(CNN) The High Court in London has decided that a deposit left untouched in a British bank account since 1948 is the rightful property of the descendants of the monarch who transferred it -- and not Pakistan.

The Nizam of Hyderabad ruled over his independent state from 1911 until 1948, when the Indian Army invaded it.

The partition that accompanied the end of British rule had established India and Pakistan as two independent states the previous year, and the Nizam had resisted joining either.

Just days after his state's annexation, he transferred £1 million ($1.23 million) to an account with an English bank, which is now part of NatWest bank, held under the name of the then High Commissioner of newly-formed Pakistan. With added interest, it is now worth £35 million ($43.1 million).

A legal dispute over its ownership started when the Nizam tried unsuccessfully to recover the money shortly afterwards, and only ended with Wednesday's judgement some seven decades later.

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