Ambassador Dario Item, Earl of Rothes

A chosen inheritance

The succession of 2024

In his ninety-second year, towards the end of his life, Sir Christopher Ondaatje considered the succession to the Scottish dignities he had held for twenty years. Having endowed galleries and learned societies throughout his life, he chose his successor with a patron’s concern for the future custody of a collection and the care it would receive. By Assignation dated 5 November 2024 he conveyed to Ambassador Dario Item ‘all my whole right and entitlement’ in the Earldom of Rothes and the Sheriffdom of Fife. The deed gives his motive in his own words: ‘as a mark of personal esteem and acknowledgment of his long-standing cultural patronage’.⁶⁵

The Ambassador’s Claim of Entitlement ‘to The Dignity of the Feudal Earldom of Rothes and the Hereditary Office of Sheriff of Fife’ was accepted and registered in the Scottish Barony Register on 25 November 2024, in Volume 6, folios 27 to 29. The Custodian’s Certificate of Registration followed on 19 December 2024.⁵ Burke’s Peerage records the succession; Debrett’s lists ‘Rothes (Earldom) and Sheriffdom of Fife’ under Ambassador Item among the dignities of the Baronage of Scotland.^{66, 67}

Arms

Ambassador Item’s armorial bearings were granted by warrant of the Lord Lyon King of Arms dated 4 April 2025, on his application of 5 February 2025, and matriculated in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland: Vert, a hauszeichen Or, on a chief enarched two dragon’s heads couped combatant Vert; above the shield a helm befitting his degree with a mantling Vert doubled Or, and on a wreath of the liveries for crest a demi-dragon rampant Vert, with the motto Gradatim Ferociter; and for pennon two tracts of the liveries Vert and Or bearing the arms in the hoist.⁶⁸

Diplomatic career

Dario Item entered the diplomatic service of Antigua and Barbuda in 2016. Two years later he set up in Madrid the first resident embassy that the country had ever maintained in Spain. As Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary he is accredited to three monarchies, the Kingdom of Spain and the principalities of Liechtenstein and Monaco, and he presented his letters of credence in Madrid, Vaduz and Monaco from December 2018 to February 2019.⁶⁹

When the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization, now UN Tourism, admitted Antigua and Barbuda as a member in December 2021, he was also appointed his country’s Permanent Representative to the organisation, which has its headquarters in Madrid.⁷⁰

Lawyer and scholar

Dr Item is a national of Switzerland as well as of Antigua and Barbuda. He read law and political science, then took a Master of Laws and a PhD in criminal law. Admitted to practise as an attorney in Switzerland, he has published specialist studies on legal subjects.

Titles and honours

To the Earldom of Rothes and the Hereditary Office of Sheriff of Fife are joined the historic titles of Prince of St. Rosalie and Duke of Miraglia.

Debrett’s records ‘The Much Honoured’ as the style used for the holder of such a dignity in the Scottish baronage; Ambassador Item’s diplomatic office entitles him to the style ‘His Excellency’.⁹⁶

His honours are listed below by the royal house or the country that conferred them.

Portuguese Royal House

• Grand Collar of the Order of Merit of the Portuguese Royal House
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Equestrian and Military Order of Saint Michael of the Wing
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Military Order of Our Lady of the Conception of Vila Viçosa

Royal House of Georgia

• Grand Collar of the Royal Order of the Eagle of Georgia
• Great Star of the Royal Order of the Crown of Georgia
• Senator Grand Badge of the Royal Order of Saint Queen Tamar

Imperial House of Ethiopia

• Knight Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Emperor Menelik II

Spain

• Caballero of the Maestranza de Caballería de Castilla
• Caballero of the Orden del Tercio de Extranjeros
• Medal of the Real Cuerpo de la Nobleza del Principado de Asturias
• Cruz de Distinción del Ejército de Asturias
• Commemorative Medal of the 1300th Anniversary of the Proclamation of King Pelayo
• Medal of the Regimiento de Infantería Asturias n.º 31