Salute state

At the time of Indian independence and partition in 1947, 118 (113 in India, 4 in Pakistan, plus Sikkim) of the roughly 565 princely states were classified as "salute states."

• The rulers of the five premier states - Hyderabad State, Mysore, Baroda, Jammu & Kashmir, and Gwalior - received 21-gun salutes.[2]
• The rulers of six others - Bhopal, Indore, Udaipur, Kolhapur, Travancore, and Kalat - received 19-gun salutes, with Bhopal, Indore and Udaipur entitled to a local 21-gun salute.
• 77 were entitled to gun salutes ranging from 17 to 11 guns, with additional gun-salutes granted on a local or personal basis.
• The remaining 30 received a salute of nine guns.
• 88 rulers with gun salutes of 11 guns or above, whether the salute was hereditary or local only, were entitled to the style of Highness.
• In 1918, the Nizam of Hyderabad was granted the unique style of Exalted Highness, in recognition of the state's contributions to the Allied war effort during the First World War.
• In 1948, all rulers of nine-gun salute states were also granted the style of Highness.

The salute states were broadly divided into two categories: the five premier states with a permanent 21-gun salute and with an individual resident, or envoy, stationed in each, and the remaining 113 states incorporated within political agencies (groups of states) under a political agent. The salutes were themselves organised in a strict hierarchy. Each ruling house of a salute state was entitled to a permanent hereditary salute. In some instances, one of three sub-categories consisting of an increase of 2 gun salutes could be awarded as follows:

• Personal and local: Hereditary to an individual state's ruler only within its borders, and personally to the ruler outside his state, but honouring his person and not the state when he was outside it. An award of a personal salute was only for the lifetime of the ruler, and was typically made for distinguished wartime or civic service.
• Personal: Only for the ruler personally, and not to distinguish his state as a whole.
• Local: Hereditary to an individual state's ruler only within its borders.

As a religious head, the Aga Khan received a personal 11-gun salute. In certain cases, a ruler of a non-salute state or a junior member of a princely family could merit a personal salute or the personal style of Highness.

Hereditary salute No. of guns	Personal or local salute No. of guns	Title of Ruler	Name of state	Clan of Ruler	Present Location
21	–	The King of[note 9]	Afghanistan	Barakzai	Afghanistan

In 1890, Abdur Rahman Khan, the Emir of Afghanistan, accepted for his kingdom the status of a British protected state under the British Raj, retaining internal autonomy while placing the state's foreign affairs under British control. In 1905, his son and successor, Habibullah Khan, negotiated the Anglo-Afghan Treaty with the British, by which Afghanistan was de jure styled as a sovereign monarchy and the ruler recognised as King of Afghanistan (Shah-e-Afghanistan) with the style of His Majesty, while remaining a protected state of Britain. In May 1919, King Habibullah's successor, King Amanullah, declared the country a wholly sovereign kingdom, which resulted in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Despite a British victory, the British recognised the total sovereignty of Afghanistan in the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of Kabul in 1921; thereafter, Afghanistan continued to exist as a sovereign monarchy until the fall of the monarchy in 1973.

Hereditary salute No. of guns	Personal or local salute No. of guns	Title of Ruler	Name of state	Clan of Ruler	Present Location
31	51	The Maharajadhiraja of[note 10]	Nepal	Shah dynasty	Nepal
21[3][7][note 11]	31	The Shree Teen Maharajah of[note 12]	Lamjang and Kaski	Rana dynasty	Nepal

The Anglo-Nepalese War of 1816, which led to the defeat of the Gorkha Shah monarchy of Nepal, resulted in the kingdom becoming a de jure protectorate, but a de facto protected state of the East India Company. Following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the dissolution of the East India Company in 1858, the protectorate was transferred to the British crown through the British Raj, which recognised the monarch as "King of Nepal" with the style of His Majesty in 1919 and the Rana Maharaja was styled as His Highness, due to the country's contributions to the Allied cause in the First World War. In 1923, the British government ended its protectorate and recognised Nepal as a wholly sovereign monarchy.[3] While the semi-sovereign Rana oligarchy held power as hereditary Shree Teen Maharajas of Nepal until its deposition in 1951, the Nepalese monarchy continued until its abolition in 2008.

