grandee

[Span. grande a nobleman.] A nobleman; a person of high rank, power, or dignity: spec if., in Spain, a nobleman of the highest rank, who has the privilege of remaining covered in the king's presence. "The pageantry of life, considered in a political view, as designed by the grandees to awe the people, and keep them out of the park of selfish happine , which the grandees have fenced with high pales." -Knox : The Spirit of Despotism, § 22.