Royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom
In the British peerage, a royal duke is a member of the British royal family, entitled to the titular dignity of prince and the style of "His Royal Highness" who holds a dukedom. Dukedoms are the highest titles in the British roll of peerage and the holders of these particular dukedoms are Princes of the Blood Royal. The holders of the dukedoms are royal not the titles themselves. They are titles created and bestowed on legitimate sons and male-line grandsons of the British monarch, usually upon reaching their majority or marriage. The titles can be inherited but cease to be called "royal" once they pass beyond the grandsons of a monarch. As with any peerage, once the title becomes extinct, it may subsequently be recreated by the reigning monarch at any time.
Noblesse
As such, a Scottish armiger is recognized under Scottish heraldic law as within the non-peerage rank of Gentleman, which is so recognized under Scots law as a social dignity. Given this court decision, the term "nobility" should be avoided, as it has long been confined in Britain to the peerage, or someone of official social rank (Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, Barons, etc.). Instead, it is more appropriate to use the term Noblesse in the context of the French definition, which includes the non-peerage rank of Gentlemen. A Gentleman is the lowest rank of gentry, standing below an esquire and above a yeoman. It includes the untitled and minor nobility - the "noblesse", to whom rightly belong lairds (those with territorial designations), Esquires and Gentlemen, "known" through the grant or matriculation of armorial bearings.