Qaboos bin Said

Qaboos bin Said Al Said (قابوس بن سعيد آل سعيد, ; 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 House of Al Said, 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.

Sayyid Qaboos bin Said was born in the southern city of Salalah in Dhofar on 18 November 1940 as an only son of Sultan Said bin Taimur and Mazoon al-Mashani.

He received his primary and secondary education at Salalah, and was sent to a private educational establishment at Bury St Edmunds in England at age 16.

At 20, he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

After graduating from Sandhurst in September 1962, he joined the British Army and was posted to the 1st Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), serving with them in Germany for one year.

He also held a staff appointment with the British Army.

After his military service, Qaboos studied local government subjects in England and then completed his education with a world tour chaperoned by Leslie Chauncy.

The first pressing problem that Qaboos bin Said faced as sultan was an armed communist insurgency from South Yemen, the Dhofar Rebellion (1962–1976).

The sultanate eventually defeated the incursion with help from the Shah of Iran, Jordanian troops sent from his friend King Hussein of Jordan, British Special Forces and the Royal Air Force.

There were few rudiments of a modern state when Qaboos took power.

Oman was a poorly developed country, severely lacking in infrastructure, healthcare, and education, with only 10 km of paved roads and a population dependent on subsistence farming and fishing.

Qaboos modernized the country using oil revenues.

Schools and hospitals were built, and a modern infrastructure was laid down, with hundreds of kilometres of new roads paved, a telecommunications network established, projects for a port and airport that had begun prior to his reign were completed and a second port was built, and electrification was achieved.

The government also began to search for new water resources and built a desalination plant, and the government encouraged the growth of private enterprise, especially in development projects.

Banks, hotels, insurance companies, and print media began to appear as the country developed economically.

The Omani riyal was established as the national currency, replacing the Indian rupee and Maria Theresa thaler.

Later, additional ports were built, and universities were opened.

In his first year in power, Qaboos also abolished slavery in Oman.

The political system which Qaboos established is that of an absolute monarchy.

The Sultan's birthday, 18 November, is celebrated as Oman's national holiday.

He returned to Oman in 1966 and was the subject of considerable restrictions from his father.

Upon his return in 1966, he was placed under virtual house arrest in Al-Husun Palace in Salalah by his father.

Here he was kept isolated from government affairs, except for occasional briefings by his father's personal advisers.

Qaboos studied Islam and the history of his country.

His personal relationships were limited to a handpicked group of palace officials who were sons of his father's advisors and a few expatriate friends such as Tim Landon.

Sultan Said said that he would not allow his son to be involved with the developing planning process, and Qaboos began to make known his desire for change—which was quietly supported by his expatriate visitors.

In 1970, Qaboos ascended to the Omani throne after overthrowing his father in a coup d'état, with British support.

The country was subsequently renamed the Sultanate of Oman.

As sultan, Qaboos implemented a policy of modernization and ended Oman's international isolation.

His reign saw a rise in living standards and development in the country, the abolition of slavery, the end of the Dhofar Rebellion, and the promulgation of Oman's constitution.

Qaboos acceded to the throne on 23 July 1970 following a successful coup against his father, with the aim of ending the country's isolation and using its oil revenue for modernization and development.

He declared that the country would no longer be known as Muscat and Oman, but would change its name to "the Sultanate of Oman" in order to better reflect its political unity.

The coup was supported by the British, with Ian Cobain writing that it was "planned in London by MI6 and by civil servants at the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office" and sanctioned by the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.

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 decided to view Qaboos's letter and named his intended successor, his cousin Haitham bin Tariq, as sultan.