John Dunlap, a Canadian lawyer, was yesterday elected as the 81st Grand Master of the Order of Malta, the first Professed Knight from the Americas to be elected to the role.
Dunlap, 66, from Ottawa, Canada, becomes the 81st Grand Master in the nearly 1,000-year history of the group which is formally known as Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta.
Dunlap was elected in the Magistral Villa in Rome, one of the two institutional seats of the Order of Malta, by the Council Complete of State, the elective body, by an absolute majority of votes. There were 99 voters from 18 different countries.
