Order of Royal and Select Masters

The Order of Royal and Select Masters is an appendant order of Freemasonry and frequently referred to as 'Cryptic Degrees'. In England and Wales, the degrees are practiced as a stand-alone organisation of Freemasonry while in some other Masonic Constitutions, they form part of the York Rite.

The Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of England and Wales and its Districts and Councils Overseas was formally constituted on 29 July 1873 by four English councils that had been chartered two years earlier by the York Rite Grand Council of New York (see Cryptic Masonry). These four English councils organized themselves as a sovereign body under the leadership of G.R. Portal, a Past Grand Master of the Order of Mark Master Masons, who also became first Grand Master of the Order of Royal and Select Masters.

In England and Wales, all Master Masons who are both Royal Arch and Mark Master Masons are eligible for membership of this Order. Members wear a jewel and a characteristic apron which is triangular in shape.

The Order meets in Councils, which are grouped into districts and administrated by a District Grand Master. The Grand Council in London governs over 240 Councils in England and Wales and exercises authority over four degrees (Select Master, Royal Master, Most Excellent Master, Super-Excellent Master). This series of degrees is based on the Masonic legend of King Solomon's Temple and throws light on the essential links between the degrees of Master Mason, Mark Master Mason and the Holy Royal Arch. Similar teachings can also be found within the Ancient and Accepted Rite. Presiding officers of a Council of Royal and Select Masters are given the degree of Thrice Illustrious Master, and there is also an honorific appendant order for distinguished members, the Order of the Silver Trowel. The Order is administrated from Mark Masons' Hall, London.

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