The History of the "Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem" according to the Commandery of the Palm Beaches examined against the facts.

the Johanniterorden was created by the Prussian king

only to be followed by the establishment of the Most Venerable Order by the Queen Empress Victoria.

The JohanniterOrden was a German part of the historic Order which had become Protestant in the 1500s, and from 1810 was controlled by the Prussian Crown but once again became independent of the Crown in 1852.

The French Commission (the unofficial body overseeing the remains of the French Langues following the republic's dismemberment of the Order in France) created a British Branch (1827) only adopted by Queen Victoria as a Royal Order in 1888.

Following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the deposition of its Romanov protectors, and the advent of Communist rule, activities of The Order

This very claim raises the question "if Emperor Nicholas II passed on the 'authorities' from the Royal House of Romanoff to the Royal House of Karageorgevitch along with the relics, why did the American Grand Priory/Sovereign Order of St John wait to acknowledge the Karageorgevitch House until 1962/4, when King Peter was readily accessible after the Second World War?". In other words why did King Peter wait until 1962/4 before being involved in any leadership role? Previous American Grand Priory/Sovereign Order of St John histories have expressed King Peter's roles as being an "hereditary protector" as stated in the King Peter Constitution of 1964.

FACT: King Peter did not inherit an "Order of St John" from Yugoslavia - he joined a pre-existing Order, which claimed to have been founded in the USA in 1908. At first (in 1962) he was a Protector to a schismatic part of the USA Order which had been led by Colonel Paul Granier de Cassagnac - a provable historic fact! He became the Grand Master to a faction of this Order in January 1965.

Eric Muraise puts this more simply "It is surprising, if Peter II had possessed an hereditary right to the protectorship of the OSJ, that he accepted this dignity from the hand of Colonel de Cassagnac" (see book list below)

The fact, is that the justification in accepting the Karageorgevitch Royal line as the Order's "authority", is 'post factum' (i.e., the justification of the claim that some "authority" accompanied the hand of John the Baptist, was not one offered until King Peter's involvement with the Pichel Order and its offshoots. This reasoning comes from the critical need seen by the American Grand Priory/Sovereign Order of St John to create an identity consonant with the model of the Order created by Paul I of Russia by having the patronage of Royalty somehow connected to the Russian Royal House, in much the same way as the 1928 group continued with the patronage of the Romanoffs.

Initially histories within the American Grand Priory/Sovereign Order of St John credited the foundation of their Order continuing the Russian tradition in the USA in 1908 by Russian Hereditary Commanders. With the gradual realisation, that at best Pichel's history (from which these histories drew their facts) of the years 1908 to the 1950s, could not be verified, and at worst, that it was a fable, the groups operating under King Peter's Constitution placed a greater reliance upon King Alexander of Serbia's attendance at the Corps des Pages academy, and the subsequent passing on of the relics of the Order to his keeping. The relics were seen as symbolising the Order's "moral contents" or "moral authority". Their transfer to the Karageorgevitch Royal House was then seen as a by-passing of Grand Duke Kyrill Mikhailovitch, successor to the Russian throne, in favour of King Alexander. Thus the continuation of the Order can begin with King Peter II, not relying upon any arguments about the continuation or re-establishment of the Order in 1908.

The Times of Malta 28th May 1997 page 60, - cites that recent historical evidence provides the information that the relics were bequeathed to Princess Yelena.

In 1928 the Russian exiles supported by Grand Duke Alexander (with the encouragement of Grand Duke Kyrill) met in Paris to continue the activities of the Russian Grand Priory in exile. Thus the Russian Grand Priory was AND remained Russian. This group has continued, and is still supported by members of the Russian Imperial Family. As respected as they are, as Orthodox Monarchs, neither King Alexander, nor King Peter were members of the Russian Grand Priory.

In 1963 King Peter issued a Charter for the Cassagnac 'Order'.

In 1964 issued a Constitution (Known as the 'King Peter Constitution') to the Cassagnac 'Order', which was then used by King Peter for his own 'Order', when he split from Cassagnac in January 1965 to become Grand Master of his own Order.

The Constitution in itself cannot bestow a "fons honorum" - or fount of honour. A fount of honour is a Head of State, or Head of a Royal House, no longer reigning due to political change. Even if the Constitution could bestow a fount of honour, there are some seven or more "King Peter Orders" all claiming to be THE King Peter Order! The actual Constitution as signed by the King is held in Malta and claimed by the King Peter Order as led by Victor Xuereb!

See: http://www.orderstjohn.org/kposj/kpgml.htm

This Web page will give you a list of competing Grand Masters and Lieutenant Grand Masters. In 1966, of the three connected 'Sovereign Orders' there were three competing Grand Masters, King Peter, Cassagnac and Edelen! With further schisms the list now contains enough Grand Masters and Lieutenant Grand Masters still alive to form a Commandery of their own!

