By tradition, there are a total of five royal and seven non-royal dukes in Portugal, out of 28 dukedoms that have ever been created.
In the majority of cases, the title of duke was attributed to members of the high nobility, usually relatives of the Portuguese royal family, such as the second son of a monarch.
Only Aveiro, Lafões, Terceira, Palmela, Saldanha and Loulé were dukedoms de juro e herdade.
Some of these dukes (Cadaval, Terceira and Saldanha) enjoyed Honras de Parente, i.e. certain honours (of style and/or precedence) associated with being an officially recognised relative of the king.
These titles were traditionally granted to the Lady Chamberlain (Camareira-Mor), the highest royal court office for a woman, only during her life: