Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Categories: Politician stubs | United Arab Emirati politicians
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the crown prince of Dubai and the defense minister of the United Arab Emirates. He is also the de-facto ruler of Dubai as he handles the day to day affairs of the emirate in lieu of his elder brother Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who spends most of his time in the United Kingdom.
He is the third of Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum’s four sons. Sheikh Maktoum, Sheikh Hamdan and Sheikh Ahmed are his brothers. Sheikh Mohammed enjoyed a happy and carefree early childhood in the Al Maktoum family's Al Shindagha home. He was an athletic and energetic child; and played traditional children's games such as Luhol and Huwaim, better known as tag and hopscotch. Even as a toddler he liked nothing better than to kick a ball around. From the age of four, Sheikh Mohammed was privately tutored in Arabic and Islamic Studies. In 1955, he began his formal education at Al Ahmedia School, a small primary school in Deira. It taught Arabic grammar, English, mathematics, geography and history. At the age of 10 he moved to Al Shaab School and two years later he went to Dubai Secondary School. In August 1966, Sheikh Mohammed flew to London. He was accompanied by his cousin, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al-Maktoum. They enrolled in the Bell School of Languages, in Cambridge, one of Europe's best-regarded language schools.
On January 3, 1995, Sheikh Maktoum, signed two decrees that appointed Sheikh Mohammed as Crown Prince of Dubai.
Sheikh Mohammed is considered the architect of modern Dubai and is projecting Dubai as a major financial centre and business hub in the region. He is considered a modern leader who wishes to take Dubai far ahead. Some of the projects he is credited with include the Palm Project, a $4 billion exercise where three huge expanses of land in the shape of palm trees are reclaimed and thus stick out into the Persian Gulf and also, the Burj Al Arab hotel, the tallest hotel in the world and one of the most luxurious and the only seven star hotel in the world.
Sheikh Mohammed has carved a name for himself in the equestrian world as a champion endurance rider. His love for horses has encouraged him to host the world's richest horse race, it was to be the world's richest horse race, boasting a purse of $4 million, $2.4 of which would go to the winner. His stables, the Godolphin stables, are considered to be among the finest in the world with several Arabian racehorses and stallions.
On 2004, he married Princess Haya bint Al-Hussein, daughter of Hussein of Jordan and half-sister of current king Abdullah II of Jordan.