In France
Being of foreign origin, the Dillons needed to be "reconnus nobles en France" as "noblesse d'origine etrangere" and "maintenus nobles". They were "maintenus nobles" in 1759.
What's more, they were acknowledged as being of "extraction chevaleresque" (very old nobility), having been noble since 1347, and so allowed to the "Honneurs de la Cour" by the King of France in 1750, 1769, 1770, 1775, 1777, 1785 and 1788.
So they are very near the top of French nobility, since for the title of Duke, titles mean nothing in France.
Read more about this topic: Viscount Dillon
Famous quotes containing the word france:
“It is not enough that France should be regarded as a country which enjoys the remains of a freedom acquired long ago. If she is still to count in the world—and if she does not intend to, she may as well perish—she must be seen by her own citizens and by all men as an ever-flowing source of liberty. There must not be a single genuine lover of freedom in the whole world who can have a valid reason for hating France.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)