Things Every Civilized Person Should Know: Imperial Russian Ranks and Forms of Address

First Grade (civil) – Chancellor, Actual Privy Counsellor, 1st class.
Style of Address: “His/Your High Excellency”

Second Grade (civil): Actual Privy Counsellor.
Second Grade (court): Chief Chamberlain, Chief Steward Marshal, Chief Stable Master, Chief Hunt Master, Chief Staff Master, Chief Vine Master, Chief Ceremonial Master.
Style of Address: “His/Your High Excellency”

Third Grade (civil): Privy Counsellor
Third Grade (court): Steward Marshal, Stable Master, Hunt Master, Staff Master, Chief Ceremonial Master (1801-1844), Chief Portion Steward (since 1856)
Style of address: “His/Your Excellency”

Fourth Grade (civil): Actual Civil Counsellor / Actual State Counsellor
Fourth Grade (court): Chamberlain (1737-1809)
Style of address: “His/Your Excellency”

Fifth Grade (civil): Civil Counsellor / State Counsellor
Fifth Grade (court): Ceremonial Master
Style of address: “His/Your High Ancestry”

Sixth Grade (civil): Collegiate Counsellor
Sixth Grade (court): Chamber Farrier (until 1884), Chamberlain (until 1737)
Style of address: “His/Your High Nobleness”

Seventh Grade (civil): Court Counsellor (since 1745)
Style of address: “His/Your Nobleness”

Eighth Grade (civil): Collegiate Assessor
Eighth Grade (court): Steward Farrier
Style of address: “His/Your Nobleness”

Ninth Grade (civil): Titular Counsellor
Style of address: “His/Your Nobleness”

Tenth Grade (civil): Collegiate Secretary
Style of address: “His/Your Nobleness”

Eleventh Grade (civil): Ship Secretary
Eleventh Grade (court) Chamber Junker
Style of address: “His/Your Nobleness”

Twelfth Grade (civil): Gubernial Secretary
Style of address: “His/Your Nobleness”

Thirteenth Grade (civil): Office Registrar, Provincial Secretary,Senate Registrar (since 1764), Synod Registrar (since 1764)
Style of address: “His/Your Nobleness”

Fourteenth Grade (civil): Collegiate Registrar
Style of address: “His/Your Nobleness”

Things Every Civilized Person Should Know: Salutes for the Rulers of Indian Princely States

1. 21 guns – H.E.H. the Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar
2. 21 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Mysore
3. 21 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir
4. 21 guns – H.H. the Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda
5. 21 guns – H.H. the Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior
6. 19 guns, 21 guns (Local) – H.H. the Nawab of Bhopal
7. 19 guns, 21 guns (Local) – H.H. the Maharaja Holkar of Indore
8. 19 guns, 21 guns (Local) – H.H. the Maharana of Udaipur (Mewar)
9. 19 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Kolhapur
10. 19 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Travancore
11. 17 guns, 19 guns (Personal) – H.H. the Maharao of Kotah
12. 17 guns, 19 guns (Local) – H.H. the Maharaja of Bharatpur
13. 17 guns, 19 guns (Local) – H.H. the Maharaja of Bikaner
14. 17 guns, 19 guns (Local) – H.H. the Mirza Maharao of Cutch
15. 17 guns, 19 guns (Local) – H.H. the Maharaja of Jaipur
16. 17 guns, 19 guns (Local) – H.H. the Maharaja of Jodhpur
17. 17 guns, 19 guns (Local) – H.H. the Maharaja of Patiala
18. 17 guns – H.H. the Maharao of Bundi
19. 17 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Kochi
20. 17 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Karauli
21. 17 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Rewa
22. 17 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Tonk
23. 15 guns, 17 guns (Personal) – H.H. the Maharaj Rana of Dholpur
24. 15 guns, 17 guns (Local) – H.H. the Maharaja of Alwar
25. 15 guns – H.H. the Maharawal of Banswara
26. 15 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Datia
27. 15 guns – H.H. the Raja of Dewas Senior
28. 15 guns – H.H. the Raja of Dewas Junior
29. 15 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Dhar
30. 15 guns – H.H. the Maharawal of Dungarpur
31 15 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Idar
32 15 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Jaisalmer
33 15 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Kishangarh
34 15 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Orcha
35 15 guns – H.H. the Maharawat of Pratapgarh
36 15 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Rampur
37. 15 guns – H.H. the Raja of Sikkim
38 15 guns – H.H. the Maharaol of Sirohi
39 13 guns – H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Bhavnagar
40 13 guns, 15 guns (Personal and Local) – H.H. the Maharaja of Jind
41 13 guns, 15 guns (Personal and Local) – H.H. the Nawab of Junagadh
42 13 guns, 15 guns (Personal and Local) – H.H. the Maharaja of Kapurthala
43 13 guns, 15 guns (Local) H.H. the Maharaja of Benares
44 13 guns, 15 guns (Local) H.H. the Thakur of Bhavnagar
45 13 guns, 15 guns (Local) H.H. the Raja of Nabha
46 13 guns, 15 guns (Local) H.H. the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar
47 13 guns, 15 guns (Local) H.H. the Raja of Ratlam
48 13 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Cooch Behar
49 13 guns – H.H. the Raja of Dhrangadhra
50 13 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Jaora
51 13 guns – H.H. the Maharaj Rana of Jhalawar
52 13 guns – H.H. the Deewan of Palanpur
53 13 guns – H.H. the Rana Sahib of Porbandar
54 13 guns – H.H. the Raja of Rajpipla
55 13 guns – H.H. the Raja of Tipra
56 11 guns, 13 guns (Local) – H.H. the Nawab of Janjira
57 11 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Ajaigarh
58 11 guns – H.H. the Maharana of Ali Rajpur
59 11 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Baoni
60 11 guns – H.H. the Rana ofBarwan
61 11 guns – H.H. the Sawai Maharaja of Bijawar
62 11 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Cambay (Khambhat)
63 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Chamba
64 11 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Charakhari
65 11 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Chhatarpur
66 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Faridkot
67 11 guns – H.H. the Thakur of Gondal
68 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Bilaspur
69 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Jhabua
70 11 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Maler
71 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Mandi
72 11 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Manipur
73 11 guns – H.H. the Thakur of Morvi
74 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Narsinghgarh
75 11 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Panna
76 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Pudukkottai
77 11 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Radhanpur
78 11 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Rajgarh
79 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Sailana
80 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Samthar
81 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Sirmaur
82 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Sitamau
83 11 guns – H.H. the Raja of Suket
84 11 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Tehri
85 11 guns – H.H. the Maharana Raj Sahib of Wankaner
86 9 guns, 11 guns (Personal) – H.H. the Maharaol of Baria
87 9 guns, 11 guns (Personal) – H.H. the Raja of Dharampur
88 9 guns, 11 guns (Personal) – H.H. the Raja of Sangli
89 9 guns, 11 guns (Local) – H.H. the Sar Desai of Sawantwadi
90 9 guns – H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Badwan
91 9 guns – H.H. the Nawab Babi of Balasinor
92 9 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Banganapalle
93 9 guns – H.H. the Maharawal of Bansda
94 9 guns – H.H. the Raja of Baraundha
95 9 guns – H.H. the Raja of Bhor
96 9 guns – H.H. the Raja of Chota
97 9 guns – H.H. the Maharana of Danta
98 9 guns – H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Dhrol
99 9 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Jawhar
100 9 guns – H.H. the Raja of Kalahandi
101 9 guns – H.H. the Rao of Khilchipur
102 9 guns – H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Limbdi
103 9 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Loharu
104 9 guns – H.H. the Maharana of Lunawara
105 9 guns – H.H. the Raja of Maihar
106 9 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Mayurbhanj
107 9 guns – H.H. the Raja of Mudhol
108 9 guns – H.H. the Raja of Nagod
109 9 guns – H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Palitana
110 9 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Patna
111 9 guns – H.H. the Thakore Sahib of Rajkot
112 9 guns – H.H. the Nawab of Sachin
113 9 guns – H.H. the Maharana of Sant
114 9 guns – H.H. the Rajadhiraj of Shahpura
115 9 guns – H.H. the Maharaja of Sonepur
116 9 guns – H.H. the Maharana of Wadhwan
117 9 guns (Personal) – The Raja of Bashahr

