Sponsored by
'King of Mann' sells titles for £90,000
TITLES are being offered in the name of the self-proclaimed King of Mann.
And these peerages don't come cheap – with a dukedom granted by 'His Royal Highness' fetching a very princely 90,000.
American businessman David Drew Howe, 38, who claims to be cousin to the Queen and a direct descendant of the Stanley family, crowned himself 'undisputed' King David of the Isle of Man after placing a notice in the London Gazette.
When his claim went unchallenged, he declared himself 'de jure' King of the Isle of Man at the end of March this year.
Mr Howe, who also goes under the names of Drew Howe and David Howe-Stanley and is married to 'Queen' Pamela and has a daughter 'Princess' Grace, claims to have a who's who of celebrity friends on his Myspace page.
They include Sean Connery, Tom Hanks, Princes William and Harry, the Dalai Lama, Madonna, Sir Terence Conran and Robert de Niro who he says are supporting his charity for AIDs victims in Malawi.
Now West Sussex-based Noble Titles is using King David's name to offer, according to its www.nobility.co.uk website, 'genuine titles of nobility guaranteed by a reigning European monarch.'
When Isle of Man Newspapers contacted Noble Titles last month they refused to divulge which reigning monarch was granting the titles and insisted they would not sell Manx titles.
But now the company's website has been altered to include King David's title and photograph.
Among titles available are a dukedom for 90,000 or you can become a marquess for 80,000. The title of count will set you back 70,000 a countess 60,000 and 50,000 to become a viscount.
The website states all proceeds will go to the Malawi Missions Project Charity by instruction of the King of Mann, excluding 'investiture, regalia and administration costs'.
And it points out that it is against the law in the UK to sell peerages under the 1925 Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act but insists Noble Titles complies with the law as the titles are not based in the UK and that 'under no circumstances' does the company actually sell the titles but petitions on the applicant's behalf to the 'Lord Advocate's Office' of a reigning monarch.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Send us your comments to newsviews@newsiom.co.im
YOUR COMMENTS
What started out as an interesting and amusing story of a seemingly semi-delusional American chancer, has now turned into something quite serious, as the monitory amounts stated are huge. Surely the authorities must intervene?! At the very least I think somebody should notify the Palace so that "cousin" Liz can inform this person that there is only one Lord of Man and that's her.
MICK, Douglas
Its amazing how our Stanley family members who are based here have not said anything about this ridiculous and self appointed King of our lovely Island. Surely someone must stop him making not only a fool of himself but of the residents of the Island. Can our Lieutenant Governor and the Government can step in to stop the madness!
TRACY
I wonder what this is doing to our international business reputation; surely there are many other business folks around the world that are also readers of this news website – the island is starting to look like a joke if we can't shut up idiots like 'Kind David'. Can someone wake up the MHK's please and put this lunacy to bed?!
ANDY, Douglas
In response to the article about peerages, I grew up an average person with an extraordinary family history, but I am still just an average person. I am also a person of faith. I sincerely believe that my ancestral heritage and the degree to which I could exercise my claim were revealed to me for the purposes of making a difference in the lives of people that have far less than what many can even comprehend. I believe God has made it my purpose to give relief to as many of these people as possible. I'm far less concerned with the judgement of people who don't know me or anything truthful about me than I am with fulfilling God's purpose for me. To that end, I'm often charged by some critics with not knowing enough about the Isle of Man and the Manx people. My question back to them would be; how many of you know anything about the over one million orphans of Malawi. My feeling is that if I am going to be criticized for what I am doing I would first suggest that my critics learn a little bit more about why I am doing it. Given the responses I've received from some, I don't expect everyone to understand this. That's okay. Perhaps, one day everyone will.
DAVID HOWE, King of Mann
You do not require a title to raise money for orphans! Stop using this as an excuse for believing you are 'King of Mann'. I used to dream of being a princess, but then I grew up!!
RJC
Dude King Dave - get over yourself! You are NOT our King – you will be NEVER be our King. If you've got any respect at all for this island, you will give up this silly claim.
