When discussed by men and for men, the topic is rather delicate, though it provides an excellent opportunity to evaluate the extent and the limits of our belief in male supremacy. While the Order of Knighthood is open to and works for men alone, this ultimately enhances both sexes rather than define a hierarchy between them. Going further into and defending the male universe does not mean crushing the female universe. It is rather a means of recognising its existence and importance. And as for discussions about its dignity, we consider them not only futile but injurious. An equality which cannot be taken for granted, in silence, becomes unreachable and incomplete. To conclude, let us consider a little known characteristic of equality. It is a law which works both ways, above all against our will. This means that the other is both our mirror and our measure. The greater we consider women, the better we will know ourselves to be, and vice versa.

 The male archetype in which we identify ourselves is that most classic and ancestral figure: the knight. While from this viewpoint, Man's conscience aspires to an ideal of Honour and Merit, its female counterpart aspires to Grace. Behind every Woman there is a Princess, who from her pedestal stands as a figure of inspiration, counsel, desire, rest for the warrior, the supreme ornament of herself and of the man accompanying her, the first principle and ultimate end of great part of our imagination. According to Nietzsche, Man is attracted by gaming and by risk, and Woman is the most dangerous game.

 We are pleased to disappoint those who were hoping to find suggestive comments on this topic, which in our view should not be subject to any lowering of the tone. Any debasement or trivialisation of the female involves a loss of our male dignity, and God knows we would like many more women to realise that the opposite is true. Alas for the Man who lacks gallantry! Alas for the Woman who betrays her natural aspiration to Grace, the chosen mother of Elegance! In our recent history we have become used to stopping at the much cruder value of aesthetic beauty, beauty which is an end unto itself. It is not there that Woman must fight her battle, or at least it is not only there. The nobility to which she legitimately can and must aspire cannot be measured in the same way as bust size. It is certainly not up to us to tell her what to do or what to be, but let us be allowed to express a point of view, a way of feeling that has given great results and which still today inspires and enchants. In the place of those tomboy girls, slouching around on the ground just like their male classmates, using a vocabulary that seems to liberate them while instead condemning them, we like to evoke the immortal icons of a Maria Callas, Grace Kelly, or Jacqueline Kennedy. Simple though with the greatest refinement, spontaneous even when in the most complete control of themselves, highly eloquent despite the abstraction fitting to their rank, adorned with the admiration and the blind devotion they aroused, to us it is women like these who merit the supreme throne.

Any further comment is superfluous. There is no better way to express what we mean than looking at the images that have engraved the essence of femininity in our memory. The most difficult task is capturing that inexpressible secret which has made them so great. Since simple imitation is both dangerous and impossible, it is clear that each of us, whether Man or Woman, must be able to find our own style. Yet, though our roads will be different, we need to know which way to set out.