The wives of the Sultan of Brunei live in the royal palace. The real myths of Brunei. The Sultan and the Brunei. From the dossier "mk"

The inhabitants of Brunei call their princess, the wife of the crown prince al-Muhtadi Bill, only "sunny". Princess Sarah Saleh is the most popular member of the large Sultan's family. And this is not surprising - a girl from a simple family, modest, smart, educated, embodies the dreams of many Brunei girls.

The announcement of the official engagement of the crown prince was like a bolt from the blue for Brunei. After all, Sarah is a European, she grew up in Switzerland, in a simple family, and if royal blood flows in her, then quite a bit - her father is a very distant relative of the Sultan's family. He works as an ordinary engineer in a water treatment company. Sarah's mother is a German, a nurse by profession.

However, not burdened with prejudice, the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, did not particularly care about the purity of the royal blood, he was more concerned about the human qualities of the contender for the title of the future queen. Hassanal sent his son on a business trip to Switzerland and asked Sarah's parents to host the crown prince during his stay in Europe. The plan worked out better than ever - after these days, the crown prince himself asked his father for permission to stay longer in Switzerland. A month later, the engagement took place, and the wedding was played on the hundredth day of acquaintance.

The newly minted princess surprised everyone. This is the first crown princess in the history of the Sultanate who asked to be given official duties. By tradition, princesses are not burdened with any other function than being a good wife and loving mother. But for the current crown princess, this was not enough - she wants to benefit the country. Sarah graduated with honors from the university with a degree in social protection and administration, in addition, she speaks German, English, French and Italian. The princess does not neglect sports, participates in the volunteer movement of the Greens and popularizes blood donation by her own example.

The crown prince and princess already have three children - in 2007, the first son, Prince Abdul-Muntakim, was born, in 2011, a daughter, Princess Muniira, and in June 2015, the third royal child, Prince Muhammad Ayman, was born. Sarah knows how to maintain excellent relations with the entire large royal family of Brunei, is keenly interested in the affairs of her subjects, and patronizes the development of women's education. It is as if she was specially born for this difficult role - to be the mother of the nation.

The Sultan of Brunei is one of the richest people in the world. He surprises the world with boundless luxury. The whole world enviously discusses the published scandalous data on his expenses, and he continues to live in a big way. One of his recent purchases is an Airbus A340 aircraft for US$100 million. Let's take a look at the flying palace - the personal plane of the head of the oil power.

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1. The Airbus A340 is a long-haul four-engine wide-body jet passenger aircraft developed by Airbus SAS and is the world's longest passenger aircraft with a fuselage length of 75.3 meters. Due to its large wingspan and high fuel consumption, the A340-212 was not in demand - a total of 28 such aircraft were produced, including the Sultan version.

2. Corridor in the plane of the Sultan.

3. Meeting room.

4. And this is very romantically called the "compartment compartment."

5. Toilet with shower. All plumbing in the aircraft is gilded.

6. And finally, the golden shell.

8. The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, has been flying the Airbus A340-212 for a long time, and according to US intelligence, getting on board is harder than getting into a room with a US nuclear launch system.

9. The Sultan bought an Airbus A340-212 for $100 million, after which he gave it for revision to the American military department (!) Raytheon, which completely changed the interior of the aircraft for $120 million and modernized it somewhat. Additional fuel tanks increased the flight range to 15 thousand km, against 12.4 thousand for the production model.

10. Airbus Sultan of Brunei was decorated in the colors of the national flag.

11. Hassanal Bolkiah has been surrounded by gold and diamonds since the day he was born. In October 1967, at the age of 21, Bolkiah took over as Sultan of Brunei and began to increase his wealth. Gold accompanies the Sultan everywhere, even in the sky.

The Sultan of Brunei is one of the richest people in the world. He surprises the world with boundless luxury. The whole world enviously discusses the published scandalous data on his expenses, and he continues to live in a big way. One of his recent purchases is an Airbus A340 aircraft for US$100 million.

1. The Airbus A340, a long-haul four-engine wide-body jet passenger aircraft developed by Airbus SAS, is the world's longest passenger aircraft with a fuselage length of 75.3 meters. Due to its large wingspan and high fuel consumption, the A340-212 was not in demand - a total of 28 such aircraft were produced, including the Sultan version.

2. Corridor in the plane of the Sultan.

3. Meeting room.

4. And this is very romantically called the "compartment compartment."

5. Toilet with shower. All plumbing in the aircraft is gilded.

6. And finally, the golden shell.

8. The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, has been flying the Airbus A340-212 for a long time, and according to US intelligence, getting on board is harder than getting into a room with a US nuclear launch system.

9. The Sultan bought an Airbus A340-212 for $100 million, after which he gave it for revision to the American military department (!) Raytheon, which completely changed the interior of the aircraft for $120 million and modernized it somewhat. Additional fuel tanks increased the flight range to 15 thousand km, against 12.4 thousand for the production model.

10. Airbus Sultan of Brunei was decorated in the colors of the national flag.

11. Hassanal Bolkiah has been surrounded by gold and diamonds since the day he was born. In October 1967, at the age of 21, Bolkiah took over as Sultan of Brunei and began to increase his wealth. Gold accompanies the Sultan everywhere, even in the sky.

