Geheimrat was the title of the highest advising officials at the imperial, royal, or princely courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the Geheimer Rat reporting to the ruler.
The term remained in use during subsequent monarchic reigns in German-speaking areas of Europe until the end of the First World War.
The office contributing to the state's politics and legislation had its roots in the age of absolutism from the 17th century onward, when a governmental administration by a dependent bureaucracy was established similar to the French Conseil du Roi.
With the Empire's dissolution and the rise of Constitutionalism in the aftermath of the French Revolution, the office of a Geheimrat became an honorific title conferred by the German states upon high officials, accompanied by the address Exzellenz.
The term is also used in combination with the word Ecke – Geheimratsecke [de], colloquially describing male pattern baldness at the 'edges' of the forehead (i.e. the upper 'corners' of the face).