Noun
princely state (plural princely states)
a political state, in the widest sense, which is ruled as or like a principality in the generic sense, regardless of the ruler's actual title and rank.
(more specifically, historical, India, Pakistan) a vassal state under the indirect rule of the British Raj, which is governed by an Indian ruler
In 1938 when he tried to set up a branch of the All India Congress in the state of Faridkot to spearhead the freedom movement, then a princely state under the British, he was proclaimed and treated as an ordinary criminal and sentenced to five years solitary confinement. Zail Singh