“Now is the time for a new generation to take power.”
On June 25, 2013, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani announced to general amazement that he was abdicating in favor of one of his sons, Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim.
In a televised speech addressed to the nation, the Emir of Qatar affirms that "the time has come to open a new page"... This is how, suddenly, Tamim ben Hamad Al Thani finds himself, at the age of 33, propelled as the strongman of the wealthy Gulf gas state, becoming the youngest head of state in the Arab world.
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An English-educated Francophile
Born June 3, 1980 in Doha, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is the fourth son of Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani, and the second by his influential second wife, Sheikha Moza.
On August 5, 2003, thanks to a change in the order of succession, he was named heir presumptive to the emirate, to the chagrin of his older brother Jassem.
Tamim would have been preferred to him because he is said to be the most stable: “One party too much, the other prays too much”, explains a source to
Foreign Policy
, quoted by
Paris Match
.
Especially since from an early age, Tamim has been preparing to take over.
But the fact remains that this football fan, trained in England in prestigious institutions such as Sherborne School, Harrow School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (this school in Berkshire where Prince William received his military training), has been able to prove himself, in particular through sport.
First at the head of the local Olympic Committee, he managed the organization of the 2006 Asian Games. The young man then rose to prominence by occupying various positions in Qatar: President of the Higher Council for the Environment and Nature Reserves, President of the Higher Council for Education, President of the Higher Council for Information and Communication Technologies… Little by little, Tamim is marking its territory.
Like the rest of the al-Thani family, the crown prince is said to love Paris, where he can still walk incognito on the Champs-Élysées.
At least that was the case until he became Emir of Qatar.
Raised by a Belgian nanny, the man speaks French perfectly, according to information from our colleague, the journalist Georges Malbrunot.
Besides, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is best known in France as the owner of Paris Saint-Germain.
Full screen
Nicolas Sarkozy, Nasser Al Khelaifi and Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the Parc des Princes.
(Paris, November 28, 2015.) Abaca
Three women...
On the private side, like his father, Tamim ben Hamad Al Thani was married for the first time to a cousin, so that the future crown prince of Qatar is the result of a pure union between two members of the reigning family.
The lucky winner is none other than Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani (her second cousin): married in 2005, the couple have four children: two girls and two boys, born in 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012.
But, like his father again and because Islamic law allows polygamy, Tamim then married a commoner in 2009: Sheikha Al-Anoud bint Mana Al Hajri, who gave birth to three girls and two boys.
Before joining Noora bint Hathal Al Dosari in 2014, when he had been emir for a year, and with whom he had four children between 2015 and 2020.
... but only one first lady
Still, on the political level, only the sheikha Jawaher takes on the role of first lady.
Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani is, in fact, the only one to have accompanied her husband on his official trips.
Last May, she made a remarkable appearance accompanying the Emir of Qatar during his state visit to Spain, the first since he came to power in 2013. Dressed in a Chanel coat and white sequined trousers, a Kelly Hermès bag in hand, Jawaher had then created the surprise by appearing with his head uncovered.
A few months later, the sheikha once again proved that she had to be counted on by attending, alongside her husband, the funeral of Elizabeth II in London as a consort.
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The Emir of Qatar and his first wife Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani pose alongside King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain.
(Madrid, May 17, 2022.) Abaca
