His Majesty's Council (before 1748); His Most Faithful Majesty's Council (after 1748); was the privy council 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 Portugal, Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Thro ...

. It was composed of a small group of ''

fidalgo ''Fidalgo'' (, ), from Galician and Portuguese —equivalent to a nobleman, but sometimes literally translated into English as "nobleman" —is a traditional title of Portuguese nobility and Brazilian nobility that refers to a member of the ...

s'' of great social and political importance. In political importance, only his Most Faithful Majesty'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 (manner of address), 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 ...

References

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