King of Siam. A friend could denounce you in the newspapers. You could then
sue him for impugning your rights, etc etc. The Court would then set a hearing,
the petition of the plaintiff (you) would be entered and the answer of the
defendant. If the defendant then withdrew, the court would register the
judgment in your favor. Do you actually believe that would make you king
of Siam? Of course not. Neither the Italian courts - nor even the Italian
government - can make you King of Siam.
The same applies to any of the worthless individuals who over the past 50 or 60
years have obtained "judgments" that they are emperors of Byzantium or
heirs thereto, or any other kind of lunatic claim.
The Italian Supreme Court has even declared such judgments ultra vires and
without effect, but people go on getting them to fool people like yourself
who want to believe that titles they receive from fantasy claimants have some
merit.
Today no genuine claimant is giving titles, with some very limited exceptions.
Several do give titles to their own children or dynasts of their house. The
late King Umberto II of Italy who never abdicated continued to create, confirm
and recognize titles - he considered that under the Constitution under which
he had succeeded he continued to enjoy this prerogative which he had never
surrendered. Although his son has recognized one title in a decree, this
recognition was not in fact countersigned - in that case the recipient of
the confirmation was in fact the legal heir to the title inquestion anyway.
The Portuguese Dukes of Braganza have recognized titles whose legitimacy
has been established by the Conselho de Nobreza established for that
purpose, but this has no recognition in Portuguese law. Before WWII, the
Archduke Otto conferred several titles but has not done so since. Likewise
the late Grand Duke Kyrill of Russia (died 1938) also conferred a small
number of titles. None of the Balkan Monarchs have ever given titles because
all were specifically forbidden to do so under the constitutions which
established their thrones. King Peter II of Yugoslavia purported to give
a handful of titles under the misapprehension that the constiotutional
prohibition against doing so did not extend to non-Yugoslav nationals.
None of the German Monarchs have given titles since 1918. The Count of
Barcelona did not give titles between 1941 and 1977, except to his
daughters. King Francis II of the Two sicilies conferred a number of titles
between 1860 and 1894, and his brother and successor 2 titles from 1894-1934.
The Grand Duke Joseph of Tuscany (successor of the last reigning Grand Duke)
gave one title in 1919, his successors have not given titles with the
exeception of Gradn Duke Gottfried who gave one title of Count. The two
successors of the latter have not given titles.