Patrice Roulet Fontani was born in the South of France, where his devoted grandmother would tell him stories about princes and knights... your typical bedtime story. However, his grandmother used to tell him something else, a rather unique tale, that she was a descendant of a Maltese family of Counts.
"My grandmother had a difficult life. After the Second World War, she fell in love with a very difficult and uncompromising man - my grandfather. Back in the 50s, she tried to persuade him to let her claim the title in Malta. My grandfather never agreed to this, as he believed that she was going mad."
It is here that his story began. Although he moved to Canada when he was in his thirties, he decided to find out whether his grandmother's claim was true.
Patrice thinks there was another reason for this, that his grandfather feared his wife's title would have given her far too much status and independence. "Those were other times. A woman's condition in France was very different to what it is today and back then it was virtually impossible for a wife to gainsay her husband's will. She had to do what she was told. Thus, until recently, any mention of my grandmother's title of Countess was strictly taboo."
Remembering his grandmother's stories, he convinced his mother to rummage through old boxes given to her by her mother as part of his family legacy.
"There, she discovered my great-grandfather's 'livret de famille', as well as letters between my grandmother and a certain Maltese national, who asked her to sell her shares in a property in Malta."
With these documents in hand, he enlisted the help of a genealogist and discovered his grandmother's tales to be true.
"I felt a great sadness for my grandmother who had to live with this injustice and prejudice for her entire life". Patrice then set out on a journey to claim his family title.
It turned out, however, that the title is already claimed by another descendant of Vincenzo Fontani, the original Count.
It turns out that the title had gone into abeyance with the death of the fifth Count (25th December 1956) but it was called out of abeyance in 1983 in an advert published in the French paper 'Le Figaro'. The advert informed the descendants that unless they came forward to claim the title within a period of three months, the title would revert to the current title holder.
Both have claim to the title, with the current holder having held the title over 30 years, however Patrice believes he has a stronger claim and is attempting to pursue it in memory of his now deceased grandmother. He travelled to Malta to ask the Committee of Privileges of the Maltese Nobility to consider his claim and hopes that they will do so.
Mr Roulet Fontani explained that he would love to sit down with the current title holder to explain his feelings and intentions. "I don't want them to feel like I am trying to steal something, this is not the case at all, I just want to regain my name for my grandmother".
The title was created by Grand Master de Rohan on 6 June 1795. It was bestowed on Vincenzo Fontani and annexed to the estates of Tas-Senja situated in the Marsa area, owned by Fontani's mother and which were therefore raised to the dignity of a fief or feudal tenure. The remainder was to Fontani's male and female descendants in perpetuity.
"Vincenzo Fontani was made Captain of Cavalry when he was four years old, a Knight of Devotion in the Order of St John at the age of 11 by GM de Rohan and a Count when he was 13," a local historian said. "There were obviously very close ties indeed between Grand Master de Rohan and Vincenzo Fontani. According to Carmelo Testa in his book Maz-zewg Nahat tas-swar, (p. 653) Vincenzo's father, Lorenzo Fontani was probably de Rohan's illegitimate son, so Vincenzo was de Rohan's grandson". This information is further backed by information available in the book called "The Quality of Malta", by Marquis Nicholas de Piro, where "The Fontani Escritoire" featured in the book is believed to have belonged to Grand Master de Rohan.
Vincenzo married Elizabetta Alessi, daughter of the first Marquis of Taflia in 1803, establishing the line of the Counts of Senia. Descent, since then, has been by primogeniture.
Responding to questions by this newsroom, Marquis Nicholas de Piro explained that the Committee of Privileges of the Maltese Nobility was granted to Malta in the 19th century by the Parliament of the House of Lords at Westminster. Its historic function has been to evaluate claims to the surviving 32 titles of nobility in Malta.
"It was decreed that the members of the committee had to be title holders. They were officially considered to be 'puisne' judges. They would, after the demise of a Maltese titleholder, consider a claim and were able to recognise an heir".
"In days gone by when titled Maltese held high precedence officially, an appeal to the High Court was available to a claimant who was dissatisfied with the Committee of Privileges' verdict. There is now no higher appeal available when a title is not vacant."
Marquis De Piro added that nowadays, property no longer forms part of the brief of the Committee.
Patrice expressed his determination to pursue his family's claim to the title at every level if the Committee does not consider his claim soon.