Spanish nobility
Many Spanish titles and noble families still exist and many have transmitted their aristocratic status since the Middle Ages.
He maintained the practice of conferring titles, however, to recognize those whose public service, artistic endeavours, personal achievements, philanthropy, etc.
The last privilege, suppressed in 1984, was the right to a diplomatic passport by the Grandees of Spain (Grandes de España).
With the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, the use of noble titles was abolished by way of Decree of 1 June 1931,[4] ratified by Law of 30 December of the same year.
[5] In 1948, legal recognition of the usage of noble titles was provided for by Law of 4 May 1948 restoring the rules as they were before 14 April 1931.
Since 1987, the children of Spanish infantes, traditionally considered part of the royal family, have been entitled to the rank and style of a grandee but do not hold the legal dignity of grandee unless a grandeza is officially conferred by the sovereign; once the dignity has been officially bestowed, it becomes hereditary.
From highest to lowest, these are: duque (duke), marqués (marquess), conde (count), vizconde (viscount), barón (baron), and señor (lord) (as well as the feminine forms of these titles).
However, by Spanish law, all hereditary titles descend by absolute primogeniture, gender no longer being a criterion for preference in inheritance, since 2005.
On October 21, 2022, the Spanish authorities abolished 33 aristocratic titles: In early October, the Senate (upper house of parliament) of Spain approved a bill on historical memory, declaring the dictatorship of Francisco Franco and the judicial decisions made under his regime illegal.
Prince/Princess are English translations of Infante/Infanta, referring to the son or daughter of a king; such titles are reserved for members of the royal family (the heir to the throne or the consort of the Queen regnant).
Lower nobility held ranks, without individual titles, such as infanzón (in Aragon, e.g. Latas Family), hidalgo or escudero.
The first of the kings of Pamplona and Asturias were originally elected and lifted up on a shield to assume Princeps inter Pares status, by these otherwise untitled nobles.
For approximately three hundred years the hidalgos retained this privilege, only a few of them eventually being granted the non-heritable title of comes.
Unlike Spain's later titled nobles, the early hidalgo did not necessarily possess or receive any fief or land grant.
During the Middle Ages hidalgo became a title granted by the kings of Castile as a reward for service done to the crown (or, as in Biscay, as a way of recognizing prior rights).
Being the most obvious proof of noble descent, hidalgo came to be the only lesser title to remain among the modern ranks of Spanish nobility.
The term Hidalgo de Sangre indicated membership in a family whose noble status was recognized in the earliest records of its existence; thus its immemorial nobility was acknowledged but not created by any monarch.
[13] Following the death of a noble, the senior heir may petition the sovereign through the Spanish Ministry of Justice for permission to use the title.
The amount of fees due depend on whether the title is attached to a grandeeship or not, and on whether the heir is a direct descendant or a collateral kinsman of the previous holder.
From the beginning of his reign in November 1975, King Juan Carlos created new titles for about 51 people (as of April 2011),[14] among others recognizing the merits of politicians and artists.
He has, however, revived the dukedom of Fernandina,[15] the marquisate of Murillo[citation needed], and the county of Torre Alegre[citation needed]; and has reverted the dukedom of Palma Mallorca to the crown, formerly belonging to his elder sister, Infanta Cristina of Spain, over a corruption enquiry.