Things Every Civilized Person Should Know: How to Spot a Bogus Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire

Since the election of Lothar II in 1125, Germany’s most powerful princes have held the clear right to choose the king of the German peoples and eventually the successor to that king, the Holy Roman Emperor. The Golden Bull of 1356 resolved various disputes among the princes and fixed the number of these so-called “Prince-Electors” at seven.

Three of these princes were ecclesiastic:

the Archbishop of Mainz
the Archbishop of Trier
the Archbishop of Cologne

And four were secular:

the King of Bohemia
the Margrave of Brandenburg
the Count Palatine of the Rhine
the Duke of Saxony

The composition of the College of Electors remained unchanged for 300 years until the Duke of Bavaria was added to the group as an indirect consequence of the Thirty Years’ War in 1623. The Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg was added to the College (as the Elector of Hanover) in 1696. Despite some temporary reshuffling during the War of the Spanish Succession, it is only these nine electors (eight, really, because the Elector Palatine inherited the Bavarian dukedom in 1777) who can be considered legitimate, though purists may object to the inclusion of both Bavaria and Hanover.

Unfortunately, the continent-wide ravages of Napoleon at the start of the 19th Century did not spare the ancient College of Electors. The Treaty of Lunéville in 1801, forced upon the Germans by the Corsican upstart, led to the abolition of the archbishoprics of Trier and Cologne, and the transfer of the remaining spiritual Electorship from the Archbishop of Mainz to the Archbishop of Regensburg. In 1803, electorates were created for the Duke of Württemberg, the Margrave of Baden, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and the Duke of Salzburg, bringing the total number of electors to a preposterous ten. When Austria annexed Salzburg under the Treaty of Pressburg (1805), the Duke of Salzburg moved to the Grand Duchy of Würzburg and retained his electorate.

It is important to note that none of these Johnny-come-lately electors ever actually exercised their power by casting a vote for a potential Holy Roman Emperor since the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806 and, this is key, the new electorates were never confirmed by the Emperor.

Therefore, these Napoleonic electors are most definitely NOT entitled to the additional rights and privileges that prince-electors enjoyed such as their monopoly over all mines of gold, silver, and other metals within their territories, the right to tax Jews, to collect tolls, and to mint money; as well as their unique judicial powers which were that their subjects could be not be tried in the imperial courts, and appeal from their courts lay only in cases where denial of justice was claimed.

DO NOT BE FOOLED. These “phony five,” the Archbishop of Regensburg, the Duke of Württemberg, the Margrave of Baden, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and the Grand-Duke of Würzburg, are no more entitled to elect a Holy Roman Emperor than you or I. And if you or I are the Archbishop of Mainz, the Archbishop of Trier, the Archbishop of Cologne, the King of Bohemia, the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Count Palatine of the Rhine, or the Duke of Saxony, then we would be entirely justified in looking down our noses at these bogus prince-electors and perhaps taking a swing at them.