Al Alam Palace, Muscat, Oman. March 2015
Qaboos bin Said Al Said
The people's Sultan was an absolute monarch and Sultan Qaboos was adored by his nation. His palace, for a Middle Eastern royal residence, was incredibly approachable with much of the grounds open to the public. This alone spoke buckets about the sultan's personality and values. He chose a seaside location between Mirani and Jalali forts - a short distance from the "old Muscat" seaport of Mutrah. The gardens were gorgeous and, as with most of Muscat, provided incredible contrast to the stark rocky mountains and hills poking up behind them.
Sultan Qaboos is worth talking about as he was the kind of absolute king that a country needs (if there are no other government options available). He was educated in the UK and returned home to a kind of house arrest. His father apparently wanted him educated, not NOT influential. Whether it be by influence of Western advisors (Sultan Qaboos was very young) or by his own mind after receiving one of the best educations available (Sandhurst, UK), he overthrew his father and set himself up as supreme leader with Western support.
The man was rich and lived in luxury - there is no question. However, what he inherited from his father was an impoverished, undeveloped, and uneducated country. He took his country's oil wealth (which was only a fraction of its neighbors) and transformed Oman into a modern state. Schools, hospitals, highways, seaports, airports - he built everything. Of course, the average Omani loved him and rightly so.
He got married to a first cousin which ended in divorce a few years later with no heir. The entire Middle East was abuzz (even when I lived there) with rumors of his homosexuality. Honestly, I don't think his subjects cared - they had gone from zero to very developed in the course of one man's lifetime. He had literally given all the oil wealth back to his country. OK, he was rich and probably he had some excesses. And yes, there is that whole "no democracy" thing, but he did something incredible for his people and what he did was long-lasting not a flash in the pan.
For me, politics aside (if that is even possible), I am amazed at what he accomplished in a country with some of the LEAST oil wealth in the region. Look at Saudi Arabia and its development. Of course, huge strides were made there as well, but by Oman's example, Saudis should have a much better standard of living by now. I believe that UAE and Qatar took a page from Oman's playbook and realized that developing the home turf and making the home team feel happy was the secret to retaining power. Emiratis and Qataris both enjoy incredibly high standards of living and they started at very nearly the same low point as Oman.
For me, hats off to Sultan Qaboos. He took a bad situation and made it much much better. Yes, he lived in a palace - I think he deserved it.
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