Hereditary salute No. of guns	Personal or local salute No. of guns	Title of Ruler	Name of state	Clan of Ruler	Present Location
15[8][note 13]	–	The Maharaja Druk Gyalpo of[note 14]	Bhutan	Wangchuck	Bhutan

A brief war between Bhutan and the British Raj in 1864 resulted in the Treaty of Sinchula, which forced Bhutan to relinquish territory and defined its relationship with the British. A loose agglomeration of semi-independent districts until 1907, Bhutan was unified in that year as a hereditary monarchy represented by Ugyen Wangchuck, the penlop (or governor) of the district of Tongsa, who was proclaimed the Maharaja and Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) of Bhutan. In 1910, Bhutan signed the Treaty of Punakha, under which the British Raj guaranteed Bhutan's internal sovereignty, but, as with Sikkim, maintained control over its foreign relations. A British residency was officially installed in Bhutan, with a resident deputed from the Indian Political Service and answerable to the British government in India. The treaty, which established Bhutanese sovereignty, albeit as a protected state, remained in force until Indian independence in 1947; at this time, Bhutan was offered the options of remaining independent or acceding to the new Indian Union. Choosing to maintain its independence, Bhutan formally established relations with India in 1949, signing the India-Bhutan Treaty of Friendship on 8 August 1949; while reaffirming Bhutanese sovereignty, the new treaty gave India control over Bhutan's foreign policy. In 1963, however, Bhutan promulgated a new constitution which replaced the title of His Highness the Maharaja with His Majesty the Druk Gyalpo, formally promoting the country to the status of an independent, sovereign monarchy. In 1971, Bhutan joined the United Nations as a full member, and renegotiated the 1949 treaty with India in 2007, legally ending Bhutan's status as a protected state of India.

Hereditary salute No. of guns	Personal or local salute No. of guns	Title of Ruler	Name of state	Clan of Ruler	Present Location
15[note 15]	–	The Maharaja (Chogyal) of[note 15]	Sikkim	Tipihar	Sikkim

Though officially considered a princely state under its ruler, the Maharaja Chogyal, Sikkim was given the separate status of a British protectorate in 1861 under the Treaty of Tumlong, by which the British government could intervene in the state's internal affairs and oversee all external matters; despite this, Sikkim maintained a high degree of autonomy in practice. In 1947, the Maharaja Chogyal and his people decided against accession to India and chose to maintain Sikkim's internal sovereignty. The state formally became a protectorate of India in 1950. Following the death of the Maharaja Chogyal in 1963 and his succession by his unpopular son, Palden Thondup Namgyal, popular demands for increased individual rights grew more frequent. After Sikkim's first free general elections in 1974, the Indian Army placed the Chogyal under house arrest. Under military supervision, a controversial referendum was held in 1975, which approved the state's merger with India and the abolition of the monarchy. Sikkim was formally merged into India as its 22nd state on 26 April 1975.

The following were constituent states of the Aden Protectorate from the late 19th century until their independence and merger with South Yemen in 1967 when the states were abolished. The protectorate was under the British Raj and governed as part of the Bombay Presidency until 1917 when the protectorate was transferred to the control of the British Foreign Office.

