Comment and Opinion

ASPARTAME DISEASE: An Ignored Epidemic

This site belongs to a Dr H J Roberts and the vanity press operation which publishes his books. The heading above is the title of one of his books which is regularly cited by the opponents of the sweetener Aspartame. On this page you are told that:

"Dr. Roberts has been knighted by the Order of St. George for his professional and humanitarian efforts."

It also used to say:

"He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize nominee"

The Order of St George was a Russian Imperial military honour. It is reasonable to assume that none of these awards have been handed out since 1917.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/medals/russia/ostg.html

Unless Dr Roberts is a British citizen or a citizen of a Commonwealth country, he is unlikely that he would receive a knighthood from the Order of St Michael and St George. He could be made an honorary member of the order, but that isn't a knighthood. If he were a knight of the order, he would use the initials KCMG or GCMG after his name. (I cannot imagine someone holding this honour who would not do this.) Outside of the UK, the honour is usually reserved for people who become Governors General, that is, the local representatives of the Crown. It is not awarded for "professional and humanitarian efforts".

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page4884.asp

The Knights of St George is a social group who get together in fancy dress and play at being medieval knights. It is probably a lot of fun. There was a Star Trek conference near my place recently where similar activity took place, although I suspect the Trekkies take what they do much more seriously.

http://www.oksg.org.au and http://members.tripod.com/St_Goerge/St_George.html

The Order of St George of Alfama has not been awarded since 1399.

http://www.medals.org.uk/aragon/aragon06.htm

Then there is the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, although there may be some problems if Dr Roberts has a son (or stepson?) who is a Rabbi, because "The Order is dedicated to propaganda of the Faith, Defence of the Church and support of the Holy See; the members owe a particular duty of loyalty to the Pope and to support the teachings and dogma of the Roman Catholic Church".

http://www.constantinianorder.org

Here's a likely one, though. The Kingdom of Landreth has a knighthood in "The Order of Saint George the Dragonslayer" which is conferred on "workers within the health care profession". I don't know whether you have to pay the $150 to become a citizen of Landreth before you can be knighted.

http://www.kingdom-of-landreth.org/honors/stgeorge.htm [dead link]

A supporter of Dr Roberts gave me a list of people claiming to have knighthoods in the Order of St George in an apparent attempt to convince me that if something is possible then it must have happened. Most of the people in the list were claiming the award as being something to do with the US Armor and Cavalry service, but that is irrelevant here as Dr Roberts is not claiming to have a military award but one for "professional and humanitarian efforts". As the claimants couldn't seem to agree on the name of the knighthood and the United States Armor Association only talks about a Bronze Medallion, not a knighthood, I wrote to the Association for clarification. They replied: "The only award we have are the Bronze Silver and Gold levels of the order of St George. We also have a Noble Patron of Armor award. Do not know what you are talking about".

It seems that doctors who are US citizens can receive knighthoods in an Order of St George from the Greek King. Well, they could in the early 1920s. The current King of Greece lives in England and probably doesn't do much Greek ceremonial work these days, what with the sailing and the International Olympic Committee taking up so much of his time.

The mystery has been solved! I asked Dr Roberts about it and he replied: "I was knighted at a formal ceremony of the Constantinian Order of St. George in April 1993, personally by Prince Henry Constantine Paleologo. (The address is 126 Cross Road, Marsa, Malta.)".

Here is some information about Prince Henri, and you can read about his Order of St George here.

All nominations for the Pulitzer Prize can be found on the prize web site. The only occurrences of the name "Roberts" are:

• 1957
  SPECIAL AWARDS AND CITATIONS - LETTERS [Winner - Special Award] Kenneth Roberts
  A special citation is awarded to Kenneth Roberts for his historical novels which have long contributed to the creation of greater interest in our early American history.
• 1974
  COMMENTARY [Winner] Edwin A. Roberts Jr. of National Observer
  For his commentary on public affairs during 1973.
  SPOT NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY [Winner] Anthony K. Roberts, a free-lance photographer of Beverly Hills, Calif.
  For his picture series, "Fatal Hollywood Drama," in which an alleged kidnapper was killed.
• 2001
  EDITORIAL WRITING [Nominated Finalist] - Laurie Roberts of Arizona Republic
  For her persuasive editorial series urging reform of the process by which the state draws its legislative and congressional districts.

So - Dr Roberts has a pretend knighthood and his only connection with the Pulitzer Prize is that some of his works have been entered for consideration. What else does he say that is not true?

Read some more about Dr Roberts here.