One of the richest people in the world, the Sultan of Brunei, married his daughter.
There was no limit to his father's generosity, few people saw such luxury.
The dazzling ceremony took place in the 1,700-room palace of the monarch.
The daughter was in a dazzlingly magnificent dress, Penjiran Haji Muhammad Razini became her chosen one.

Princess Hajja Hafiza Sururul Bolkiah, 32, the fifth child of the Sultan's family, and her fiancé, who recently turned 29, exchanged vows in front of family and friends, royalty and international figures.

The bride and groom work in the government as employees of the Sultan of Brunei. Hafiza holds a degree in business administration from a senior position in the finance ministry, and Razini is one of the prime minister's staff.

The sultan is the premier of a small but oil-rich Muslim sultanate that has been ruled by the same royal family for 600 years and also serves as minister of finance and minister of defense.

The Sultan of Brunei, Hadji Hassanal Bolkiah, created a magnificent ceremony in honor of the wedding of his daughter by ordering a cafe for a wedding in Tula. This is a joke, of course, the celebration took place in the incredibly rich Throne Room of the Sultan's palace.

There, the couple exchanged vows in front of the country's most powerful people, including neighboring Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The newlyweds were then formally introduced to the royal court in a lavish ceremony that marked the culmination of more than a week of wedding celebrations. Among the guests were the leaders of Southeast Asia and representatives of foreign royal families.

Such weddings tend to be a rare source of fun in Brunei, which is known for its slow pace of life and lack of nightlife.

The wedding of Crown Prince Al-Muhtabi Billah in 2004 drew big crowds to the nation's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, with a guest list of more than 2,000 people that included members of the royal families of Japan, Jordan, Britain and Malaysia.

If among the “mere mortals” in terms of personal fortune there is still no equal to the owner of the Microsoft computer company Bill Gates, then among the “chosen ones” by God, as before, the Sultan of Brunei Haji is considered the wealthiest (he made a pilgrimage to Mecca to Muslim shrines) Hassanal Bolkiah. At the age of 61, his personal fortune (or rather, it is nothing more than the national budget of his native Sultanate of Brunei) is 22 billion dollars.

Even 40 years ago, this man became the 29th sultan of the little Malay Sultan of Brunei on the island of Borneo (it also contains two states of Malaysia - Sabah and Sarawak, and part of Indonesia), he actually inherited the wealth of the entire Bolkiah dynasty, which already has more than 600 years.

The Sultan of Brunei simultaneously serves as the Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Finance of his country, as well as the head of the local religious community. In general, everything is under one-man control, so it is not surprising that His Highness remains the richest "royal heir" on our planet. In addition, world oil prices are still very high, and since there is practically nothing else in Brunei except for oil, the wealth of its sultan will, apparently, continue to grow at an enviable pace.

The richest man on the planet is Sultan Hassanal Bolkiyah. He is the prime minister, the minister of defense, the minister of finance, the religious leader. He is also the largest collector of expensive cars and works of the Impressionists. But most importantly, he has a lot of oil. True, in recent years the monarch has become impoverished: family problems - here, it happens, and oil will not help.

The Sultan and the nation are one.

The official name of the state nestled in the northwest of the island of Kalimantan (Borneo), between the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, is Brunei Darussalam, "abode of peace." For the first time, Chinese chroniclers mentioned Brunei in the 6th century, and the sultanate reached its relative prosperity after about a thousand years, when it turned into one of the centers for the spread of Islam in the region. By that time, local sultans controlled most of the island, and one of them (also Bolkiyah, nicknamed the Singing Captain), having built a fleet that was not bad at that time, captured a number of territories in the neighboring Philippines. However, the sultans of Brunei not only successfully fought, but also traded - primarily with China. The basis of exports were precious woods and the favorite delicacy of the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire - swallows' nests.

The effectiveness of the "whip and nest" policy towards neighbors is evidenced by the fact that until the middle of the 19th century Brunei managed to maintain its independence. But in 1842, an uprising broke out on the island, and the then sultan resorted to the help of a European, the English adventurer James Brooke, who bought the latest weapons and equipped mercenaries. Having suppressed the uprising, the ruler, apparently, did not take into account that the West is also a rather delicate matter, and in gratitude he bestowed on Brook the title of Raja of Sarawak and vast lands. It was a fatal mistake. Representatives of the White Raja dynasty, with the help of the British company North Borneo, which had its own views on the natural resources of the island, gradually chopped off most of Brunei. In the end, a fairly shrinking state was surrounded on all sides by the territory of Sarawak. The final cross on sovereignty was put in 1888, when Brunei officially came under the protectorate of Great Britain.

During the Second World War, the British were driven out by the Japanese, but only for four years, after which the status quo was restored. In 1959, Great Britain granted internal autonomy to Brunei and did not even object to the adoption of the first Brunei constitution. However, it did not last long, and even then only on paper.

The reason for curtailing democracy and tightening the screws on power was another uprising against the then Sultan Omar, raised in 1963 by the People's Party of Brunei. The Sultan was ready to join the created Malaysian federation, but the opposition prevented this in every possible way. Omar suppressed the uprising, but he also drew conclusions from what happened - he slowed down his entry into the federation, reined in the opposition, and he himself, tired of government activities, abdicated in favor of his son, Prince Hassanal Bolkiyakh, punishing him to rule in democracy no longer, but to rule country alone, with the help of decrees. Which he did until recently.

