Duc de Saint-Simon who took great pride in becoming a grandee after his successful posting as French Ambassador to Madrid, representing King Louis XIV. The dignity was highly considered by foreign peers. For an extensive period of time, it was even deemed 'the pinnacle of nobiliary stratification'. Foreign grandees were mostly French, although there was also a significant number of German, Flemish, Walloon and Italian peers, as a result of the scope of the Spanish Empire in Europe. Some examples included the Dukes of Wellington, Bavaria, Villars, Mouchy, Doudeauville, Croÿ, the Princes of Sulmona, Ligne, and the Counts of Egmont. The dignity of grandee was abolished by the Napoleonic King Joseph Bonaparte, before being revived in 1834 by when grandees were given precedence in the Chamber of Peers of Spain. Nowadays, all grandees are deemed to be "of the first class", and is an honorific dignity conferring neither power or legal privilege. A (grandeeship) is a separate legal entity from a title of nobility, although are normally but not exclusively granted in conjunction with a title. Since the 20th century invariably the King of Spain has conferred a upon any newly created duke. A grandee of any noble rank is higher in precedence than a non-grandee (apart from members of the Spanish Royal Family), even if that non-grandee holds a hereditary title () of a higher grade than that of the said grandee. Thus, a baron-grandee would outrank a non-grandee marquess, thus rendering the dignity of an hereditary rank of precedence rather than a title of nobility. Since 1987, children of an of Spain are recognised as members of the Spanish royal family and are accorded the rank and style of a grandee by courtesy: they do not formally hold this dignity until such time as a title with is granted to them by the sovereign. Some of the best known Spanish grandees are the dukes of Arcos, of Alba, of Medinaceli, of Villahermosa, of Osuna, del Infantado, of Alburquerque, of Moctezuma, of Frías and of Medina-Sidonia; well-known marquesses include those of Aguilar de Campoo, of Astorga, of Santillana, and of ; the counts of Benavente, of Lerín, Olivares, Oñate, and Lemos also hold grandeeships. Grandees and their consorts are entitled to the honorific prefix of 'the Most Excellent Lord/Lady' or 'His/Her Most Excellency', and they can be addressed as (cousin) by the King, although this tradition is in disuse