Grand Master of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910) should not be confused with Grand Master of the Order of Saint Lazarus.
The grand master of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910) is the leader of a confraternal order claiming legacy and contingency to the medieval Catholic military order known as the Order of Saint Lazarus.
It claims continuity by assertion that during the period from 1814 to 1841, the order was under the direction of a Council of Officers with King Louis XVIII (1814–1824) and King Charles X (1824–1831) as protectors of the order, and was then passed on, evolving into the current list of grand masters.
The order lost its royal protection in 1831 but, according to some pretensions, continued to function under the direction of the Council of Officers.[1]
| Order | Name | Image | Title | Date installed | Term ended | Term of office | Comments | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administrator General de Ordres Royaux, Militaires et Hospitaliers de Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel et de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem Réunis | 1814 | 1824 | ||||||
| President of the Council of Officers de Ordres Royaux, Militaires et Hospitaliers de Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel et de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem Réunis | 1824 | 1831 | Members of the Council of Officers (1831-1841): Father Picot, Comte Vincent Vienot de Vaublanc, Baron de Silvestre. | |||||
| Members of the Council of Officers de Ordres Royaux, Militaires et Hospitaliers de Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel et de Saint-Lazare de Jérusalem Réunis | 1831 | 1841 | Members of the Council of Officers: Father Picot, Comte Vincent Vienot de Vaublanc, Baron de Silvestre. |
The period following the loss of Temporal Protection of the French Royal Family in 1831 until 1910 is controversial. Some claim that the order did not survive, whereas some claim the period is at best shrouded in mystery since no contemporary documentation seems to have survived.
Modern tradition of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910) maintains that, after 1841, the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarchs assumed the leadership of the order, as Hospitaller Nobles of St. Lazarus.[2]
| Order | Name | Image | Title | Date installed | Term ended | Term of office | Comments | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administrator General of the Order of the Hospitallers of Saint Lazarus | 1841 | 1855 | ||||||
| 1856 | 1864 | |||||||
| 1864 | 1898 | |||||||
| 1898 | 1902 | |||||||
| 1902 | 1910 | |||||||
| Protector of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem | 1910 | 1916 | In 1910, new statutes were promulgated whereby the management was assumed by the Council of Officers, while the Melkite Patriarch assumed the position of Protector. In 1935, a new Grand Master was appointed. | [3] | ||||
| 1919 | 1925 | |||||||
| 1925 | 1935 | |||||||
| Duke of Seville (jure uxoris) | Grand Master of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem | 1935 | 1952 | Grand Bailiff of Spain, nominated as Lieutenant General of the Grand Magistry in 1930, then elected as Grand Master in 1935. | ||||
| 1956 | 1967 | Son and Coadjutor of Francisco de Borbón y de la Torre. Nominated as Lieutenant General of the Grand Magistry, then elected as Grand Master in 1956. | ||||||
Duke of Nemours, First Prince of the Blood of France | 1967 | 1970 | Also served as Bailiff of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. | |||||
| In 1969, internal strife split the Order into two fractions: the Malta Obedience and the Paris Obedience. Each had its own separate administrators and Grand Masters. | ||||||||
| Order | Name | Image | Title | Date installed | Term ended | Term of office | Comments | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 1995 | Also served as Bailiff of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. | ||||||
| 1996 | 2008 | Son of Francisco de Borbón y Borbón; appointed Grand Master Emeritus in 2008. |
| Order | Name | Image | Title | Date installed | Term ended | Term of office | Comments | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pierre de Cossé, | 1969 | 1986 | Previously served as Administrator General (1956–1969). | ||||||
13th Duke of Brissac | 1986 | 2006 | Son of Pierre de Cossé; appointed Grand Master Emeritus. | ||||||
| In 2004, strife within the Paris Obedience led to a further split that was to assume the name of the Orleáns Obedience. In 2008, the old Malta and Paris Obediences reunited under a new Grand Master, with the previous Grand Masters being appointed emeriti. The Melkite Patriarch Gregory III Laham remained the Spiritual Protector of the Order until he was succeeded by Patriarch Youssef Absi. | |||||||||
| Order | Name | Image | Title | Date installed | Term ended | Term of office | Comments | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marqués de Almazán (jure uxoris) | Grand Master of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem | 2008 | 2017 | He took the solemn oath in Manchester Cathedral, England. | [4] [5] | |||
| 2018 | Son of Francisco de Borbón y Escasany; elected and installed as Grand Master in Madrid on May 5, 2018. | [6] |
| Order | Name | Image | Title | Date installed | Term ended | Term of office | Comments | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| , Duke of Anjou | 2004 | 2010 | Re-established the temporal protection of the Head of the Royal House of France. Now Grand Master Emeritus. | [7] | ||||
| 2010 | 2023 | Resigned, now Grand Master Emeritus. | ||||||
| Prince, Count of Dreux | 2023 | Incumbent | Installed as Grand Master at Maredsous Abbey in Belgium on September 16, 2023. |