Portuguese nobility was the social class of privileged and titled persons of Portugal and the empire while it was the Kingdom of Portugal. During the absolute monarchy, nobles received a very privileged status and had important places.
However, with the introduction of the constitutional monarchy in 1834, the power of nobles decreased, though the process of the diminishment of the power of the nobility been in process since the time of the Portuguese prime minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo.
Portugal today is Republic, however some descendants of the nobles still bear their titles and these titles are governed by the Portuguese Institute of Nobility (Portuguese:Instituto da Nobreza Portuguesa), which is headed by the current Duke of Braganza, D. Duarte Pio of Braganza.
Read more about Portuguese Nobility: Noble Ranks, History, Actuality, Royally-held Noble Titles
Famous quotes containing the word nobility:
“And nobility will not be able to help you with your love; Love does not know how to cede to ancestral images.”
—Propertius Sextus (c. 50–16 B.C.)