Duke

The term duke is a title of nobility which refers to the sovereign male ruler of a Continental European duchy, to a nobleman of the highest grade of the British peerage, or to the highest rank of nobility in various other European countries, including Portugal, Spain and France (in Italy, principe is held to be the highest grade). The wife of a duke, or a woman who rules a duchy, is known as a duchess.

Equivalents

The style duke has, like many high nobility titles, also been used to render non-European styles that are seen, by analogy, as roughly equivalent, especially in hierarchic aristocracies as in feudal Japan.

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