As we've noted elsewhere on this site, there's no prohibition against anyone going out, buying some Masonic regalia, and starting their own organization. Why grown-up adults would want to get 'uniforms' and pretend that they're a part of something they're not really seems awfully strange but it happens pretty regularly with people (mostly men) buying police badges, sports team championship rings, or military medals. Whatever fantasy they create in their minds to convince them that they're 'entitled' to such recognition must surely speak to some very deep-rooted problems.

It happens with Freemasonry too. Guys go out and buy an apron, a collar, and some white gloves and try to pretend that they're Masons. Is there anything wrong with that? We believe that there is!

Here we examine claims made by the "Regular Grand Lodge of England" now also transiting its name to "Masonic High Council" because, apparently, this website has been SUCH a bane on their existence that they're trying another tactic. We'll also tell you about its creator, Rui Gabirro, who apparently managed to attract a small handful of others to affiliate with his organization using various forms of persuasions to recruit the disgruntled who want to play 'dress up' too. Their website boasts:

"The leading Grand Lodge of the World."

"The Regular Grand Lodge of England
 is the governing body of Freemasonry in England and Wales."

Impressed? Don't be! Self-created (against standard Masonic conventions) in January, 2005, they now make claims of a huge and now international membership, yet there are only a very limited number of 'identified' members and the dates, times and specific locations of their supposed lodge meetings are - as with all of the groups we identify in this section - conspicuously absent from their website. While the website (Rui-written) brags about huge international conferences, we never see more than a picture of a couple of men (always including Rui) dressed 'to the nines' in gold-bullion regalia. Other pictures of men dressed in Masonic regalia are from schismatic groups which have long been labeled as 'Fake Masonry'.

Is the RGLE/Masonic High Council "Fake Masonry"? Not, apparently, in the minds of its handful of members - although they surely must realize that the group they're a part of has no commonality with regular/recognized Freemasonry. The facts are, though, that despite their brazen claims they are neither a 'leading' nor 'governing' body for anything other than their own little group which probably numbers well under a hundred souls. The self-styled Regular Grand Lodge of England has no connection with regular and recognized Freemasonry anywhere in the world and you can read on their website the disdain they have for the United Grand Lodge of England of which Rui was once a member.

Rui, Rui, Rui....

When we first learned of this group, one name that appeared conspicuously was that of Rui Gabirro, which - perhaps conveniently - is a name from the presumed history of Martinism. That name was also found associated with the so-called "Sovereign Sanctuary", a supposedly a modern incarnation of the pseudo-Masonic Ancient & Primitive Rite of Memphis. Rui has also used more than one pseudonym including that of Robert H. Lamar who was also listed as the Secretary-General for the self-styled "RGLE". You can see this discussion group posting for the claim. (Scroll down to the post from ikhnaten near the end - and there's also a comment about threatening e-mails which we address on the 'Masonic Menace' page linked above.) The Lamar identity is ostensibly a pen name as stated in this posting. Sovereign Sanctuary's web presence seemed to have disappeared for a time without explanation but in January, 2007 it was back up and running again and with a claim that it's now in the United States as well.

In addition to the hateful messages we've received from Rui, there have also been postings to the alt.freemasonry newsgroup, including stalking-type messages, using an address associated with his supposed 'Antient & Primitive Rite' (of Memphis). These messages had addresses from Rui <gabirro@ gmail.com> and  "I am whatching You" <ssanctuary@ gmail.com> (The next time a Brit wants to quibble about our Americanized spelling on this site, we'll have them go 'whatch' Rui!) and do not appear to have been forged in any way. We note that other web locations show 'Rui' as BOTH the Secretary-General AND the Grand Treasurer! Yet another 'no surprise' is that ssanctuary@gmail.com is an address formerly and presently associated with the so-called "Ancient & Primitive Rite" (of Memphis). Here is a cached page from a webpage at cabinda.net which shows the address in use.

Politics - and MORE Politics

Freemasonry eschews discussion of political matters. While individual Freemasons are welcome to espouse whatever political beliefs they wish (provided, of course, that they obey the laws of their state and nation), involvement of Freemasonry into political matters is completely forbidden. It was, therefore, concerning when we discovered Mr. Gabirro's fascinating history with the political enclave of Cabinda.

