Hassanal Bolkiah

Hassanal Bolkiah is the sultan of Brunei Darussalam. Its complete titles are Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan . Its complete name is Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu' izzadin Waddaulah Ibni Al-Marhum Hadji Omar' Ali Saifuddien His' adul Khairi Waddien . It reigns as an absolute monarch since the independence of Brunei of the the United Kingdom in 1984. It was born on July 15th, 1946 with Bandar and its birthday is celebrated each year during two weeks.

Policy

Bolkiah is at the same time Prime Minister, Minister for Defense and Minister for Finance of Brunei Darussalam. He established his oldest son Al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah crown prince in September 1998 in order to guarantee the continuity of the kingdom and the dynasty of Bolkiah. Major institutional reforms are in hand since 2005.

Richness

The sultan has one of the first world private fortunes. He was regarded as “the man richest of the world” by the magazine Forbes in 1997, with a fortune exceeding the 40 billion dollars of the United States. After one of the most important financial bankruptcies in the world because of prince Jefri his younger brother, the sultan of Brunei saw his fortune melting of half since 2002 but the rise of the barrel in 2005 again filled the cases of the State and that more indirect and opaque, of the personal royal cassette. According to Forbes in 2005, it returned in signal 5 (n° 2 after King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia) of the richest reigning families of the world.

It is also known for its very vast collection of luxurious cars (Rolls Royce, Lamborghini…). Via the BIA, it holds shares in many great world groups and invests in the real estate, in particular very top-of-the-range hotel trade with the creation of the Dorchester Group . In France, it repurchased the Plaza Athénée, Avenue Montaigne and the Meurice, Rue of Rivoli. It has moreover a private mansion located Place Vendôme at Paris since the end of the year 1990, whose work was directed by the famous decorator Jacques Garcia.

Family

Polygamy being legal with Brunei Darussalam, the sultan has two women:

Anak Saleha, which he married in 1967.
Mariam Abdul Aziz which is the mother of two of her four sons and two of his/her six daughters. He divorced his second wife in February 2003.
It marries in 2005 a journalist Malais ienne of television Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim.

In France

There exists in France the “Circle France-Brunei” in Paris.

See too

List of the current leaders

Be-X-old: ХасаналБолкіях

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