Haji Hassanal Bolkiyah Muizzaddin Vadaulakh was born on July 15, 1946. The prince was educated at local private schools and a university in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), after which he graduated from the elite Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst (UK). By the time of the coronation, which took place on August 1, 1968, Bolkiyakh was not at all the richest man on the planet and generally lived relatively modestly - albeit in a palace, but in a wooden one, on stilts (this is how the Malays, who make up the majority of the population of Brunei, built their homes for a long time) .

Oil and gas were found in Borneo at the beginning of the last century, and the Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch / Shell was the first to share the licensed pie. But the richest deposits were discovered later just on a tiny swampy piece of land called Brunei. Brunei Shell Petroleum was founded, owned on a parity basis by Royal Dutch/Shell and the ruling dynasty. Millions of barrels of oil were pumped into the company's tankers (Brunei ranks third in oil production in Southeast Asia - 163 thousand barrels per day - and fourth in the world in the production of liquefied gas), and billions of dollars poured into the accounts of the royal family.

When Brunei gained independence on January 1, 1984, Sultan Bolkiyah was already firmly registered at the top of Forbes magazine's famous list of four hundred super-rich people and, four years later, took the first line in it. And his sultanate has become one of the leaders in terms of living standards among Asian states.

Fairy tale 1001 towers.

The population of Brunei does not know what political parties, opposition, independent media, elections are: the Sultan personally appoints officials at all levels, and he also issues decrees in the rank of laws. H on the other hand, all 345 thousand Brunei do not pay income tax, receive gifts on the birthday of the Sultan, actively use interest-free loans (for which they even buy private jets), are provided with free health care and education, including any educational institution abroad to choose from; in addition (the specifics of the Islamic monarchy), the state pays for the traditional annual pilgrimage to Mecca - the Hajj. So one of the most severe punishments for the subjects of the Sultan is deprivation of citizenship.

The average annual income of Brunei is one of the highest in Asia. In the late 1980s, it was $25,000, but has recently declined somewhat (more on the reasons below). Although, to draw up a real picture, one should calculate the average income without taking into account what the Sultan and members of his large family receive. Legends have long been circulating about their income, and most importantly, expenses.

To begin with, Bolkiyakh, not wanting to huddle on stilts anymore, built a dwelling worthy of a sultan. His palace "Istana Nurul Iman" today is the largest in the world and as such appears in the Guinness Book of Records. No money was spared for the construction of another wonder of the world, larger than the Vatican in area - all together, including the famous Carrara marble and pure gold to cover the domes, cost the Sultan about $ 500 million. The total number of rooms in the palace complex is 1788, the underground garage is designed for 153 cars, a banquet hall for 4 thousand people. The paintings and sculptures kept in the palace would do honor to any museum. For just one painting by Renoir, the Sultan laid out more than $ 70 million at the auction, writing in his name another record in the mentioned book.

The Sultan is also fond of collecting cars - of course, the most expensive and rare; Bolkiyakh has about 5,000 of them. He also maintains a stable for two hundred thoroughbred horses, one of the best polo stadiums in the world (having a special penchant for this game), owns several aircraft, including a Boeing 747, and a cruise ship.

But the generosity of the ruler of Brunei is truly oriental. So, at a party on the occasion of his 50th birthday, he invited Michael Jackson himself to sing for $ 17 million, and gave his daughter an Airbus A-340 worth $ 100 million for her birthday. When traveling abroad, the royal retinue has up to 500 people, one night in a hotel costs about $250,000 to the sultan. On the days of such arrivals, the most famous boutiques and fashion houses arrange an exit sale in the hotel where the dear guest and his entourage are staying. A representative of the Armani house once remarked: what the members of this family bought from us would be enough to dress the whole country.

And most recently, the Sultan erected the most expensive hotel in the world, Empire. Almost five times more money was spent on its construction than on the palace of Bolkiyakh himself (inflation!): $ 2.7 billion. But on the other hand, guests can not only eat on silver and Limoges porcelain, but also carry out, so to speak, the opposite process -- sitting on pure gold. In the hotel, all plumbing is made from it (as well as door handles, air conditioner buttons, etc.).

True, this miracle building was forced to become a hotel. About ten years ago, the Sultan decided to build just a guest house for friends and relatives. 250 architects were hired and asked to let their imagination run wild. Therefore, crystal lamps were ordered from Austria, green marble from Sardinia, silk for the interior upholstery of wardrobes from China, silver from England, and stereo systems for each room ordered from Denmark. Sea water pool with an area of ​​11 thousand square meters. m was also designed as a candidate for the Guinness Book of Records.

However, five years later, the construction of the century was suspended: an audit appointed by the Sultan discovered the misappropriation of funds by the main contractor. And in order to somehow return the money spent, the guest house was redesigned into a super hotel with 433 rooms. But this institution of exemplary life will be able to pay off not earlier than in half a century, and even then only at full load.

It's time to name the said embezzler contractor. This is the younger brother of the Sultan, Prince Jeffrey Bolkiah, the constant headache of the ruler of Brunei, and also the main source of trouble for the state, that is, the Sultan's, treasury.