KIM
David Howe, I give homage to the Isle of Man, Sons of the Isle of Man, I am a true manxmen, some might say we are 7ft tall, and I have heard manxmen kill men by the hundreds, and if one of them were here he would consume David Howe with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lighting from his arse, but I am a true manxmen, and I see a whole army of my islanders here in defiance of tyranny, you have fought to be free men and free men you are! What will you do without freedom, will you fight, no, you will run and live? Yes you will live, for at least a while, and dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that. For one chance just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemy that he may take our lives, but he will never take our freedom!! People of Mann, unite to destroy this evil threat that aims to destroy are land and our freedoms, that are ancestors fought to gain, so that we can call ourselves freemen and our own, free of Dave. All the Best
CHUCK KNEEN
This all sounds like a big, fat scam to me. Having lived most of my life in the US of A, I have seen many such appeals for money in the name of "orphans" or "starving children" or some such. Usually, when an American cloaks himself in indignant Christian morality while simultaneously asking for huge sums of money (and dropping the names of various celebrities) and playing on people's guilt ("how many of you know anything about the over one million orphans of Malawi"), something is very, very wrong. If David Howe is indeed on the up and up, he will gladly open his financial records and those of his charity to anyone who asks. I see him referred to again and again as "An American Businessman". Really? What business? Where does he live now? How does he make his living? Can't find references to him online. His own website has "news links" to Yahoo and AP news stories that all seem to originate at one Public Relations agent in New York. Each of these "stories" has as a source one of the other "stories" or a single prweb post. This is the game the Bush Adminisration plays whenever they want to plant false news releases. Works pretty well for them. His charity "Malawi Missions" doesn't seem to be registered as an official charity, and the only references I can find to it are on King Dave's website and the aforementioned pr releases. He claims to support www.kwaze-kwasa.com, yet they don't link to him, and they list finances of less than $60,000 US. He claims to be "fulfilling God's purpose" yet doesn't seem to be affiliated with any church. There are legitimate sites in the USA called Malawi Missions that are actually run by churches. Is his "charity" associated with one? Maybe King Dave can travel to Douglas and offer to help the Broadway Baptist Church. They do excellent work on the Isle and through foreign missions, and they are no fools. They will know immediately if Dave's a scammer. The questions I would ask are these:
What percentage of revenues gained from the sale of these royal titles goes towards direct aid to any orphan?
What are the annual salaries of any officers or staff of your organisation?
How many Porsches or Jaguars have been purchased for these orphans, and when will they be shipped to Malawi?
Is this man the "Drew Howe" from all the posts on the http://www.bullshido.net forums, the one who apparently ran a fraudulent Martial Arts School ,and who claimed a royal title last year (Duke of Antwerp) awarded by the micronation of Vikesland? Lots of strange coincidences, no?
If he is indeed providing legitimate aid to starving African children, more power to him. It just all seems so fishy. Where did he come from? Who is benefitting from all this money? Sounds to me like someone is taking advantage of the good people of the Isle of Man. Anyone can put up a myspace page and a website full of meaningless information that goes around in circles. It's strange that his myspace page suddenly has celebrities as "friends" and the regular people are way down the list. Almost looks like someone created their MySpace page and went trollong for celebrities. Easy to do. Just because someone's a MySpace "Friend" doesn't mean they know or support you. He doesn't have the support of the Manx people, yet attempts to legitimize his status by putting up a "history" section on his website full of Manx links. Has he ever even been to the Isle? It looks to me like the work of a master manipulator and con artist. If he is a scam artist, can't you folks chop off his head? Isn't that what happens over there when someone commits High Treason? I Love the Isle of Man and would hate to see someone use your good name to defraud others.
STEPHAN, San Francisco
I am sorry David, but you are not King (or Lord) of Mann – that title is bestowed upon your supposed cousin, Queen Elizabeth. In fact it makes me physically sick when I read such incredulity. On the matter of insinuating that readers of this website don't know about the starving people of Malawi, perhaps you should get your own facts straight before accusing them of not knowing or thinking about these people! How do you know how much these people may give to these and other charities? How do you know what beliefs these people have, and how they exercise their faith? It is for an individual to decide how to spend their money and practice their faith, but I would strongly suggest that using a fictitious title for the means of collecting money in the name of God is neither right or godly! You are as bad as those you suppose to be accusing, and I think I speak for most on the Isle of Man when I say you should do the right thing and disappear (leaving the title), and leave this foul mess behind you! Remember David, people have their own minds, and indoctrination rarely works.
CJM
The minute I heard about this ridiculous claim I sent up a petition for the Manx people to sign. Hopefully Tynwald will do something if they see how many people are bothered by this Man.
http://www.petitiononline.com/kingoman/petition.html
I have wrote to my MHK about the matter but told there is nothing Tynwald can do legally. I am disappointed that the Isle of Man Government is happy to sit back and let this American make these claims and upset many Manx residents including myself. I am fed up of his friends e-mailing me telling me what a good man he is. I just want rid.
LAURA QUAYE, Douglas
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Isle of Man
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Heavy showers
Temperature: 5 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 30 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 6 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
