The Order has been named, variously, as Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem (1113-1309), Order of Knights of Rhodes (1309-1522), Sovereign and Military Order of the Knights of Malta (1530-1798), Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem (1834-1961) and Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (since 1961).

The Grand Master was required to be primogenital, ennobled through his four grandparents for at least two centuries and taken the religious vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

The Icon, also known as the “Madonna of the Knights” had four silver 'dresses' set with pearls and precious stones, before the French stripped these. After presentation to the Czar at Gatchina, the Relics went to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg and survived the 1917 Revolution, being back at the Gatchina imperial residence for the annual celebrations on 12th October, the date of the 1799 presentation. By 1929, the Relics were at the Orthodox Church in Berlin until 1932 when transferred to the Dedinje Palace Chapel of Alexander I of Yugoslavia until 1941 before going to the Orthodox Monastery of Ostrog in Montenegro. Further reports on the Icon were in The Times, Malta 28th May 1997 and The Sunday Times, Malta 26th April 1998.

Details of the looted ecclesiastical and secular objects compiled by Joseph Lebrun, Master of the Mint are in The National Library of Malta Collection and listed in Victor F. Denaro, The Goldsmiths of Malta and Their Marks.

Montpellier was the home of certain notables associated with the French Revolution. During the von Hompesch lifetime, Pierre-Joseph Cambon, financial adviser, was born there in 1756, as was Jean-Jacques-Regis Cambaceres, Duke of Parma, in 1753, statesman and legal expert and Count Pierre-Antoine Daru in 1767 a military administrator. Carlo Maria Buonaparte, father of Napoleon 1st died there in 1785.

Three French warships had arrived to greet the Royal Yacht and a detachment of 300 French matelots was in the welcoming march past - Entente Cordiale!

The Grand Master's Palace became the official residence of British Governors of Malta.

Refer: Ugo Donati, I Marchi dell'Argenteria Italiana and Elio & Corrado Catello, I marchi dell'argenteria napoletana.

The whereabouts of Marsa Club Archives is unknown as these apparently disappeared when the British departed Malta.