Conclusions.
Sadly the "history" offered by the web site;
http://www.osjpb.org/index.cfm  is far from satisfactory. Surely there must be a duty for anyone publishing a history to check the facts?
Even if the books below are not available to the author a search on the World Wide Web will produce some dozens of articles. One key article on the King Peter Order is:
http://www.orderstjohn.org/kposj/kphist.htm

Another key article dealing with the relics is:
http://www.orderstjohn.org/kposj/relics.htm

General articles can be found on:
http://www.orderstjohn.org/osj/history.htm

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*1964 Constitution; Tonna-Barthet, Gaston. Constitution of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, given by His Majesty King Peter II of Yugoslavia 19th March 1964, Progress Press, Russian Grand Priory, Malta, 1974.
*1968 OSJ Bulletin; Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem The Hospitallers, Knights of Malta. Bulletin Special Issue in Honor of the newly elected Lieutenant Grand master H.S.H. Prince Serge Belosselsky-Belozersky, Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem 475 Fifth Avenue, New York, USA 1968.
*1990 OSJ Deliberations; :Order of St John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller. Deliberations of the Sovereign Council of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem August 8-11, 1990. English Translation August 1990.
*Boisgelin; Boisgelin, Louis de. Ancient and Modern Malta, and the History of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, 3 Volumes bound together. G & J Robinson, London 1804.
*Brett-Crowther M.Sc., Ph.D., D.I.C. S.Th. , Dr. Michael Richard. Orders of Chivalry under the Aegis of the Church. Lambeth Diploma of Student in Theology (S.Th.) Thesis, 1st December 1990.
*Cassagnac, Colonel Paul de. Histoire de l'Ordre Souverain de St-Jean de Jerusalem Chevaliers Hospitaliers O.S.J. Liver Rouge, Scorpion, Paris, 1963.
*Cavaliero, Roderick, The Last of the Crusaders; the Knights of St. John and Malta in the Eighteenth Century. Dufour Editions, Philadelphia, 1960.
*Cave-Brown-Cave, Bt., KCSJ, Sir Robert. The Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller, A Short History, 900 Years of Chivalry (1099 to date), The OSJ Historical Committee, The Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller. Vancouver, B.C. Canada 1997.
*Formhals, Robert Willard Yates. Story of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller under Royal Charter of Peter II, King of Yugoslavia, in Ed. Hartwell, Sir Rodney. The Knights Hospitallers, Volume I, Number 1. Sir Rodney Hartwell, California USA April-May-June 1975.
*Formhals, Robert W. Y. White Cross : Story of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, with particular emphasis on the Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller since 1964 under Royal Charter of Peter II, King of Yugoslavia. Sanghals Publishers, Camarillo, California, USA, 1979.
*Gayre, R of Gayre and Nigg, Lieutenant Colonel. The Knightly Twilight, Lochore Enterprises (Malta) Ltd Valletta, Malta 1973.
*Hodges, Douglas and Podesta, Roland. Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusaelm, Knights Hospitaller, Historical Information. Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusaelm, Knights Hospitaller, Grand Priory in Australia 1989.
*Joly, Guy-Jean.  Millenary chronology of the hospitallers of St John - OSJ, Publibook.com, Paris 2001.
*Muraise, Eric, (Colonel M. Suire) Histoire Sincere Des Ordres De L'Hopital, Fernand Lanore Paris 1978.
*Peyrefitte, Roger. Knights of Malta. Translated from the French by Edward Hyams. Criterion Books, New York, 1959.
*Pichel, Thourot. History of the Hereditary Government of the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Maltese Cross Publishers, Shickshinny, Pennsylvania 1970.
*Pierredon, Count Marie Henri Thierry Michel de, Histoire Politique de l'Ordre Souverain des Hospitaliers de Saint-Jean de Jerusalem dit de Malte, Paris 1926.
*Pierredon, Count Marie Henri Thierry Michel de, Histoire Politique de l'Ordre Souverain de Saint-Jean de Jerusalem, (Ordre de Malte) de 1789 à 1955, Volume 1, Paris 1956.
*Pierredon, Count Marie Henri Thierry Michel de, Histoire Politique de l'Ordre Souverain de Saint-Jean de Jerusalem, Ordre de Malte, Volume 2, Paris 1963 .
*Quelen Jacques-Youenn de. Precis History and Spirituality of the OSJ. Regular Order of St John Knights Hospitallers, Publibook.com, Paris 2000.
*Ragsdale, Hugh, ed. Paul I: a reassessment of his life and reign. University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh, 1979.
*Sainty, G.S. The Orders of Saint John, New York 1991.
*Sire, H.J.A. The Knights of Malta, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, 1994.
*Smith, Harrison, and Storace, Joseph E, Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Second Edition, Akker Print, Delft, The Netherlands 1977.
*Taube, Professor Baron Michel de. L'Empereur Paul I de Russie, Grand Maître de l'Ordre de Malte, et son Grand Prieuré Russe, Paris 1955.
*Torr, Cecil. The Hospitallers in England, Correspondence in The Athenæum - Journal of English and Foreign Literature, Science and the Fine Arts, Music and the Drama, John C. Francis, The Athenæum Press, 22 Took's Court, Cursitor Street, Chancery Lane London EC, Volume for 1890. Numbers 3245 Jan 4th, page 16, 3248. Jan 25th, pages 117 and 118. 3267 June 7th, pages 737-739. 3268 June 14th, page 770.
*Vella OP, Professor Andrew P, Malta and the Czars 1697-1802, Royal University Press, Malta, 1972.
*Vertot, Monsignor l'Abbe de. The History of the Knights of Malta. Printed for G. Strahan,  2 Volumes, London, 1728.