And you brother...

Compared with his younger brother, the sultan, if not an unmercenary ascetic, then at least a statesman who, allowing himself small joys, also takes care of the well-being of his subjects. Prince Geoffrey is different. He always considered the petrodollars flowing into the country as a trifle given to him personally for pocket expenses. The prince maintained this conviction as he headed the Treasury Department, public investment corporations and construction companies that built everything from the guest house mentioned above to Brunei's first satellite television center.
However, no salary of a state official would have been enough for pocket expenses for the prince, even the monthly $ 300 thousand issued by his older brother did not help. Jeffrey Bolkiyakh knew a lot about shopping. He had 30 private residences, including a London mansion on Park Lane ($34 million) and a villa in Beverly Hills ($13 million), a dozen hotels, a collection of jewelry (its highlight was a diamond bought for $400 million from the British royal family) and its own garage for Rolls-Royce and other expensive cars (albeit more modest than that of the Sultan: only 600 cars).
In the end, the spending of the dissolute prince caused such damage to the country's economy and the state of Hassanal himself that he decided to talk with Geoffrey not like a brother, but like a sultan. And how to wind up the Sultan tried the middle of the brothers - Prince Mohammed Bolkiyakh. He, unlike Hassanal and Jeffrey, was modest and fanatically religious, which did not prevent him from envying both.
At first, the reveler and playboy Jeffrey, who traveled around the world in the company of fifty girlfriends from expensive escort services (the prince left four faithful wives at home on the farm), was able to neutralize the holy brother. When in the mid-1980s, two of the country's leading companies, the controlling stakes of which belonged to Mohammed, went bankrupt, Jeffrey managed to convince Hassanal that the middle brother was a useless businessman and that he would let his family go around the world. The retaliatory strike was not long in coming. Having taken the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed did not look for dirt on Jeffrey for long - one of his former girlfriends had just filed a lawsuit against him, claiming that the prince used her as a sex slave. And everything would be fine, but the plaintiff turned out to be a former Miss America, and this is actually an international scandal.
But Hassanal was not yet going to seriously quarrel with his younger brother, and the matter was hushed up. But the next "collision" of Mohammed was a success. The scandal again served as an occasion - this time a high-profile lawsuit between Prince Geoffrey and his confidants, the Manukyan brothers. They claimed that on his behalf they bought more than $800 million worth of antiques and jewelry, and the prince refused the purchase at the last moment, which caused damage to the Manukyans by $130 million. price through a secret deal with the seller. While the high-profile case was being heard in London, Mohammed, taking advantage of the absence of Hassanal and Jeffrey in the country, ordered to freeze the bank accounts of the companies that were part of the state investment corporation Amedeo, which was also headed by Jeffrey, and when the brothers returned, he reported to the elder that the corporation ordered to live long because for the squandering of the younger.
It was in 1998, and this time the Sultan willingly accepted the version proposed by Mohammed. By that time, the economic situation of the country and the personal financial situation of the head of state had deteriorated significantly. In this situation, the Spending Prince was the perfect scapegoat.
Back in the early 1990s, the Sultan was acquainted with the forecast of experts who predicted the complete depletion of oil reserves in Brunei in the next 25-30 years. Deciding to dispose of the funds accumulated by that time in a state-like manner, Bolkiyah created a special fund - the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA), through which he invested money in promising businesses around the world. In 1994, BIA was headed by Prince Jeffrey and in three years brought the fund to bankruptcy (with $ 3.5 billion in debt), and the personal fortune of his older brother, estimated at $ 30-40 billion, was reduced by almost half. (Estimates are indirect, since all data on the well-being of the monarch in Brunei is equated with state secrets.)
In fairness, it should be noted that, of course, there were also objective reasons: this was a sharp drop in oil prices in 1997 (oil and gas exports account for up to 93% of the country's budget revenues), and a general decline in the Asian economy. However, Sultan Bolkiyakh needed to find a specific intruder - even his subjects, who had previously lived in clover and therefore were not interested in the economy, felt that something was wrong in the Brunei kingdom. Their income, unlike the income of the ruler, is not a secret: over the past 20 years, per capita income has fallen by almost 35%.
As a result, the Sultan filed a complaint against his brother in his own Supreme Court, accusing Jeffrey of embezzling $ 15 billion, and also organized an international audit of all his commercial cases. In the meantime, the court and the case, released the brother from the duties of the Minister of Finance (and at the same time drove Mohammed's earpiece from the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, taking both portfolios for himself), demanded that Geoffrey's accounts be arrested, and summoned the prince himself from London to the carpet.
Friends did not advise the prince to return: it could cost him his head. For more than a year, Jeffrey, with his four wives and 17 children, eked out a miserable existence (for $60,000 a month) in London, but then, unable to withstand the inhuman conditions, he nevertheless went home to surrender. However, everything worked out - the brothers agreed. Jeffrey promised to return what he could, and in 2001, 10,000 items of the prince's personal belongings were sold at an auction in Brunei, occupying 21 warehouses. Nevertheless, Hassanal banned his brother from showing up in Brunei for another five years. Family problems, whom they missed!

When the bowels are empty.

