Qaboos bin Said

Qaboos bin Said Al Said (Arabic: قابوس بن سعيد آل سعيد, romanized: Qābūs ibn Saʿīd Āl Saʿīd, IPA: [qaː.buːs bin sa.ʕiːd ʔaːl sa.ʕiːd]; 18 November 1940 – 10 January 2020) was Sultan of Oman from 23 July 1970 until his death in 2020. A fifteenth-generation descendant of the founder of the Al Bu Said dynasty, he was the longest-serving leader in the Middle East and Arab world at the time of his death, having ruled for almost half a century. The only son of Said bin Taimur, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, Qaboos was educated in Suffolk, England. After graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he served briefly in the British Army. He returned to Oman in 1966 and was the subject of considerable restrictions from his father. In 1970, Qaboos ascended to the Omani throne after overthrowing his father in a coup d'état, with British support. He subsequently established the Sultanate of Oman. As sultan, Qaboos implemented a policy of modernization and ended Oman's international isolation, becoming the architect of the Omani Renaissance, which saw a rise in the country's living standards, the abolition of slavery, the end of the Dhofar rebellion, and the promulgation of Oman's constitution. Suffering from poor health in later life, Qaboos died in 2020. He had no children, so he entailed the royal court to reach consensus on a successor upon his death. As a precaution, he hid a letter which named his successor in case an agreement was not achieved. After his death, the royal court named his intended successor, his cousin Haitham bin Tariq, as sultan.