His Most Faithful Majesty's Council was the

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

of the

Kings of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the nea ...

. It was composed of a small group of

fidalgo ''Fidalgo'' (, ), from Galician and Portuguese —equivalent to nobleman, but sometimes literally translated into English as "son of somebody" or "son of some (important family)"—is a traditional title of Portuguese nobility that refers to a m ...

s of great social and political importance. In political importance, only his

Most Faithful Majesty Most Faithful Majesty ( pt, Sua Majestade Fidelíssima) was the title used by the Portuguese monarchs, from 1748 to 1910. The sobriquet Most Faithful King ( la, Rex Fidelissimus, pt, link=no, Rei Fidelíssimo) was a title awarded by the Pope Be ...

's ministers were above the council, though they were often part of the council as well.

Fidalgos

A member of the council was called a Fidalgo of His Most Faithful Majesty's Council. If the members of the council did not have a title from

Portuguese nobility Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, he would be addressed as "my Fidalgo" or "my Lord", by his inferiors, and "Counselor" or "Lord Counselor," by his peers in his social scale or higher. Alongside this, a member of His Most Faithful Majesty's Council was granted the styling of

Excellency Excellency is an honorific style given to certain high-level officers of a sovereign state, officials of an international organization, or members of an aristocracy. Once entitled to the title "Excellency", the holder usually retains the right ...

References

{{portugal-stub 1910 disestablishments in Portugal Kingdom of Portugal Politics of Portugal Privy councils