Editing Duke (section)

== Modern age ==
[[File:Coronet of a British Duke.svg|thumb|right|A Duke's [[coronet]] (United Kingdom), as used in [[heraldry]]]]
In the 19th century, the sovereign dukes of [[Parma, Italy|Parma]] and [[Modena]] in Italy, and of [[Anhalt]], [[Brunswick-Lüneburg]], [[Nassau (state)|Nassau]], [[Saxe-Coburg-Gotha]], [[Saxe-Meiningen]] and [[Saxe-Altenburg]] in Germany survived Napoleon's reorganization.

Since the unification of Italy in 1870 and the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918, there have no longer been any [[reign]]ing dukes in Europe; [[Luxembourg]] is ruled by a [[Grand Duchy|grand duke]], a higher title, just below king.

In the United Kingdom, the inherited position of a duke along with its dignities, privileges, and rights is a [[List of dukedoms in the peerages of the British Isles|dukedom]]. However, the title of ''duke'' has never been associated with independent rule in the British Isles: they hold dukedoms, not duchies (excepting the [[Duchy of Cornwall]] and the [[Duchy of Lancaster]]). Dukes in the United Kingdom are addressed as "Your Grace" and referred to as "His Grace". Currently, there are thirty-five dukedoms in the [[Peerage of England]], [[Peerage of Scotland]], [[Peerage of Great Britain]], [[Peerage of Ireland]] and [[Peerage of the United Kingdom]], held by thirty different people, as three people hold two dukedoms and two hold three (see [[List of dukes in the peerages of Britain and Ireland]]).

All dukedoms in the UK apart from the Duchy of Lancaster are inherited through the male line only, although dukedoms such as Marlborough and Fife (second creation) have passed through the female line for one generation under terms of a [[special remainder]] for lack of male heirs of the initial grantee.  Henrietta, 2nd Duchess of Marlborough and Her Highness Princess Alexandra (HRH Princess Arthur of Connaught), 2nd Duchess of Fife were duchesses in their own right.  Both were succeeded in their titles by nephews born by younger sisters of the duchesses. The word ''duchess'' is normally only used for the wife of a duke.

Dukes of Lancaster are called dukes even when they are female, and by tradition the monarch of the UK, whether male or female, is known in the Channel Islands as the Duke of Normandy.