This story made Sultan Bolkiyakh seriously think about the immediate prospects - personal and his state. For the past two decades, life in Brunei—even with obvious religious costs like the ban on the sale of liquor and other democratic pleasures—has been the envy of many of its neighbors. But it is impossible to sit forever on the oil needle, this was understood even in the small Asian sultanate. Therefore, Hassanal Bolkiyah, remembering that he was also the head of the government, began to vigorously look for a replacement for oil and gas exports.

And since no other economy in the state, except for raw materials, existed in principle, then Bolkiyakh had no choice - Brunei would become a new offshore! True, to implement this obvious scheme, one had to work hard.

Spoiled by a well-fed and comfortable life, a fairy tale, the Brunei did not feel the need for any financial and economic instruments, without which you cannot build a real, not a fabulous economy, even an offshore one. There were no stock exchanges in Brunei, and there was virtually no international trade. In addition to local ones, only seven foreign banks with total assets of $7 billion operated on the territory of the country (in the model offshore - Luxembourg - about 8 thousand investment funds, whose property is estimated at $1.3 trillion, have built a nest). In short, the economy of the sultanate turned out to be not just neglected, it was as if it did not exist at all.

First of all, Hassanal Bolkiyah hired smart specialists in international finance and international law in early 2000, instructing them to develop a plan of all necessary measures for the speedy entry of Brunei into the world economy. Lawyers quickly figured out how to bring local legislation into line with international law (those sections that deal with money laundering and tax evasion), and the Sultan was just as quick to introduce new laws by decree. In 2002, the International Financial Center opened in Brunei and a branch of the Royal Bank of Canada was opened, which received the first offshore banking license.

And although conducting a credit and financial business in Islamic style is fraught with certain difficulties (as is known, Muslims are prohibited from any activity that involves lending at interest), the Sultan does not lose optimism - the Arab business world has somehow learned to bypass these prohibitions, and Brunei will also learn bankers. In any case, Bolkiyakh still has enough money for first-class consultants.

Meanwhile, his personal fortune, which today is estimated at only $ 7-10 billion (the first places in the Forbes list had long been forgotten), may further decrease in the near future. And again for domestic and family reasons.

Early last year, the Sultan announced that he was divorcing his second wife, Miriam. They were married for a long time, Bolkiyakh was then just a prince and the husband of his cousin, and Miriam worked as a stewardess. For more than 20 years, the Sultan lived with both wives (although Islam allows you to have four), as they say, soul to soul, but something prompted him to divorce. The reason has not yet been disclosed, but it will inevitably emerge if the case goes to court: according to the same Islamic laws, a Muslim is obliged to support his ex-wife. True, there is a reservation: if it is proved that the spouse behaved unworthy of the wife of the faithful, she is deprived of the right to a share of her husband's fortune.

Miriam will be able to defend her rights - and another entry in the Guinness Book of Records is guaranteed. Until now, the record holder of the "divorce business" remains Sally Crooker-Poole, who received $ 75 million from her ex-husband Prince Karim Aga Khan IV (the late Princess Diana was content with only $ 22.5 million from Prince Charles - by the way, Prince Jeffrey's regular polo partner) . But the condition of the Sultan of Brunei cannot be compared with the condition of Prince Karim, so it will be facilitated by a much larger amount.

And then there are the problems with the heir to the throne. The eldest son from his first wife, Prince Haji al-Muhtadi Billah, as often happens in dynastic consanguineous marriages, suffers from a whole bunch of diseases, including diabetes and progressive myopia. Billach recently graduated from Oxford and has already been proclaimed the official heir to the throne. However, whether he gets a still prosperous country depends on how long the oil crane will function. More has already leaked out of it than is left in the bowels of Brunei.

ROYAL STABLE.

Brunei wheelbase.

In the four underground garages of the Sultan of Brunei with a total area of ​​1 sq. km collected not only the most expensive models in the world. Among the 5 thousand storage units of this "diamond fund" of the modern automobile industry, there are cars made in a single copy on the personal order of the monarch.

The owner is especially proud of the park of the rarest Ferraris. Four unique variants of the Venice model: coupe, convertible, four-door sedan and five-door station wagon (as one specialist publication for motorists writes, "a sedan, and even more so a station wagon for Ferrari, is like a trailer to a Formula 1 car"). All of them are made on the platform of the 456th model - a car that itself costs $ 200 thousand. There are also a couple of Ferrari Mythos concept cars that did not get into mass production. Finally, the Sultan owns the F-X, which features a semi-automatic push-button transmission developed by Prodrive and officially only available on the 355 F-1. However, an exception was made for the royal customer - he received his car with this innovation a little earlier. And not just one, but six! Virtually all Ferraris that have undergone rework are made by Pininfarina.

The collection of Mercedes is not inferior to the Ferrari fleet - the Sultan buys cars of this brand in bulk. In any case, it is not a problem for the ruler of Brunei to purchase a couple of dozen custom-made convertibles based on the CL-600 two-door coupe. Although this seemed to him not enough - more than 40 more ordinary (with a standard body) copies came after him. The highlight of the royal collection is the world's only right-hand drive CLK-GTR Le Man. In addition, the specialists of the famous tuning company AMG have recreated six copies of the iconic 1954 300 SL model for the Sultan.

