Quote Originally Posted by bosssmiley View Post
Archduke - duke from an imperial ruling family. Basically a duke, only moreso (for bragging and pecking order purposes). Confined to the Habsburg & Romanov monarchies AFAIK.
In the Romanov family, an archduke (rus.: velikij kniaz) had claim to the throne, as opposed to the other dukes (kniaz), who could also be of the Romanov family, but to far removed (I think it was 4 generations away from the emperor or something)