ROYALS AND KINGDOMS

After Queen Elizabeth passed away so much is written about the royal family its wealth, line of succession and how the world leaders queued up to pay last respects. Sitting in the thought bar this week it is about all other kingdoms of the world we don’t hear so much.

There are 12 nations in Europe retaining a form of monarchy to this day. They are Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the Vatican and the UK. Prince Albert II of Monaco ( see pic below) ?is?the richest ?with an estimated 1 Billion US$ and Queen Beatrix of Netherlands ?( See pic below)?with about 200 Million US$.

Moving outside of Europe?you will have King Abdullah II of ?Jordan with an estimated 750 Million US, King Mohammed VI of Morocco with 2.1 Billion US$ and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud ?( see pic below) of Saudi Arabia with an estimated 20 Billion US$.

Coming to Asia?there are monarchies in Bhutan ( see pic below of the King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck) , Brunei, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, ???Thailand and Tonga, you may well remember that King of Brunei Hassanal ?????Bolkiah was the richest ???man of the ???world once upon a time, today his???estimated wealth is about ??28Billion US$. ??King of Thailand ???Maha ?????Vajiralongkorn ?is the worlds ???richest ??king ??with an estimated 50 Billion US$.

UNIQUE MALAYSIA

There are 13 states in Malaysia ?with only 9 royal families in 9 states, though each of these Royal families have large amount of wealth there can only be one king for the country so ?one Sultan from each of the nine royal states becomes king, or "Agong," every five years on?a rotational basis, this is the system from 1957 when the Britishers ?left. The 16th and current king Yang di-Pertuan Agong ??( King) is Sultan Abdullah of Pahang state see his pic below.

MAHARAJAS OF INDIA

There were officially?565?princely states when India ?became independent .??In 1947 ?preparing for independence it was Sardar Vallabhai Patel ( see pic below) who was ?responsible to convince almost all the princely states to join India?but the Nizam of Hydrabad Mir Osman Ali Khan ( see pic below) ?refused the offer after many months of negotiations in .In September 1948 Sardar sent the Indian army into Hyderabad in what is known as Operation Polo ?and took control of it in 4 days. On September 18 Operation Polo was terminated and Hyderabad was observed into India.

WHAT HAPPNED TO THE ROYAL FAMILIES IN INDIA

Almost all the Indian royal families were stripped of financial and special privileges in 1971 after the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India was passed. The government of India decided to give them a PRIVY PURSE . A?privy purse?was a payment made to the ruling families of erstwhile?princely states?as part of their agreements to first integrate with India in 1947 after the independence of India, and later to?merge their states?in 1949, thereby ending their ruling rights.

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Saif Ali Khan ( see the first pic of him with his mother Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore) the famous Bollywood actor is a Royal from the place called Pataudi , older folks may remember?Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi ( see pic below)??,Saifs father who even captained Indian Cricket Team ( see below a pic of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. Closer?home Nawab of Arcot ?Muhammad Ali Khan Walajah is a prince currently living in Royapettah Chennai. In Kerala?it is the Travancore royal family headed?by Sree Padmanabhadasa Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma living in Trivandrum.

CONCLUSION

14 countries outside UK identify the British Monarch as the head of the state as of today when the Queen came to the throne it was 70 overseas territories including Hong Kong that was given up to China in 1997. There are rumblings in Australia, Jamaica , Barbados and a few more?countries to become a REPUBLIC thus the empire will further shrink.