Noble Titles and How to Address Them

Same rank, different court

The six real courts are Habsburg, Regency England, Bourbon France, Iberia, Italy and Russia. A seventh set shows a typical empire in romance fantasy (rofan). Look at the duke:

• Bourbon France: Duc, addressed as Monsieur le Duc.
• Habsburg: Herzog, addressed as Your Serene Highness.
• Iberia: Duque, addressed as Your Excellency.
• Italy, England and the rofan empire: Your Grace.

Ranks do not line up one to one. The Habsburg set has margraves and landgraves, and in England a baron is usually spoken of as Lord.

Spoken, written, native

Each row separates three forms. The spoken form is what you say to the person's face. The reference form is how others write or speak about them, such as His Grace the Duke of [Place]. The native form is the title in the local language, with the female form where it differs, like Herzog and Herzogin.

For knights, the rofan and English sets agree: use Sir and the first name, never the surname alone.

The Northern Duke problem

Readers often argue about titles in the cold North. In rofan stories, Archduke is almost always the powerful, cold male lead of the North. In the real Habsburg court it belonged only to princes of the ruling house. A rofan Grand Duke often rules a semi-independent land, while the Russian Grand Duke was a younger son or male-line grandson of the emperor.

Pick the version you mean, then keep it. Then name the person with the royal generator or the knight generator.