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You are here: Home / Language / How Did the Twenty-One Gun Salute Originate and Where Did the Tradition Come From?

How Did the Twenty-One Gun Salute Originate and Where Did the Tradition Come From?

April 24, 2020 by Karen Hill

All salutes are signals of voluntary submission.

Early warriors simply placed their weapons on the ground.

But when guns came along, the ritual of firing off or emptying cannons was done to illustrate to approaching foreign dignitaries that they had nothing to fear.

In 1688, the Royal Navy regulated the number of guns to be used in saluting different ranks.

For a prime minister, nineteen guns should be used, but for royalty or heads of state, the salute should be done with twenty-one guns.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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