And finally, Rolls-Royce and Bentley, to which Sultan Bolkiyah has a special attachment, are richly represented in the royal auto stable. First of all, these are the unique Bentley Java Estate concept cars and the Bentley Dominator SUV. For almost a century of its existence, Bentley has not released a single SUV - as they say, not its level. But if the Sultan of Brunei asks, there are no questions, we will do it (on the Range Rover chassis)! The same applies to the sporty Rolls-Royce, equipped with a 540-horsepower twin-turbo engine. The Sultan of Brunei is one of the company's most important customers, buying up to 50 Rolls-Royce cars a year - both "regular" (this word in relation to the production of the Crewe plant requires quotation marks) and front, with a special finish sultan spec ( there is even a model with solid gold embellishments). The cost of each such car approaches or even overcomes the bar of $1 million. And to service this world's largest Rolls-Royce fleet, the Sultan specially ordered a whole team of mechanics from the UK.

In the garages of the ruler of Brunei, there are eight more McLaren F1, Porsche-962 LMS (tuning studio Dauer), two rare racing supercars Jaguar XJR 15, three no less rare Cizetta V16 Moroder Ts (author's project by Marcello Gandini), Lamborghini Diablo Jota, assembled to order Aston Martin AM3 and AM4 (each worth $1.5 million), not counting the 300 production cars of this brand.

A special section of the collection is dedicated to Formula 1. The Sultan has collected all the championship cars that have won competitions since 1980. Not copies, but real cars bought directly from the owners of the "stables" of Ferrari, McLaren and others. How much was paid for these rarities is not reported: for the Sultan, as a true collector, money does not matter.

True, according to press reports, after the scandal in the royal family (meaning the story of Prince Jeffrey), the Sultan closed his garage - he stopped purchasing and financing the development of supercars for the collection.

The head of state and government is Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkia Muizaddin Waddola, one of the richest people on the planet (Hassanal Bolkiah, crowned on August 1, 1968, prime minister of independent Brunei on January 1, 1984). The Cabinet of Ministers is appointed and controlled by the monarch. Also, government bodies include the Religious Council (members of the council are appointed by the monarch, responsible for the religious aspects of the life of the country), the Privy Council (dealing with constitutional issues) and the Council of Succession (dealing with issues of genealogy and inheritance of the monarchy). Legislative power is vested in the Legislative Council, which was convened after a twenty-year hiatus on September 25, 2004 and dissolved on September 1, 2005 to form a new Council (29 members appointed by the Sultan).

Stamp Brunei 1907 10c.

In January 2004, Brunei celebrated a small anniversary - the 20th anniversary of independence. A seemingly insignificant event, and it is unlikely that the world media would have paid attention to it if this state had not been Brunei.

The first and main point of the local constitution sounds extremely unusual: the ruler of the country cannot commit injustice, and his actions are not subject to appeal either in national or in foreign courts.

The ceremony began on April 5 and will last 11 days. Gold, precious stones, simply unimaginable luxury...

Several hundred hundreds of relatives, friends and diplomats are present at this wedding. The 1,788-room royal family's palace in Brunei's capital has room for everyone. Prince Abdul Malik, 31, exchanged vows with Dayangku Raabiatul Adavia Pengiran Haji Bolkia, 22.

The newlyweds at their first appearance in public literally sparkled with richly decorated dresses in the Malay style, while the young wife of the son of the Sultan flaunted a set of gold jewelry with diamonds and emeralds the size of a quail egg. And in the hands of the bride, instead of a bouquet of flowers, there was a bouquet of precious stones. On the girl's legs were seen shoes from the Christian Louboutin collection for $ 4,000, and a weighty gold bracelet shone on her ankle.

The royal wedding of the future Sultan of Brunei, Prince Abdul Malik, with his chosen one, 22-year-old programmer Dayangku Raabi’atul ‘Adawiyyah Pengiran Haji Bolkiah, eclipsed even the wedding of the Crown Prince of the British throne, which, compared to this one, could be called very modest. The prince of Brunei and his chosen one were dressed in wedding dresses embroidered with real gold, and the bride's bouquet was made of precious stones.

Prince Abdul Malik is the youngest of the four sons of the reigning Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and the second in line to the throne after his father. The wedding ceremony took place 11 days after the engagement.



The solemn wedding ceremony took place in the Sultan's palace in the capital of Brunei, in Bandar Seri Begawan. Istana Nurul Imam Palace - the residence of the Sultan - has 1788 rooms.


The bride's wedding necklace and tiara are adorned with diamonds and huge emeralds the size of grapes. According to local traditions, the bride must wear something borrowed. In this case, these were the mother-in-law's jewelry - a diamond tiara, a necklace and a brooch.


The bride's shoes by Christian Louboutin are decorated with diamonds and gold.


During the wedding ceremony.
Brunei, a 400,000-strong British colony on the northwestern coast of Borneo, is an absolute monarchy (sultanate). In Brunei, which is ruled by the 68-year-old sultan, he is both the head of state and the head of government, and the minister of national defense, and the minister of finance.




