A declaration from HH Pope Paul VI dated 13 January 1964 put an end to the practice. In France the period starting in the late XIXth century and ending in 1964 was difficult for those who aspired to be ennobled, especially when they wished to stay within the confines of French law. King Alfonso XIII profited nicely from the vanity of foreigners. The Marquis de Villahermosa, and the Duke de Premio Real obtained their crowns from that monarch. Thus Mr. Deligny could only become Count de Alosno.
Kings pass on.
The Great War and its aftermath disposed of a few. Their falling also resulted in the ruin of the heraldic offices they maintained. Fortunately, there was the Holy Father, the head of Christianity. As temporal sovereign of the Vatican State and spiritual sovereign of the world's Catholics, this sovereignty enabled him to reward, by means of various distinctions, the faithful who had served the Holy Church well. At the end of the twentieth century only the first two apply.