CABINDA? Mr. Gabirro owns the website at cabinda.net which is the internet presence of an entity which was (is?) according to the internet, a short-lived secessionist regime in the Cabinda enclave of Angola. In addition that website (registered by Mr. Gabirro) also hosted the websites for the Gran Logia de la Republica Dominica, the Gran Logia de los Antiguos Libres y Aceptados Masones del Ecuador and - you guessed it! - the so-called Regular Grand Lodge of England. You can see that here. The Internic registration was in the name of Rui Gabirro but he has since changed that to "none". Nevertheless, he's still the admin contact and both the web design and writing style is uniquely his - and using his 'gabirro@ gmail.com address. For a couple of months after this page went live, you could have gone to cabinda.net and gotten a 'Page Not Found' error but as of late 2006 they're back in business.

Up until the day after this page went live, if you were you to click on the word "Wanted" hyperlink near the bottom of the left-hand margin and you'd be transported to a page at http://www.rgle.org.uk/Cabinda/WANTED.htm . BUT WAIT!!!! Does that say RGLE in that address? Oh, wow!!! So the so-called 'Regular Grand Lodge of England' (and maybe Wales) and their 'Masonic High Council' is helping out by handling wanted posters (with REWARDS!) for ostensible criminals from an faction that's fighting the government of an African country? In fact, you may want to head to this page about Cabinda and run your mouse over the many links. Guess what: they're pretty much ALL located on the RGLE website. Truly amazing - particularly in light of regular/recognized Freemasonry's long-standing detachment from political matters AND the multiple claims by Rui's RGLE that the United Grand Lodge of England (begun in 1717) is violating Freemasonry's principles!

Let's Play Dress-Up....

Rui Gabirro, in addition to being Robert Lamar, is also - according to THIS page - actually Duke Alexander of Cabinda so perhaps we can understand why 'his' RGLE is supporting 'his' dukedom. Interestingly enough, he's ALSO Mangovo Ngoyo, the Governor of the Cabinda National Bank which will be happy to sell you all sorts of financial instruments including savings bonds, stamps and even crude oil (provided, of course, you pay him the $6,000 USD in advance!) All you need do is call Mr. Gabirro's phone number in England or send your e-mail to one of his dozens and dozens of gmail addresses and you too have 600,000 barrels of crude or a bunch of worthless coins. Planning on travel and need a passport? Rui's G-mail will get you one of those too - for a 'reasonable' price, we presume.

Why are Mr. Gabirro's political and quasi-business interests a concern? Unfortunately, his control over the many internet-created arms of these pseudo-Masonic groups deceive the general public making them believe that Freemasonry itself is involved in political and business matters.

As but one example, on May 13, 2007, the following appeared on Google's news feed:

WHAT? That "Supreme Masonic Council" is actually Rui's Grande Loge des Maçons Réguliers Francs et Acceptés  whose website is a subdirectory of the "Regular Grand Lodge of England" at http://www.rgle.org.uk/MHC_France.htm

It can be confusing to those unfamiliar with Freemasonry but this type of bogus group is completely against the way Freemasonry exists.

Others Notice Too....

We also found a very interesting blog post by science fiction author Kathryn Cramer titled "Just when I thought the Internet couldn't get any weirder: Meet Rui Gabirro a/k/a/ Duke Alexander of Cabinda." here. This is 'must see' reading! She too observed some of the odd behavior including the Cabinda "College"....

On December 14, 2005, Rui L. Gabirro of Brethren in Amity Lodge #8650 under the United Grand Lodge of England was expelled from Freemasonry.

Sadly too the RGLE has played on the animosity between the Grand Lodge of France (GLdF) and the United Grand Lodge of England. It has encouraged and received support from GLdF's Chancellor, Michel Singer who has directly confirmed that he was giving RGLE his support in order to "stick it to" UGLE. Singer has since supposedly removed his support (apparently after some dealings with Mr. Gabirro) but those in the US are being told that the Grand Lodge of France, which has tried for over a decade to be recognized as a regular Grand Lodge, has recognized this organization - something which is totally false to fact. (Of course, Chancellor Singer's flirtation with them certainly could have no positive bearing on their wishes towards regularity either....)