Prince Abdul Malik with his father, the Sultan of Brunei. Members of the royal family have often been criticized for being too extravagant in their lifestyle. "The Telegraph" recalled that in 1996, Michael Jackson was supposed to receive 10 million pounds for a concert in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Sultan. However, dissatisfaction with the state system in the country is small, which is a consequence of the high standard of living of its citizens, as well as free education and healthcare.














The Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, has five sons and seven daughters from three marriages. Prince Abdul Malik is second in line to the Brunei throne. The first son, Crown Prince Al-Muhtadi Bill of Brunei, married over 10 years ago.


The Sultan of Brunei, the groom's father and fuel magnate, is one of the richest men in the world. His fortune is estimated at 20-80 billion dollars. Hassanal Bolkiah has been ruling his country since 1967.




About five thousand guests were invited to the wedding of Prince Abdul Malik.

The life of the richest monarchy in the world

After the death of the king of Thailand last fall, the “silver” (after Elizabeth II) record for the longest stay on the throne passed to the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. He is also considered the richest monarch in the world. The tiny state he rules is not easy to find on the world map, but Brunei boasts one of the highest living standards in the world.

The Sultan of Brunei met with Putin in Sochi at the Russia-ASEAN summit (2016).

In October 2017, the 71-year-old Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah celebrated the half-century anniversary of his being on the throne of Brunei, a very small country (its area is only 5.8 thousand square kilometers). The population is also very small: about 400 thousand people. But in other ratings, the small sultanate, which has huge reserves of oil and gas, takes first place - including in terms of its wealth. From 1999 to 2008 GDP grew here by 56%. According to the IMF, the Sultanate is the fifth largest economy in the world in terms of GDP per capita. Education is free here, as is medical care - and this is only part of the social achievements that Brunei enjoy.

FROM THE DOSIER "MK"

Hassanal Bolkiah was born on July 15, 1946. He graduated from the Victoria Institute in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst (UK). Since 1964 - crown prince, proclaimed sultan on October 5, 1967. Since 1984 - Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Minister of Defense of Brunei.

Considered the richest monarch in the world - in 2010 his personal fortune was estimated at $ 20 billion. Built in 1984 for the Sultan, Nurul Iman Palace has an area of ​​200,000 square meters. m, has 1788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, a front hall for 5000 people, a mosque with a capacity of 1500 people, a garage for 110 cars.

Hassanal Bolkiah, who has ruled Brunei for the past fifty years, has come to power by virtue of belonging to the ruling dynasty - half a century ago, his father, Sultan Omar Ali, abdicated the throne in his favor. And here the question arises: what is the merit of the monarch, if he reigns in a small state with very large reserves of hydrocarbons? After all, it is much easier to make it prosperous than a large country with small mineral reserves.

It is difficult to separate the current sultan and the former monarch, because in the early stages, the sultan actually ruled together with his father, who acted as a mentor monarch - there is such a historically established concept in Southeast Asia when the father went behind the scenes, but continued to instruct his heir on the true path, until he gained the appropriate experience and became a full-fledged monarch, - says the author of a number of books on world leaders, including the biography of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah "Fairly and Nobly", Sergei PLEKHANOV, who personally met with the Brunei monarch. - Such a case was in Brunei. By the way, since Sultan Omar Ali was a great friend of the Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew, this model was also borrowed in Singapore. When Lee Kuan Yew stepped down from power, he made his son prime minister, and kept the position of minister-mentor for himself. Omar Ali was a very interesting and influential figure in the regional context - it is no coincidence that another interesting and influential person like Lee Kuan Yew perceived him as a kind of guru.

So, the main merit of the Hassanal Bolkiah-Omar Ali tandem is not that the country became rich thanks to oil. Oil wealth was ensured by the fact that the oil fields here were discovered and developed by the British. The merit of the monarchs lies in the very preservation of Brunei as an independent state. The fact is that there was a very strong influence on the sultanate - both from the metropolis, Britain, and from the Federation of Malaya in the early 1960s, in order to force Malaysia to join the newly formed state, which consisted of the Federation of Malaya itself and two British colonies in the North Borneo (Sarawak and Sabah). And tiny Brunei was squeezed between them, and he had little chance of resisting in this situation.

At this time, the British were promoting similar projects in several places. They discussed in detail the prospect of leaving the colonies and began to form three federations. These are the Federation of the Sultanates of South Arabia (on the territory of present-day Yemen), the United Arab Emirates (in addition to the seven current emirates, Qatar and Bahrain were to enter there) and the creation of Malaysia. Lee Kuan Yew wrote in his memoirs that the Sultan of Brunei showed great foresight and wisdom, having withstood this pressure (by the way, Singapore withdrew from Malaysia a couple of years after joining it, and left with a scandal, with a cry).

That is, Brunei, "surrounded" by the territory of Malaysia, had very few chances to take place as a separate state. If it had been eaten then, then no one would have remembered that Brunei was such, and all its wealth would have gone to Malaysia. Naturally, this would have affected the well-being of the Bruneians ...

His Majesty himself sits at the helm of an airliner.

As an independent state, Brunei has existed not so long ago - only 33 years: the protectorate of Great Britain was officially abolished only on January 1, 1984. This sultanate broke away from the “mistress of the seas” almost later than all other parts of the once huge British Empire.

