The new Grand Priory of France and Brittany joins the United Grand Priories of the Order

After a prolonged dialogue and deliberation period by both parties, the United Grand Priories of the Order are pleased to announce that the Supreme Grand Prior and the Council of Knights of the Order, in open Chapter, unanimously agreed to the petition of the Grand Priory of France and Brittany to join the Order as a whole, active unit operating in France.

The Order was present in France in the past years and had an active team of members operating in various parts of the country and led by the Chevalier Michel Buillerand KLJ, a noteworthy Resistance officer based in Vichy who sadly passed away. The Supreme Grand Priory was cautious in who to put in as the succeeding Grand Prior of such an important jurisdiction. Its actions were justified with the disarray which various components of other ‘military’ Lazarite organisations faced this year, especially after the scandal of February of this year when Francisco Joaquín de Borbón von Hardenberg—the 50th Grand Master of the Malta-Paris obedience of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem —was arrested in February 2026 in Marbella, Spain, for alleged involvement in a major drug-trafficking and money-laundering network. Investigators accuse his network of laundering millions of euros in drug proceeds from a historic Spanish cocaine cartel (valued between €400 million and €700 million). The Grand Priory of France and Brittany were previously a Priory of the ‘Miltary and Hospitaller’ tradition who opted to join our confraternity.

The Grand Priory of France and Brittany, led by its Grand Prior HE the Chevalier Paul Wassilieff d'Espalungue GCLJ KMLJ, a former French naval officer and antiques expert. The Grand Priory also consists of the Commandery of Brittany, led by its Commander, the Chevalier Noel Alexandre KLJ, the Commandery of Normandy, led by its Commander, the Chevalier Giovanni Sital-Dahone KLJ and theOrthodox Commandery of St. Patrick, led by its Commander, Dame Yustina Panina DLJ.

The Supreme Grand Priory congratulates our French brothers and sisters and reiterates its constant support for the growth of our Order in the French jurisdiction.