Illustrious Highness

is the usual English-language translation of the German word Erlaucht, a style historically attributed to certain members of the European nobility.

It is not a literal translation, as the German word for "Highness" is Hoheit, a higher style that appertained to sovereign dukes and some other royalty.

From the early modern period, the style Erlaucht has been used by the members of those comital families (Reichsgrafen) who, like the Reichsfürsten, held the status of Imperial immediacy.

The style was also adopted by the cadet members of some princely families like Colloredo-Mansfeld, Fugger, Khevenhüller, Dietrichstein, Sayn-Wittgenstein, Schönburg, Solms, Starhemberg, Stolberg, Waldburg or Waldeck-Pyrmont.

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