Haitham bin Tariq

About

Haitham bin Tariq Al Said (born 11 October 1955) is the Sultan and Prime Minister of Oman. He acceded to the throne in 2020 following the death of his cousin, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, becoming the fifteenth ruler of the Al Bu Said dynasty, which has ruled Oman since the mid-eighteenth century. Prior to becoming Sultan, Haitham served for several decades under Sultan Qaboos in the Cabinet of Oman most notably as the Minister of Heritage and Culture.
Haitham was born in Muscat to Sayyid Tariq bin Taimur, who served as Prime Minister from 1970 to 1972 during the reign of the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said, and Sayyida Shawana bint Hamud bin Ahmad Al Busaidi. Sultan Haitham received his primary education at Al Saidiya School in Muscat before continuing his secondary and university studies in the United Kingdom. In 1979, he graduated from the University of Oxford’s Foreign Service Programme and later pursued postgraduate studies at Pembroke College, Oxford.
Since becoming Sultan, Haitham has largely continued his predecessor’s domestic and foreign policy, which saw Oman develop into a stable, modern country. In 2021, he reaffirmed citizens’ and residents’ freedom of expression and opinion in…