Muhammad Shamsuddeen III
Sultan of the Maldives
Sultan Muhammad Shamsuddeen Iskander III (Dhivehi: 20 October 1879 – 12 March 1935), son of Ibrahim Nooraddeen and Kakaage Don Goma, was the Sultan of the Maldives first from 7 May 1893 and then again from 1902. When he was 14 years, after the death of his father Sultan Ibrahim Nooraddeen, he was nominated as the Sultan only after the people expressed their dissatisfaction with the appointment of his eight-year-old half-brother as Sultan Muhammad Imaaduddeen V against the Law of Succession in the Maldive Islands. Shamsuddeen's succession to the throne was in part favoured by the fact that he was great-nephew to Muhammad Didi Ranna Baderi Kilegefanu, the prime minister to three successive Sultans, who strongly protested to the Ceylon Governor in Colombo on behalf of his discarded great-nephew. From Malé, Shamsuddeen wrote to his great-uncle, to return and resume the post of prime minister. At this time Haajee Imaaduddeen, nephew of the late sultan Nooraddeen, who would take over the throne after 2 months, ran the country. Ibrahim Didi and some other members of the Council of Ministers ('little knowing what evil a decade was to bring forth') encouraged Haajee Imaaduddeen to seize the throne from the young sultan as they despised Muhammad Didi's complete control over his grandnephew Sultan Shamsuddeen. However the enthronement was based on the
specious plea stating a unanimous dissatisfaction by the people regarding the existing sultanate with a 'mere lad as Sultan, not able to do or undo anything himself'. By this decree Haajee Imaaduddeen was raised to the throne and named Sultan Muhammad Imaaduddeen VI, with Ibrahim Didi as his prime minister. Shamsuddeen came back to power again in 1902 after the peaceful Malé Revolution which took place while Sultan Muhammad Imaaduddeen VI temporarily quit his kingdom with the object of marrying the high-born Egyptian Sharifa Hanim, the daughter of Abd-ur Rakhman Khami Bhey, the Consul of Persia. Muhammad Shamsuddeen III's full coronation ceremony (the Ceremony of the Assumption of the State Sword of the Kingdom of the Maldive Islands) was not held until 27 July 1905. The ceremony was attended by Sir John Keene on behalf of Edward VII, the Katheeb of Kelaa of Thiladhummathi Atoll on behalf of the inhabitants of the northern atolls of the kingdom and the Katheeb of Isdhu of Haddhunmathi Atoll on behalf of the inhabitants of the southern atolls of the kingdom.
The Yogyakarta Kraton Guards are the contingents of soldiers guarding the Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat, the official residence of the Sultans of Yogyakarta. They serve ceremonial and security functions. By tradition, the reigning Sultan of Yogyakarta serves as Colonel-in-chief of the Guards. The Yogyakarta Kraton Guards were formed during the reign of Hamengkubuwono I around the seventeenth century. The soldiers of the infantry and cavalry troops used firearms, in the form of rifles and cannons. For about half a century, the Kraton Guards were strong, as was proven when Hamengkubuwono II led an armed resistance against the invasion of British troops under General Gillespie in June 1812. Following the reign of Hamengkubuwono III, the British company was able to dissolve the army of the Yogyakarta Sultanate. In an agreement on October 2, 1813, signed by Sultan Hamengkubuwono III and Stamford Raffles, it was written that the Sultanate of Yogyakarta was not justified in maintaining strong armed forces. Under the supervision of the British Government of the Company, the palace could have only limited armed entities. It was no longer possible for them to perform military functions. Since then, the function of armed units has been limited to guarding the sultan, the palace, and its traditions. When the Dutch East India Company returned to power, the armed forces that had been weakened were increasingly reduced until they had no military relevance. According to existing records, from the reign of Hamengkubuwono VII to the reign of Hamengkubuwono VIII between 1877 and 1939 13 companies of the Kraton Guard Regiment existed: Sumoatmojo, Ketanggung, Patangpuluh, Wirobrojo, Jogokaryo, Nyutro, Dhaeng,
Jager, Prawirotomo, Mantrijero, Langenastro, Surokarso and Bugis.
The Sultanate of the Maldive Islands (Dhivehi Raajje) was an Islamic monarchy that controlled the Maldives for 815 years (1153–1968), with one interruption from 1953–1954. Maldives was a Buddhist kingdom until its last monarch, King Dhovemi, converted to Islam in the year 1153; thereafter he also adopted the Muslim title and name Sultan Muhammad al-Adil. Six dynasties would rule over the Maldives until the Sultanate become elective in 1932. From the 16th century, the Sultanate increasingly came under European influence, starting with a 15-year period of Portuguese rule. After the expulsion of the Portuguese, the Maldives became subject to Dutch hegemony before finally becoming a British protected state in 1796. Maldives was turned into a Sultanate in 1153 when the Buddhist King Dhovemi converted to Islam. Prior to that the Maldives was a Buddhist Kingdom, a Hindu Kingdom and before that a matriarchal society with each atoll ruled by a chief queen according to some accounts or by others, several theocratic societies ruled by priests known as Sawamias of heliolatric, selenolatric and astrolatric religions. All the rulers before King Koimala only ruled over parts of the Maldives or Deeva Maari
(and Dheeva Mahal) as it was known then. Koimala was the first king to rule over all the islands of the Maldives as we know today and the island of Maliku. The formal title of the Sultan up to 1965 was, Sultan of Land and Sea, Lord of the twelve-thousand islands and Sultan of the Maldives which came with the style Highness. The main official Royal residence of the Sultan was the Etherekoilu, a palace in Malé. The reigns of Sultans are from three sources. Taarikh (also known as the Tarikh lslam Diba Mahal) by Maldivian chronicler Hasan Taj Al-Din (died in 1727) written in Arabic which covers 670 years of Maldives history, the loamaafaanu copper plates and the third source called Raadhavalhi which was written in 1757 using both Dhives Akuru and Thaana. The 7 dynasties of Maldives 1. Theemugu dynasty 2. Umaru veeru dynasty 3. Hilai dynasty 4. Utheem dynasty 5. Isdhoo dynasty 6. Dhiyamili dynasty 7. Hura dynasty. The Huraa Dynasty was the royal dynasty to rule over the Sultanate of Maldives from 1757 to 1965. It was founded by Sultan al-Ghazi Hasan 'Izz ud-din.
Awards: Collar, sash and star of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, star of the Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar (Wisam al-Kawkab al-Durri al-Zanzibari).