It was a very multi-way combination of Sultan Omar Ali and his son: delaying the declaration of independence as long as possible, explains Sergei Plekhanov. - Here we see one of the rare cases in history when the protectorate forced the protector state (in this case Great Britain) to serve its interests. That is, Britain was used as an umbrella political, military, etc., which did not allow the neighbors to "gobble up" Brunei. And the delay with the declaration of independence was due to the fact that the country needed to train personnel - military, managerial, diplomatic. If Brunei had left the British orbit back in 1963, then, of course, it would not have been ready and its neighbors would have “swallowed” it ...

Nevertheless, Brunei feel kinship with neighboring Malaysia. It is no coincidence that Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah called his concept "Islamic Malay Monarchy".

“Brunei always emphasize that they are part of the Malay civilization,” confirms Sergei Plekhanov. - But at the same time they feel like a separate nation. The concept of an "Islamic Malay monarchy" has a hidden connotation: "We are the only full-fledged Islamic Malay monarchy, because the nine sultanates that are part of Malaysia are rather decorative state formations that do not have real power." In addition, Brunei is not just a monarchy - an absolute monarchy. Hassanal Bolkiah often meets with Malaysian monarchs, but he feels an order of magnitude higher.

And the concept of the "Islamic Malay monarchy" is very reminiscent of what was once formulated in our country by Count Uvarov (Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality). In practice, this is a complete analogue: religion, absolute monarchy and nationalism. It is on these three whales that it stands. Why is it important to underline the word "Malay"? Because not only Malays live in Brunei - there are a lot of Chinese and representatives of other nations. Malay is the official language. Islam has been powerfully introduced in Brunei since the time of the previous Sultan, and as soon as the British left, significant changes in the way of life were carried out in the country. Strict Islam (not fundamentalism!) is also perceived as a condition for survival in the outside world. And the autocracy there is real. Everything clearly comes from one person.”

The Sultan of Brunei received a military education.

A few years ago, quite strict Sharia laws were adopted in Brunei, which caused a wave of criticism in the West and even a boycott of Brunei-owned hotels. In particular, it was about stoning gays, chopping off the hands of thieves. On the other hand, criticism was based on the allegations that against the background of such strict laws, the Sultan himself leads a luxurious lifestyle, has a considerable staff of concubines.

“For all the harshness of Islam practiced in Brunei, it is merciless to all kinds of extremism and terrorism,” Sergey Plekhanov assures. - In this country, extremist and non-traditional trends are consistently cut off.

As for the concubines, once, when the current Sultan was young and the blood was playing, he probably had concubines. But now, on the contrary, over the years he has become an increasingly reserved person. He had three wives, but then he divorced the second, and then the third. So now he has only one - the first - wife. And the talk about the harem is completely irrelevant. The current Islamization carried out by the Sultan is a reflection, among other things, of his age-related changes. As far as we know, no one has been stoned there yet. There is a certain implicit opposition in the country. There, the Prosecutor General - a lady - says that it is necessary to explain all this in detail to citizens, including those of non-Islamic origin, what this Islamization means. By the way, this Islamization does not apply to the Brunei Chinese. Their girls calmly walk around in shorts, no one forces them to wear hijabs. This is not Saudi Arabia. Clothing in Brunei is very colorful, and ladies are present at all events, there is always a whole flower garden around the Sultan - his wife, sisters, daughters-in-law ... "

If we are talking about the royal family, one cannot fail to mention the younger brother of the Sultan - the 63-year-old Prince Jeffrey. He not only became famous for his stormy and extravagant lifestyle. In the late 1990s, the prince was accused of embezzling $14.8 billion. Although Jeffrey denied the allegations, he still had to turn over his personal assets to the government in exchange for avoiding prosecution and being allowed to own a personal residence in Brunei.

Yes, he sinned a lot, says Sergei Plekhanov. - But now Prince Jeffrey has also settled down, sits quietly, lives in Brunei (at one time he was forbidden to enter the country, but the Sultan forgave him, however, much of his property was confiscated from the prince). At one time he did a lot of damage. This guy was really a reveler, a real playboy, he had many novels ...

Although Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is not a young man (he is already over 70), his age does not prevent him from piloting his own Boeing when he visits abroad.

And not only during foreign trips, - says our expert. - He pirouettes every week on a Boeing in the skies of Brunei - he trains so as not to lose his knack. He flies in a helicopter, sitting at the helm himself. He never sits down with a driver - he always drives a car ...

Speaking of small Brunei, one can resort to the formula "size does not matter": the country is pursuing an active foreign policy, primarily at the regional level.

“Brunei wealth is being converted into political influence,” Sergei Plekhanov argues. - The country actively participates in regional organizations (ASEAN, APEC, the East Asia Partnership, the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership). Brunei is very actively building relations with China - and at one time, the PRC, as a communist country that supported rebel organizations, was a "taboo" in the sultanate. Now the Brunei people are very pragmatic - in recent years, the Sultan has repeatedly met with the leaders of China. The monarch has excellent relations with Japan. In general, he is pursuing a truly multi-vector policy. He is not locked into any one foreign policy line. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah visited Russia several times. He has excellent relations with Putin, he respects him very much, he feels a kindred spirit: one flies with cranes on a hang glider, the other on a Boeing.

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