Apart from the Commonwealth realm – a group of sixteen countries that recognize Elizabeth II as their Queen, there are today 27 remaining monarchies in the world. 17 of them are kingdoms, four principalities or grand duchies, three emirates, two sultanates and the Emperor Akihito in Japan. Emirs and sultans can be found mainly in the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC.

To understand the figures of these Muslim monarchs, we must first understand their countries independence. Apart from Saudi Arabia, the rest of the Arabian Gulf was under the British hegemony during the 19th and 20th centuries, and Britain did not withdraw completely its military until late 1971. The independences were followed by several conflicts between nations in order to annex the left-overs: Kuwait demanded by Iraq; Bahrain by Iran and Qatar; UAE by Saudi and Iran; Oman by Saudi; and Qatar by Bahrain and Saudi. Britain itself, along with the Arab League, helped to make the process possible, although the British influence and presence is still very obvious in the Gulf in terms of militia, education, business, architecture, monarchy ties, and in general, expatriate community.

While Saudi Arabia and Bahrain call their monarch king or malik (feminine – queen or malikah), Oman’s ruler is referred as sultan. Sultan (feminine – sultanah) comes from Arabic “authority” and “power” and it has certain weight in the Qur’an, which explains that the only sultans in the world today are found in Islamic countries (Oman, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia). On the other hand, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait are the only emirates today. Emir (feminine – emira) derives from Arabic "command" and can be assimilated to the title of prince or princess in the Muslim World. Finally, I must point out the misleading term sheikh. Sheikh (feminine – sheikha) is the Arabic word for a respected, old wise person, and it often refers to an Islamic scholar. It is true that  monarchs are normally preceded by the word sheikh when named to show respect, but that does not mean that sheikh can be translated for Arab king, as many people believe (Spanish translation “jeque” has a wrong meaning).