The Regent

The history of Antarcticland presents two key-dates: 1821 when Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (also known by the Russian name Фаддей Фаддеевич Беллинсгаузен) founded the State in order to defend the Antarctic Continent that he discovered, and 2007 when  H.H. Sir Giovanni Caporaso Gottlieb was appointed by his predecessor H.H. Hans Gottlieb, as the 42nd Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of the knights of Antarcticland and Regent of Antarcticland. Sir Giovanni Caporaso Gottlieb, aware of the possible extinction of the Order and of the probable occupation of the national territory by other States, released the Knights from the obligation to secrecy and through an act of request for recognition claimed his territory officially, notifying it to the United Nations through the Supreme Court of New York on the bases of the jus gentium act and of the right of self-determination  of people recognised by the Magna Charta  of the United Nations and by other regional and international documents, included the Declaration on the Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relation and Co-operation among States adopted by the General Assembly of the UN in 1970; the Helsinky Final Act adopted by the Conference on Security and co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in 1975; the African Charter of Human and People Rights in 1981; the CSCE Charter of Paris for a new Europe adopted in 1990; The Vienna Declaration and Programme Action  in 1993 and reaffirmed by  the International Court of Justice of Namibia, the case of Western Sahara, and East Timor in which the Right was erga omnes recognized.

H.H. Sir Giovanni Caporaso Gottlieb
Born in Italy on 8th April 1960. He is the son of the economist Mario Caporaso and of the Princess Francesca Gottlieb. The Princess, who was born in Graz (Austria) in the state of Steiermark, took the Italian nationality during fascism to escape from the Gestapo’s persecutions.  H.H. the Regent lived in Genoa in his childhood, then he moved to Rome (Italy) where his paternal family has been living for 5 generations. It’s more than 25 years that he lives abroad. Since 12th February 2007 he has been the Regent of the State of Antarcticland and Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Antarcticland. Considering the new world context, the anachronism of a secret society and the necessity of defending the Sovereignty of the national territory, H.H. Sir Giovanni Caporaso Gottlieb released the Knights from the obligation to secrecy, giving new impulse to the State and inviting the citizens to register as the State Archives had been destroyed. During the two centuries since the foundation of the State of Antarcticland, that once included all the Antarctic Continent, the Order, obliged to secrecy, lost the control of most territory both for internal reasons, one for all the short periods of regency of the Grand Masters, and for the difficulties to protect so a large and inhospitable territory against other nations’ territorial claims.

H.H. Sir Giovanni Caporaso Gottlieb relate the story of the act of his nomination.
When I was contacted by H.H. Sir Hans Gottlieb, in a mysterious way, at the beginning of 2007, I have to admit I was surprised and astonished. Sir Hans Gottlieb, who introduced himself as a cousin of my mother, the princess Francesca Gottlieb (who died in 1990), told me he was the 41st Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Antarcticland and that he had been appointed in his turn by Vater F. Gottlieb in 1944. In three days Sir Hans handed down the secrets of the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Antarcticland to me and he appointed me 42nd Grand Master and Regent of the State of Antarcticland because, according to him, I was the only one to be able to defend the integrity of the territory and to reform the Order. At first I was surprised and amazed.  Then I started to remember the tales my mother used to tell me when I was a child, about brave knights who had the task to protect Antarcticland, The State of Ice. Sir Hans Gottlieb told me that, because of the occupation of the Antarctic Continent by many Governments, our territory was now limited to the lands and islands extending from the South Pole to 60° S latitude between longitudes 90° W and 135° W, with a total area of 1.554.424, slightly less than the size of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Switzerland all together. Moreover he made me aware that also this territory was in danger and that not much could be done because the Sovereign Order was linked to the obligation to secrecy from the dim and distant past. I asked him why they hadn’t broken the silence to claim the rights jus gentium on the national territory. The answer was significant: “The oath obliged me to silence. The vow could not be broken  because all the knights had sworn it.” The task of rebuilding the State and the Order seemed to me impossible and at first I refused the appointment. Only in the third day, when Sir Hans, almost weeping, pleaded me for accepting the appointment because he was dying for an incurable cancer which had almost disfigured his face, I accepted the new charge but under the condition that I wasn’t obliged to swear to keep the secret imposed by Sir Fabian Gottlieb in 1821 and in force since then. After my acceptance, Sir Hans signed the act of the appointment and told me: “Today Antarcticland and the Sovereign Order of the knights of Antarcticland are born again.” Then he disappeared without leaving traces. I started my task writing the Magna Charta (the Constitution) he had orally handed down to me and I began to reconstruct the State of Antarcticland which is today a new reality.

At the present Antarcticland territorial integrity is preserved by a request of recognition applied by H.H. Sir Giovanni Caporaso Gottlieb, to the United Nation General Secretariat through the Supreme Court of New York, notified with a Petition in date 12 October 2007.

Click on the image to enlarge

Note: in the AFFIDAVIT (here above) of the Supreme Court of New York the name of Antarcticland has been written with a mistake which is not present in the document which has been sent. The mistake has been made by the notification office and not by the Government of Antarcticland.

Images of the childhood of H.H. Sir Giovanni Caporaso Gottlieb

Michelangelo Cruise´s Captain with the Prince of Antarcticland

Prince Giovanni Gottlieb did study law

Prince Giovanni and Princess Francesca front to an igloo

Prince Giovanni Gottlieb in a ski competition

Prince Giovanni has 3 golden stars by the Italian Ski Club

Prince Giovanni Gottlieb skating on ice