Tributes have been paid to a former deputy lieutenant of Northumberland who has died aged 71.

Matthew Festing died in Malta on Friday.

Mr Festing, born in Tarset on November 30, 1949, was appointed OBE by The Queen and served as one of her deputy lieutenants in Northumberland.

Mr Festing served as the 79th Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta.

He was elected in 2008 and served as Grand Master until January 2017.

On Friday the Grand Grand Magistry of Malta announced that Mr Festing had died while visiting Malta, where on November 4 he attended the solemn profession of religious vows of Fra' Francis Vassallo in St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta.

In a statement, the Order of Malta said: "The Lieutenant of the Grand Master, Fra' Marco Luzzago in offering prayers for Fra' Matthew, invites all members and volunteers of the Order of Malta to pray for his soul."

Mr Festing's niece, Lucinda Newcombe, said: "He was very charismatic and a very entertaining man and a great storyteller.

"He was abroad quite a lot and if he wasn't on a mission he would be in Northumberland.

"He is a proud Northumbrian at heart."

Mr Festing became a member of the Sovereign Order of Malta in 1977 and took solemn religious vows in 1991.

Between 1993 and 2008 he was Grand Prior of England, the first holder of that role for 450 years.

In this capacity, he led humanitarian aid missions to Kosovo, Serbia and Croatia.

He was a descendant of Sir Adrian Fortescue, a knight of Malta, who was martyred in 1539.

Elected Prince and 79th Grand Master on March 11, 2008, he resigned the position on January 28, 2017.

Jack Straker, who worked with Mr Festing between 2014 and 2017 as his executive assistant, said: "It was generally the fun of working with him that I will remember.

"He was an incredibly funny man and very,very kind.

"It was a very strange job he was in and a lot of people got wrapped up in it and he was able to cut through the nonsense and always remained true to himself and made people laugh."

Mr Festing's funeral will be held in Malta with a requiem mass in the UK, with the details still being finalised by his family.