Grandee
[4] According to the 1876 Constitution, fully in force until 1923, grandees of Spain could also be senators por derecho propio ("in their own right"), alongside archbishops and top military ranks.
[8] Outside Spain, the term can refer to other people of a somewhat comparable, exalted position, roughly synonymous with magnate; formerly a rank of high nobility (especially when it carried the right to a parliamentary seat).
[13][14] Noble titles, including and above the rank of Count, were seldom created in heredity by the Kings of Castile and Aragon until the late Middle Ages—in contrast to France and elsewhere in Europe (where feudalism evolved more quickly)—being largely associated with royal officers until the 14th century.
Over time grandees received more substantial rights: for example freedom from taxation and immunity from arrest, save at the King's command;[14] they were usually the senior judicial officers of their region.
[15] Foreign grandees were mostly French, although there was also a significant number of German, Flemish, Walloon, Italian, and Novohispanic/Aztec peers, as a result of the scope of the Spanish Empire in Europe and the Americas.
[16] Some examples included the Dukes of Wellington, Bavaria, Villars, Mouchy, Moctezuma de Tultengo, Doudeauville, Croÿ, the Princes of Sulmona, Ligne, and the Counts of Egmont.
Since 1987, children of an infante of Spain are recognised as members of the Spanish royal family and are accorded the rank and style of a grandee by courtesy: they do not formally hold this dignity until such time as a title with grandeza is granted to them by the sovereign.
[18] Some of the best known Spanish grandees are the dukes of Arcos, of Alba, of Medinaceli, of Villahermosa, of Osuna, del Infantado, of Alburquerque, of Moctezuma, of Frías and of Medina-Sidonia; well-known marquesses include those of Aguilar de Campoo, of Astorga, of Santillana, and of los Vélez; the counts of Benavente, of Lerín, Olivares, Oñate, and Lemos also hold grandeeships.
Grandees were allowed to keep their heads covered in the presence of the king or emperor until such time as the monarch may command otherwise; as elsewhere throughout Europe, these noble families displayed their coats of arms on their properties, carriages (or vehicles), and over their graves (see hatchment).
During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, senior military officers from the English landed gentry who served in the New Model Army, who were opposed to the more radical Levellers, came to be informally termed "grandees".