The letter below has appeared on the website of the United Grand Lodge of England (the oldest recognized Masonic Grand Lodge in the world) at http://www.ugle.org.uk

Realistically the above letter may have been entirely unnecessary as the RGLE will, we predict, implode in the near future. Would you want to be a part of an organization that you're trying to promote as being of the highest moral virtues while your founder/leader is writing gross obscenities and creating a web of confusion (or worse)? As with most such promoters, however, that probably won't be the end of it. We have received sporadic e-mails, for example, from ostensible 'sock puppets' that supposedly want to give us 'the (very unsavory)  facts' on this group and its leader in an apparent attempt to get us to publish them so that the RGLE can be discredited. In fact, we were quite surprised that Jeff Peace, the leader of the {former?} Modern Rite of Memphis in the US and the online pitchman for the so-called United Grand Lodge of America now the pretend Masonic Grand Orient of the United States sent us an email offering 'facts' to smear the RGLE! (At the time, the UGLA group was 'playing up to' another bogus group, the so-called Grand Lodge of All England At York but, as with all of these internet creations, nobody wants to be subservient to anyone else in the slightest way because they're all so power/title hungry.)

While looking up some information on Google on August 4, 2005, we were presented with a Google ad for Rui's group thus raising even more concerns. How does the average person KNOW what's real and what's not?

The RGLE also has attempted to 'hang their hat' on the good name of regular and recognized Freemasonry by claiming charitable activities that surely don't exist. On their website, the following appears in their FAQ section, for example:

Q. - What are the charitable activities of the Regular Grand Lodge of England?

A. - England is a "welfare state" where most charitable activities, as well as those pertaining to hospitals and medical care in general, are run by the government and financed by the taxes we pay. So our charitable activities are limited to Masonic Schools, Masonic orphanages, old age homes and helping the unemployed.

(Ref: http://www.rgle.org.uk/RGLE_FAQ.htm accessed on 30 August 2005)

Really? If the self-styled Regular Grand Lodge of England really felt as negatively about the United Grand Lodge of England as it seems to, one wonders why RGLE would support UGLE charities. The RGLE, formed in 2005, has never had even a rental building (except Rui's apartment) and certainly don't have their own schools and orphanages. If they do, we'll welcome the opportunity to let you know about it. And, as we usually find in irregular bodies of Masonry, there's always the politics (prohibited in regular/recognized Freemasonry) as evidenced by the snide remark about "welfare state"! The part about helping the unemployed might be fact, though: it is likely helping Rui himself.

There are MANY unrecognized bodies throughout the world - and sadly, there's no real way for the public to be able to sort through the claims of "I'm the legitimate Masonry!" versus "No you're not. We're the REAL Masonry!" when this sort of thing occurs.

Now they have 'Grand Lodges' operating in the United States - and an Army Sergeant is pimping them while on duty in Iraq. Read more about that here.

And please note: this web page like the 400 or so others on this site reflects the personal, objective opinions of the site owner. No one person speaks for Freemasonry and we certainly make no pretensions of doing so ourselves. What we have written here is verifiable and, we believe, factual. Mr. Gabirro clearly disagrees. He has taken great umbrage at his organization being labeled 'fake' but let's be clear: his organization - whatever he whishes to believe it is - is unrecognized and irregular from a Masonic standpoint whether he admits that or not. His puerile comments about the United Grand Lodge of England which is the acknowledged 'Mother' Grand Lodge of the World (originally founded in 1717, not 2005 like this group) are snarky at best.

Should Mr. Gabirro have complaints about our characterization of his group, we believe he should first take his concerns to the UGLE. Their letter about his organization preceded this section of our site. It is the UGLE - the oldest and most widely recognized Grand Lodge in the world - that expelled him from membership! Neither this page or any of the others about Mr. Gabirro or his organization(s) are designed to defame but simply set forth facts as to origin and activities of the individual and the group(s) he has created.

Although not remarked upon here, it seemed odd that the Grand Master of this grandiose group wasn't identified for the first year or more of their existence. TA-DA! Rui has apparently now found someone to lead them - and it's somehow SO appropriate: His Royal Highness, Philippe Paul Alexandre Henry, The Prince of Araucania, KES, OCS, KCA. Pretty impressive, huh? Well, you might think so until you realize that this "Royal Highness" is not part of the British Royal Family. Heir to a Peruvian kingdom that no sovereign nation has ever recognized and with no indication that he's ever been a Mason, we wonder what induced him to team up with Rui. Fame? Fortune? A chance for recognition through participation with a group that will be the laughing stock of Freemasons everywhere? Seems to be a theme here.... The Prince's minting his own coinage for his self-claimed kingdom is something also reported on the web. Maybe they'll be selling those coins at an an RGLE online store soon?

We found this interesting commentary at a website titled Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership:

She was the fourth sovereign of the Kingdom founded in 1860 by the Mapuche Indians in territory now occupied by Chile and Argentina. The family was deported from Chile to France in 1863 where it has lived since. On 6 Nov 1903, the Council of Regency met and chose Georges Sénéchal de la Grange to be the new "king," but he declined. From that date on, everything that has been written about the succession is essentially a fabrication by Philippe Paul Alexandre Henri Boiry (b. 1927), who currently claims to be Philippe I. His account runs as follows: the sole heir, and hence successor, of Antoine II was his daughter, Laure Thérèse Cros, veuve Bernard, who "was" Queen Laure-Thérèse I from 6 Nov 1903 to her death 12 Mar 1916. There is no documentation of her acting as Queen. Prince Philippe has no children. Laure Therese lived (1856-1916).

We also thought it was hysterically funny to find a web post from rabid anti-Mason and the almost never-accurate Greg Szymanski that identifies the RGLE's Grand Secretary Rui as an agent of the dictatorship in North Korea. This page is just too funny for words - but who knows: maybe that voice in Greg's head is on to something. Strange that Rui should be mentioned though, don't you think? For those 'oldsters' in the U.S., you may remember this line from television long ago: "Stay tuned for As The World Turns...."

Mr. Gabirro seems to have ~ sorta ~ vanished from the RGLE scene on the internet although if you read through the non-English material, you'll see his name continue to appear pretty regularly. The so-called "Grand Secretary' has very much the same 'behaviorisms' as his predecessor (i.e., having NOTHING from the titular head of the organization but lots of 'direction' from what - in nearly all Grand Lodges - is an officer who rarely if ever takes a position of very high visibility). We also found it hysterically funny that - perhaps not wanting to be chastised by us for being late with their newsletters that on July 5, 2008 their September, 2008 newsletter was available on their website. Of course, since his pictures and 'instructions' appear throughout (not a single mention/picture of the Grand Master, poor fellow....), it's no wonder they'd want to go to press quickly.

Oh, and in that newsletter was this truly comical statement:

There exists in the Republic of Paraguay A Feminine Supreme Council of Masonry; solely for women. Except that this body admit women, it’s so far as can be ascertained, otherwise regular in their practice. This Grand Lodge although acknowledging its existence must emphasise that it does not encourage or allow intervisitation. There are, however, discussions from time to time with the women's Grand Lodge on matters of mutual concern. Brethren are therefore free to explain to non-Masons, if asked, that Freemasonry is not confined to men (even though this Regular Grand Lodge does not itself admit women). Further information about these bodies may be obtained by writing to the Grand Secretary.

The Regular Grand Lodge of England is also aware that there exist other bodies not directly imitative of antient Craft Masonry, but which by implication introduce Freemasonry, such as the Order of the Eastern Star. Membership of such bodies, attendance at their meetings, or participation in their ceremonies is incompatible with membership of this Grand Lodge.

What's so funny about that? Well, it was obviously stolen - with only the name of the group involved changed - from the same statement made by the regular/recognized United Grand Lodge of England in 1999 appearing on our website since 2000.

"There exist in England and Wales at least two Grand Lodges solely for women. Except that these bodies admit women, they are, so far as can be ascertained, otherwise regular in their practice. There is also one which admits both men and women to membership. They are not recognised by this Grand Lodge and intervisitaion may not take place. There are, however, informal discussions from time to time with the women's Grand Lodges on matters of mutual concern. Brethren are therefore free to explain to non-Masons, if asked, that Freemasonry is not confined to men (even though this Grand Lodge does not itself admit women). Further information about these bodies may be obtained by writing to the Grand Secretary."

"The Board is also aware that there exist other bodies not directly imitative of pure antient Masonry, but which by implication introduce Freemasonry, such as the Order of the Eastern Star. Membership of such bodies, attendance at their meetings or participation in their ceremonies is incompatible with membership of this Grand Lodge."

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It is to laugh....

Created 22 July 2005
Updated 30 August 2005, 1 November 2005, 27 December 2005
Updated 3 June 2006 & 18 June 2006 and added info about the Sovereign Sanctuary back in business in February, 2007.
And because Rui always seems to provide more material for us to write about, another update on August 15 and December 1, 2006
Remember though, folks: some of these updates take less time than it takes to drink a cup of coffee. This organization is really not important to us by any stretch of the imagination nor is it important in the greater scheme of life despite the pretensions of its Secretary-General.
Updated with more Cabinda information 14 May 2007 and the bit about newsletters in July, 2008. Updated again in December, 2009.

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