Vienna and Malta – High Level Preparatory Meetings for the 25th Anniversary Celebrations of the Order in 2020 (June 2019)
A number of preparatory meetings were held, both in Vienna and in Malta between the Grand Chancellor of the Order and the Supreme Grand Prior-Elect and the Grand Vicar-Elect, respectively their Imperial Royal Highnesses the Archduke of Austria Sandor Habsburg-Lothringen and his lady wife Princess Herta Margarete Habsburg-Lothringen.
In 1995, the Grand Priories of Scotland and England opted to constitute a new chivalric organisation named the United Grand Priories of the Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem in order to amalgamate the hundreds of Lazarite brethren who, at that moment in time, were totally disillusioned by the constant bickering and in-fighting of already existing Lazarite organisations within the British Isles.
From these brave first steps, an international confraternity of Lazarite brothers and sisters emerged, more than fourteen thousand strong and operating in all the continents under the United Nations. The year 2020, being the 25th anniversary of such a founding, will be marking this achievement by means of an international Lazarite symposium to be held in Malta, in which, for the first time, the Order will be under the Royal Protection of the Habsburg-Lothringen dynastic family.
More details will be announced in due course.