21 Facts About Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan was the second president of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Abu Dhabi, serving from November 2004 until his death in May 2022.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan succeeded his father as the ruler of Abu Dhabi on 2 November 2004, and the Federal Supreme Council elected him as president of the UAE the following day.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was viewed as a pro-Western modernizer whose low-key approach helped steer the country through a tense era in regional politics and forged closer ties with the United States and Israel.

In January 2014, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan had a stroke and was in stable condition after surgery.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan then assumed a lower profile in state affairs but retained ceremonial presidential powers.

Related searches

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

When his father, Zayed, became Emir of Abu Dhabi in 1966, Khalifa was appointed the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi and Head of the Courts Department in Al Ain.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was the Ruler's Representative in the Eastern Region before he became the Emir of Abu Dhabi.

On 1 February 1969, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was nominated the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and on the next day he was appointed Head of the Abu Dhabi Department of Defense.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan became the head of the Supreme Petroleum Council in the late 1980s.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was the chairman of the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan succeeded to the post of Emir of Abu Dhabi and was elected President of the United Arab Emirates on 3 November 2004, replacing his father Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who had died the day before.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan had been acting president since his father became ill prior to his death.

In 2009, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was re-elected as President for a second five-year term.

In March 2011, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent the United Arab Emirates Air Force to support the military intervention in Libya against Muammar Gaddafi, alongside forces from NATO, Qatar, Sweden, and Jordan.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan pledged the full support of the UAE to the Bahrain in the face of pro-democracy uprising in 2011.

Later that year Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was ranked as the world's fourth-wealthiest monarch, with a fortune estimated to be worth $15 billion.

In January 2014, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan had a stroke and was reported to have been in a stable condition after undergoing an operation.

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was married to Shamsa bint Suhail Al Mazrouei, and had eight children: Sultan, Mohammed, Shamma, Salama, Osha, Sheikha, Lateefa, and Mouza.

Seychellois government records show that since 1995 Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has spent $2 million buying up more than 66 acres of land on the Seychelles' main island of Mahe, where what was to be his palace is being built.

Local government agencies and officials from Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan's office responded quickly to the problem, sending in technical experts and engineers.