Highness

Highness is a formal style used to address (in second person) or refer to (in third person) certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adjective: "His Highness", "Their Highnesses", etc. Although often combined with other adjectives of honour indicating rank, such as "Imperial", "Royal" or "Serene", it may be used alone.

Highness is, both literally and historically, the quality of being lofty or above, used as a term to evoke dignity or honour, and to acknowledge the exalted or official high rank of the person so described.

History in Europe

Abstract styles arose in profusion in the Roman Empire, especially in the Byzantine continuation. Styles were attached to various offices at court or in the state. In the early Middle Ages such styles, couched in the second or third person, were uncertain and much more arbitrary, and were more subject to the fancies of secretaries than in later times.

In English usage, the terms Highness, Grace and Majesty, were all used as honorific styles of kings, queens and princes of the blood until the time of James I of England. Thus in documents relating to the reign of Henry VIII of England, all three styles are used indiscriminately; an example is the king's judgment against Dr. Edward Crome (d. f562), quoted, from the Lord Chamberlains' books, ser. I, p. 791, in Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. N.S. lOX. 299, where article 15 begins with Also the Kinges Highness hath ordered, 16 with Kinges Majestie, and 17 with Kinges Grace. In the Dedication of the Authorized Version of the Bible of 1611, James I is still styled Majesty and Highness; thus, in the first paragraph: "the appearance of Your Majesty, as of the Sun in his strength, instantly dispelled those supposed and surmised mists ... especially when we beheld the government established in Your Highness and Your hopeful Seed, by an undoubted title". It was, however, in James I's reign that Majesty became the official style.

His Highness Abdullah

His Highness Abdullah is a 1990 Indian Malayalam musical thriller drama film written by A. K. Lohithadas and directed by Sibi Malayil. It stars Mohanlal, Nedumudi Venu, Gauthami, Sreenivasan, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, and Mamukkoya. It was produced by Mohanlal under the banner of Pranavam Arts. The music was composed by Raveendran.

The story follows Abdullah (Mohanlal), a low-life qawwali singer in Bombay, who is hired by members of a wealthy royal family to assassinate their family head, Maharaja Udayavarma (Nedumudi Venu). Abdullah enters the royal palace under the disguise of a Brahmin classical singer, Ananthan Namboothiri, and tries to use this cover to assassinate the king.

Nedumudi Venu won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Maharaja Udayavarma. Raveendran won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director, and M. G. Sreekumar won the National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song Naadaroopini. The concept of the movie was later used in 2009 Tamil movie Aadhavan and 2015 Kannada comedy Raja Rajendra.