Hereditary salute No. of guns	Personal or local salute No. of guns	Title of Ruler	Name of state	Clan of Ruler	Present Location
9	11 (local)[7]	The Sultan of[note 16]	Lahej	Al-Abdali	Yemen
9	11 (local)[7]	The Sultan of[note 17]	Shihir and Makalla	Al-Qu'aiti
9[7]	-	The Sultan of[note 17]	Qishn and Soqotra	Al-Mahri
9[7]	-	The Sultan of[note 16]	Fadhli	Al-Fadhli
-	9 (local)[7]	The Emir of[note 16]	Dhala	Al-Amiri
-	9 (local)[7]	The Sultan of[note 16]	Lower Yafa	Al-Afifi

The Persian Gulf Residency was established in 1822 during the time of the East India Company, though the company had established a residency at Bushehr in 1763. It was made subordinate to the Governor of Bombay until 1873. As with the rest of British India, it came under the control of the British Crown in 1858. In 1873, the residency came under the direct control of the British Raj and the India Office. In 1892, it officially assumed a protectorate status over the states of Muscat and Oman, Bahrain and the Trucial States, followed by Kuwait in 1914 and Qatar in 1916. In 1920, the Treaty of Seeb recognised the de jure independence of Oman. The residency was transferred to the charge of the British Foreign Office from the India Office in 1947, shortly before Indian independence. In 1961, Kuwait became the first of the Gulf States to terminate its protectorate and become fully independent, with Muscat and Oman being recognised by Britain as an independent, protected state the following year. With the increasing costs of maintaining an overseas presence, Britain announced in January 1968 that it would end its protectorate over the remaining Gulf states in 1971. The protectorates were finally terminated in December 1971; Muscat and Oman became the modern sultanate of Oman that year, and the erstwhile Trucial States became the United Arab Emirates in 1972.

Hereditary salute No. of guns	Personal or local salute No. of guns	Title of Ruler	Name of state	Clan of Ruler	Present Location
21[7][3][note 18]	-	The Sultan of[note 19]	Mascat and Oman	Al-Said	Oman
-	7 (local, 11 personal)[7][9][10][note 20]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of[note 21]	Kuwait	Al-Sabah	Kuwait
-	7 (local, 11 personal)[7][9][10][note 22]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of[10][note 23]	Bahrain	Al-Khalifa	Bahrain
-	7 (local)[7][10][9][note 24]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of[note 25]	Qatar	Al-Thani	Qatar
-	3 (local, 5 personal)[7][10]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of[note 26]	Abu Dhabi	Al-Nahyan	UAE
-	3 (local, 5 personal)[7][11]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of[note 27]	Sharjah	Al-Qasimi
-	5 (local)[7][9][note 28]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of[note 27]	Dubai	Al-Maktoum
-	3 (local)[7]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of[note 27]	Ajman	Al-Nuaimi
-	3 (local)[7]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of[note 27]	Ras al-Khaimah	Al-Qasimi
-	3 (local)[7]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of	Kalba[note 29]	Al-Qasimi
-	3 (local)[7]	The Sheikh (Ruler) of[note 27]	Umm al-Qaiwain	Al-Mu'alla

• 9 guns: Padam Singh, Raja of Bashahr (now in Himachal Pradesh)

• 11 guns: the Aga Khan (religious leader of the Nizari Ismaili branch of Islam); only salute not attached to any territorial principality).

• 19 guns (only personal and local) for the Nawab of Murshidabad, as heirs of Bengal (including present Bangladesh and West Bengal)
• 15 guns (until 1899) for the Nawab (later restyled Prince) of Arcot, i.e. the Carnatic
• 13 guns salute for Raja of Vizianagram[12]

• 4 guns: Manyam Zamindar of Yanam

• 19 guns: The Dalai lama of Tibet, a de facto sovereign theocratic Buddhist nation before annexation by the People's Republic of China[7]
• 21 guns: The King of Mosquito Coast (a Native South American kingdom in present Nicaragua; styled His Majesty, most unusual as HM is normally reserved for the Paramount Ruler and his or her independent peers; under British protectorate since 1688, formalised in 1749 with appointment of a resident Superintendent; Britain relinquished control in 1783–87; Nicaraguan sovereignty was recognised in 1860 under the Treaty of Managua, hence the king was effectively demoted to the rank of a mere "chief", in 1894 militarily driven into exile to Jamaica)
• 9 guns: The Kabaka of Buganda (a Ganda kingdom in Western Uganda, status granted after 1912, subsequently made permanent in 1939)